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August 30, 1980, and all subsequent revisions to the Act and Regs. Energy Fuels is not requesting relief <br />from these requirements. Historical data documents that the Southfield Mine portal area was disturbed <br />prior to August 30, 1980. Rule 2.04.3(3) requires the operator to provide historic information for areas <br />that have been previously mined. <br />Due to the portal area having been disturbed prior to the State Act and Regs being promulgated, baseline <br />data required by the Regs was not available at the time the permit was issued by the Division. <br />15. "Reference Area Change -How can the Division of Mining change a reference area in year 8 of a 10 year <br />revegetation period? The reference area is the standard of comparison. If you change the reference <br />area, how do you know where you are and if you meet the revegetation standard. Or do we start over <br />with Year 1." <br />Answer: Reclamation success evaluations can be made using comparison to one or more reference <br />areas, Rule 4.15.7(2)(d)(i). Operators may also propose evaluation of revegetation success with <br />comparison to a standard. A revegetation standard may also be based on premining data, approved <br />technical documents, historic record. <br />An operator may propose a change to a reference area for several reasons. Degradation of the approved <br />reference area may result in the reference area becoming a poor candidate for success comparison. A <br />change in ownership and land use of the reference area may make it necessary to establish a new <br />reference area. Additional information may be provided regarding the pre- mining condition of the site <br />that may result in re- evaluation of an approved reference area. A change in the surface owners' desired <br />post- mining land use may result in a change of reference area or establishment of numeric standards <br />(Rule 4.15.7(3) and (4)). <br />With regards to TR39, the operator has provided additional information regarding the pre- mining <br />condition to warrant re- evaluation of the applicability of the existing Ponderosa - Pinyon- Juniper (PPJ, or <br />Plot B) reference area. <br />The applicability of the proposed reference area is weighed against data from the approved reference <br />area. In this case the operator has presented arguments against the applicability of the baseline soils and <br />slope aspect of the approved PPJ reference area, soils information and range site descriptions from 1979 <br />and 1980 reports from the Soil Conservation Service (Natural Resource Conservation Service), and <br />provided vegetation data, slope aspect information, and soils description of the proposed reference area <br />that the operator considers more closely resembles the pre- mining condition. <br />16. "Portal Reference Area -They need to compare the portal revegetation transects that Kent has collected <br />data on in 2006 and 2010 with the original portal reference areas. He is grouping all the Vento reveg <br />together and reporting it. His model can pull out the portal transects and he needs to report them to you <br />against the original reference area before any discussion on changing it occurs. Why hasn't he done this <br />and why does he say this is an interim report. Will he report it in Year 10 and what happens then ?" <br />Answer: The year 3 (2006) and year 7 (2010) Interim Revegetation Monitoring reports were permit <br />requirements to evaluate trends observed on the reclaimed areas. These reports were not intended to <br />be used for determination of reclamation success, nor will they be used for such purpose. These reports <br />simply document the status of the establishing vegetation on the reclaimed areas. They are not part of <br />the TR39 evaluation. <br />