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completed at the Bowie No. 1 Mine Loadout was $1,893,923.00. This amount was the applicable amount
<br />that the Division used to determine the releasable amount pursuant to Rule 3.0.3.1(2)(a). On February 22,
<br />2008, the Division proposed to release $1,136,354.00, which is 60% of the applicable amount for SL-3.
<br />The proposed decision public notice was published in the Delta County Independent in the February 27
<br />and March 5, 2008 issues. With no requests for a hearing, SL-3 was issued on March 31, 2008.
<br />On August 31, 2007, the Division received the initial Permit Renewal No. 5 submittal, dated August 28,
<br />2007. However, the submittal was called incomplete on September 10, 2007 due to needed revisions on
<br />the insurance policy. With the revising of the insurance policy in a second submittal dated September 10,
<br />2007, the application was called complete on September 17, 2007 and BRL secured the right of
<br />successive renewal.
<br />Completeness letters were sent to the appropriate agencies and organizations. The completeness public
<br />notice was published in the Delta County Independent in the September 19, 26, October 3 and 10, 2007
<br />issues. The Division received a comment letter from the Office of the State Engineer, dated October 9,
<br />2007 in which that agency stated that they had no objections to the permit renewal application.
<br />The Division's first adequacy review letter was dated October 18, 2007. BRL responded in a submittal
<br />dated November 14, 2007. A second submittal from BRL, dated December 5, 2007, included a threatened
<br />& endangered species inventory. This inventory was forwarded to the Office of Surface Mining on
<br />December 13, 2007, with a request to enter into section 7 consultation with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
<br />Service. In a letter to the Division dated December 20, 2007, the Office of Surface Mining concluded that
<br />previous section 7 consultations and biological opinions would suffice and that no further consultation
<br />would be needed for this permit renewal.
<br />The Division's second adequacy review letter, dated January 8, 2008, summarized the status of the
<br />adequacy issues and also contained the Division's calculation of the reclamation cost estimate. The new
<br />liability for Permit Renewal No. 5 was calculated to be $4,123,457.14. However, because of Partial Phase
<br />One Bond Release No. 3 (SL-3), only 60 % of the applicable reclamation bond could be released. The
<br />remaining amount, therefore, was statutorily set at $4,624,936.00. A third adequacy review letter from the
<br />Division, dated February 1, 2008, revised the reclamation cost estimate summary sheets to include a
<br />statement that explains this statutory limit. BRL agreed with the Division's reclamation cost estimate in a
<br />letter dated February 25, 2008.
<br />The proposed decision to approve Permit Renewal No. 5 was made on April 2, 2008. The public notice
<br />was published in the Delta County Independent on April 9 and 16, 2010. There were no requests for a
<br />hearing so Permit Renewal No. 5 was issued on May 12, 2008 with a permit issuance date of April 20,
<br />2008. Revised pages and maps were placed into the permit application through Minor Revision No. 121.
<br />In a submittal dated July 1, 2009 and called complete on July 7, 2010. BRL submitted Succession of
<br />Operator No. 5 (SO-5). Cedars Energy LLC had bought 98.99% of Bowie Resources LLC and became
<br />the new owner. There was no change in the name of the company or operator. The public notice of
<br />completeness was published in the Delta County Independent on July 8, 2009. The Division's adequacy
<br />review letter dated July 23, 2009 was answered successfully by BRL's response letter of the same date.
<br />The revision was approved on July 28, 2009 with the public notice published on August 5, 2009. The
<br />transfer could not be issued until October 23, 2009 because delinquent AML fees had to be paid.
<br />Various aspects of the reclamation plan were updated in Technical Revision No. 48, approved on July 18,
<br />2008. Stipulation No. 58 was attached to this revision and required the operator to submit an amended
<br />reclamation plan for cropland areas at the train loadout. This stipulation was terminated with the proposed
<br />decision to approve Technical Revision No. 53 on November 30, 2009.
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