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OSM TECHNICAL COMPLIANCE EVALUATION OF COLORADO STATE PERMIT <br />C- 008 -81, AS REVISED BY THE PR -6 PERMIT REVISION APPLICATION <br />APPROXIMATE ORIGINAL CONTOUR. (AOC) — MORGANPROPERTY <br />1. COMPANY: Western Fuels — Colorado (WFC) <br />2. MINE /OPERATION: New Horizon Mine <br />3. INTRODUCTION: <br />The evaluation and report contained herein was requested by the OSM Denver Field <br />Division as a means of aiding DFD's response to a number of citizen complaints related to <br />prime farmland reclamation plans and practices approved by the State of Colorado, Division <br />of Reclamation Mining and Safety (DRMS) for the New Horizon Mine located near Nucla, <br />Colorado. More specifically, this evaluation addresses Ms. JoEllen Turner's allegations that <br />DRMS has approved reclamation plans (soil handling, cropland re- establishment, landscape <br />configuration and land use practices) that are not in accord with Colorado's approved state <br />program for administering the requirements of the Surface Mining Reclamation & Control <br />Act (SMCRA) of 1977, as particularly related to restoring the agricultural capability of the <br />Morgan family's prime farmlands after mining and reclamation. The Morgan's own <br />approximately 108 acres of irrigated alfalfa croplands within the New Horizon Mine permit <br />area (State Permit C- 008 -81) that are in the process of being mined. The prime farmland <br />reclamation plans within State Permit C -008 -81 were most recently updated via permit <br />revision application PR -6 approved by the State in November 2010. This OSM report is <br />primarily focused on the review and adequacy of the currently approved permit reclamation <br />plans involving surface landscape configuration (i.e. AOC), as related to the Morgan's prime <br />farmlands within the permit area; and uses as the criteria for this review the Colorado State <br />program regulations. <br />4. EVALUATION: <br />A. Part of application /document reviewed: WFC's approved permit for the New Horizon <br />Mine, as revised through the State of Colorado's November 2010 approval of Permit <br />Revision 06 (PR -06). <br />Permit Sections: <br />2.04.3 `Site Description and Land Use Information' <br />2.04.9 `Soil Resource Tnformation' <br />2.04.10 `Vegetation information New Horizon 2 Mine Area' <br />2.05.4(2) (c) `Backfilling and Grading' <br />2.05.4(2) (d) `Topsoil Handling, Stockpiling and Redistribution' <br />2.05.4(2) (e) `Revegetation' <br />2.05.6(3) `Protection of the Hydrologic Balance' <br />I <br />USDI — Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), Program Support Division, Denver, CO <br />2 These lands are specifically designated as `prime farmlands' in Permit C008 -81 <br />Page 1 of 7 <br />