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permanent and has been reduced to postmining width, but the entrance road corridor was not <br />included in the SL -2 release request. <br />The mining permit was issued on August 5, 1995. Two successive permit renewals have since <br />been approved. The entire performance bond for the Yoast Mine is a self bond (Bond Number <br />SB -005) in the amount of $5,200,000.00. <br />The total permit area at the Yoast Mine encompasses 2,318.3 acres. The area of <br />disturbed/reclaimed land for which the SL -2, Phase I bond release request was made (515.8 <br />acres), is delineated on map Exhibit "A" of the SL -2 application. The release request area is <br />within T5N R87W. The major portion of the request area is the reclaimed South Pit areas in <br />Sections 19, 20, 29, and 30, and the reclaimed Neck Pit Area in Section 17. Reclaimed slopes <br />and support facilities adjacent to Haul Road B and Light Use Road 3A (LU3A), immediately <br />north of the North Pit area, and certain reclaimed channel and reclaimed light use road corridors <br />within the North Pit Area (largely in Section 17) were also included in the application, as well as <br />the reclaimed Haul Road "D" corridor, which extends from the Neck Pit area southwest to the <br />South Pit area immediately northeast of Sediment Pond 12. An approved permanent power line <br />corridor that extends from the eastern permit boundary near Grassy Creek, to a substation near <br />the north end of the Neck Pit area, was also included in the release request. <br />The chronology of backfill and grading is shown on Exhibit `B" of the Phase I bond release <br />application. Areas subject to the SL -2 release request were regraded between 2000 and 2007. <br />The application for Phase I bond release (SL -2) was determined to be administratively complete <br />on October 15, 2007, after the Division received proof of publication of the applicant's public <br />notice. Seneca Coal Company (SCC) published notice of the bond release application in the <br />Steamboat Pilot once weekly for four consecutive weeks, beginning September 2, 2007 and <br />ending September 23, 2007. SCC also notified land owners within and adjacent to the mine <br />permit area, and other interested parties of the application for bond release, as required by Rule <br />3.03.2(1). The SL -2 application requested Phase I release for 515.8 reclaimed acres of the total <br />1019 acres of disturbance within the Yoast permit area. The SL -2 inspection was delayed <br />initially due to the onset of winter conditions in late 2007, then further delayed to allow for <br />review and approval of Technical Revision No. 37 (TR -37), which amended certain aspects of <br />the reclamation plan pertinent to SL -2, notably permanent drainage design details. The TR -37 <br />proposed decision was issued on December 18, 2008. <br />No comments, written objections, or requests for an informal conference regarding the bond <br />release application were received by the Division. <br />The Division scheduled and conducted a bond release inspection on July 15 through July 17, <br />2009. This was a Phase I bond release inspection of the Seneca Coal Company LLC (SCC) <br />Yoast Mine, conducted on July 15 through 17, 2009 by Dan Mathews, Sandy Brown and Marcia <br />Talvitie of the Division of Reclamation, Mining, and Safety (DRMS), and Howard Strand of the <br />Office of Surface Mining (OSM) Denver Office, in accordance with Rule 3.03.2(2). Jennifer <br />Maiolo, Erin Parks and Mark Lowry of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Little Snake <br />4 <br />