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area proceeded directly from the final cut in the A pit. Wadge Coal pit extraction and progressive <br />development was parallel to the cropline. The South Extension area added coal recovery in the Sage <br />Creek and Wolf Creek reserves. Mining was completed and coal extraction at Seneca II-W ceased in <br />early January 2006. The final areas mined were the Wolf Creek and Sage Creek seams in the South <br />Extension Area; mining had been completed in the original permit area several years previously. <br />All pits have all been entirely backfilled and graded, topsoil has been redistributed and seeding and <br />planting has been completed in all locations of the mine site. <br />Permit, Performance Bond, and Bond Release History <br />The permanent program mining permit was issued on December 31, 1985. Four successive permit <br />renewals have been approved subsequent to the initial permanent program permit approval; the most <br />recent, Permit Renewal No. 4, was issued July 3, 2006, for a permit term that will expire December <br />31, 2010. The Division currently holds a reclamation bond in the amount of $11,117,348.00. <br />Seneca applied for one previous bond release, SL-1, which was submitted on July 16, 2006 and <br />withdrawn on March 21, 2007. <br />SL-2 Phase I Bond Release Application <br />The total permit area at the Seneca II-W Mine encompasses 4,093 acres of which 1,382 acres were <br />disturbed. In bond release application SL-2, Seneca requested Phase I release of 1,166.2 reclaimed <br />acres. As shown in Figure 1 of this document and Exhibit A of the application, the SL-2 release request <br />applied to the original and south extension mine areas; it did not include any portion of the Tie <br />Across Haul Road corridor. Seneca's application requested release of approximately 763.3 acres of <br />the Original Area and 402.9 acres of the South Extension Area. Excluded from the SL-2 application <br />were haul road segments that have not yet been reclaimed or modified for postmining use, mine shop <br />facilities, topsoil stockpiles, and sedimentation ponds and stock ponds that have not yet been <br />approved for permanent retention. <br />The SL-2 application was received by the Division on August 17, 2009 and deemed complete on August <br />27, 2009. Seneca had published notice of the bond release application in the Steamboat Pilot once <br />weekly for four consecutive weeks, beginning May 10, 2009 and ending on May 31, 2009. Seneca <br />notified land owners within and adjacent to the mine permit area, the Office of Surface Mining (OSM), <br />the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and other interested parties of the application for bond release, <br />as required by Rule 3.03.2(1). No comments, written objections, or requests for an informal conference <br />regarding the bond release application were received by the Division. <br />A bond release inspection was scheduled and conducted on October 14 - 16, 2009. The site inspection <br />was conducted in accordance with Rule 3.03.2(2). Dan Mathews and Sandy Brown of the Division; Roy <br />Karo and Dennis Bugay of Seneca and Jay James attended the inspection. None of the land owners of <br />record attended the inspection; however, all land owners were notified of the inspection via certified <br />mail. <br />5