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"The guideline is intended to assist coal operators by describing <br />reclamation success demonstration approaches and techniques which <br />the Division will accept as meeting the applicable regulatory <br />requirements for bond release. In accordance with Rule 1.15.4(2), <br />operators are free to demonstrate compliance with the Act and <br />Regulations using procedures or information or an interpretation of the <br />Act and Regulations different from that set forth in the guidelines. " <br />Rule 1. 15.4(l) and 1.15.4(2), referenced in the introduction to the Guideline cited <br />above state: <br />- T (1) The guidelines as adopted may be used by permittees and applicants <br />as non-binding guidance, suggestions or recommendations regarding <br />procedures or information which is acceptable to the Division regarding <br />compliance with the Act and Regulations adopted thereunder. The <br />guidelines shall further be non-binding interpretations by the Division <br />regarding ambiguities in the Act and Regulations adopted thereunder, <br />or in areas in which the Division has discretion regarding compliance <br />with the Act and Regulations adopted thereunder. <br />(2) An operator shall be free to demonstrate compliance with the Act <br />and Regulations adopted thereunder using procedures or information or <br />an interpretation of the Act and Regulations different from that set forth <br />in guidelines. <br />Based on these text citations from the guidelines and regulations, we request clarification <br />from as the Division concerning the basis for employing the guidelines to add a <br />restriction, that of deducting the cover of "noxious" species and annual and biennial forbs <br />from the total vegetation cover, when considering whether an area has met the statutory, <br />regulatory, and permit conditions for revegetation success. <br />CEC has an additional concern with the Division rejecting certain species as valid <br />components of the post-mining revegetation. <br />First, by rejecting the cover of certain "noxious" species from consideration, the Division <br />has not acknowledged their presence is the native landscape. The cover of the "noxious" <br />species which is the subject of the Division's concern in the bond release application is <br />far more prevalent on the undisturbed lands adjacent to the Keenesburg Mine. A central <br />tenet of the reclamation statute is that coal mines reclaim their lands to an equivalent <br />state, not necessarily a better state, than adjacent undisturbed lands. <br />Second, while Bromus tectorum appears on the Colorado Department of Agricultures list <br />of noxious species, it is listed as a "List C" species. The species with this designation are <br />subject to the following goals, as described by the Colorado Department of Agriculture: