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Daniel I. Hernandez <br />Senior Environmental Protection Specialist Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and <br />Safety <br />1313 Sherman St, Room 215 <br />Denver, CO 80203 <br />New Phone Number: 303-866-3567 ext 8126 <br />Fax: 303-832-8106 <br />Website: www.mining.state.co.us<http://www.mining.state.co.us> <br />From: Hernandez, Daniel <br />Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2010 10:00 AM <br />To: 'Welt, Kathy' <br />Cc: Kaldenbach, Tom <br />Subject: RE: Perimeter Disturbance Markers Policy <br />Hi Kathy - <br />You bring up a very good point, and one that we discussed at length w OSM. Here is why our <br />policy was ultimately worded to require that disturbed area perimeter markers at underground <br />mines be maintained through Phase III bond release: <br />• The State of Colorado did not create its own set of regulatory preambles to its <br />rules regarding signs and markers. As such, the federal preambles on OSM's signs and markers <br />rules became, by default, the state's preambles on the state's signs and markers rules. <br />• 30 CFR 816.11(a)(3) states "Signs and markers required under this part shall be <br />made of durable material". Colorado's equivalent of this federal is 4.02.1(3), which states <br />"Signs and markers required by 4.02 shall be made of durable material". <br />OSM's preamble to 30 CFR 816.11(a)(3) states: "Signs and markers should be of durable <br />material so that they will not deteriorate before final bond is released on the permit area. <br />It would be to the permittee's advantage that signs and markers be constructed of durable <br />material so that frequently reposting of them is unnecessary. Since the final bond on a <br />permit area would not be released for 5 or 10 years (depending on the geographic location) <br />following the last augmented seeding, it would be essential that durable signs and markers be <br />posted so the regulatory authority could determine the perimeter of the permit area and the <br />person responsible". <br />• 30 CFR 816.11(b) states "Signs and markers shall be maintained during the conduct <br />of all activities to which they pertain". Colorado's equivalent of this rule is 4.02.4, <br />which states "Signs and markers shall be maintained during the conduct of all activities to <br />which they pertain". <br />OSM's preamble to 30 CFR 816.11(b) states "Maintenance of signs and markers will be the <br />responsibility of the permittee until the final bond is released on the permit area. OSM <br />adopted this provision because it will be necessary for the regulatory authority to know who <br />is responsible for the permit area, the boundary of the permit area, and the location of <br />buffer areas, blasting areas, and topsoil stockpiles, in order to make thorough inspections. <br />Without continued maintenance of these signs and markers, inspection of the permit area would <br />be difficult." <br />With regard as to how our new policy should be implemented at underground mines that have <br />areas that have been reclaimed but have not gone through Phase III bond release, realize that <br />while our policy asks that markers be maintained through Phase III bond release, neither the <br />federal signs and markers rules, the states' signs and markers rules, nor our policy require <br />a specific frequency/spacing of markers. As such, frequency/spacing is highly flexible <br />3