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DIVISION OF RECLAMATION, MINING AND SAFETY <br />Department of Natural Resources <br />1313 Sherman St., Room 215 <br />Denver, Colorado 80203 <br />Phone: (303) 866 -3567 <br />FAX: (303) 832 -8106 <br />December 8, 2011 <br />Mr. Stuart Sanderson <br />President <br />Colorado Mining Association <br />216 16 Street, Suite 1250 <br />Denver, CO 80202 <br />Re: 2011 Colorado Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety <br />Coal Program and Colorado Mining Association (CMA) — Coal Reclamation Awards <br />Dear Stuart: <br />STATE OF COLORADO <br />COLORADO <br />D I V I S I O N O F <br />RECLAMATION <br />MINING <br />— &— <br />SAFETY <br />John W. Hickenlooper <br />Governor <br />Mike King <br />Executive Director <br />Loretta E. Pineda <br />Director <br />The Coal Program staff considered four nominations that were submitted for the Coal Reclamation Awards. <br />One nomination encompassed three companies for their excellence in the reclamation of exploration sites: <br />Oxbow Mining LLC, Ark Land Company and Blue Mountain Energy, Inc. Oxbow submitted a similar nomination <br />for their exploration site reclamation. These two nominations are combined below. Mountain Coal Company <br />also submitted a nomination the Staff thought was award worthy as discussed below. The Staff decided one <br />nomination from Colowyo Coal Company was premature. Colowyo has recently initiated a new program for <br />topsoil replacement to create a diverse reclaimed community. Colowyo's work appears good, but the staff <br />would like to hold off on an award until photographic and /or technical documentation of the results are <br />available. We will reconsider their nomination in a future year. <br />I am pleased to forward the following nominations from the DRMS Coal Program, for the 2011 DRMS and CMA <br />Coal Mining and Reclamation Awards: <br />Excellence in Reclamation for Coal Exploration Sites <br />Jim Kiger at Oxbow Mining LLC, Wendell Koontz at Ark Land Company and Scott Wanstedt at Blue Mountain <br />Energy are nominated for their excellent reclamation efforts on coal exploration sites. These three individuals <br />were responsible for the permitting, operations, and reclamation efforts for coal exploration projects on <br />mostly public lands administered by the BLM and /or the U.S. Forest Service. Reclamation work was <br />successfully completed during the 2000's and all sites received bond release in 2011 from the Division and <br />from the Federal land management agencies, either the BLM or U.S. Forest Service, where required. <br />The projects are worthy of note due to the remarkable success of the reclamation performed in areas of <br />extreme terrain and /or harsh conditions where success can be difficult. Inspection revealed excellent results <br />regarding backfilling and grading, tying sites into the surrounding topography, revegetation using native <br />species and introduced species as approved by the land owner, and the use of using rocks, logs, and other <br />Office of <br />Mined Land Reclamation <br />Office of <br />Denver • Grand Junction • Durango Active and Inactive Mines <br />