1982-08-24_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C1981013 (5)

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MAX�TELL MINE File No. C-01 7-81 RESPONSE TO DRAFT FINDINGS DOCUMENT XII VEGETATION - RULES 2 .04 . 10 , 2 .05 .4(2) (c) and 4 . 15 P . 47 , Par . "In the calculation of adequate sample size. . . " . The parameters used by Uniscale as given on Page 5 of the 1981 vegetation inventory study included in Exhibit 12 of Volume T_I , were agreed to in a meeting between Dr . Charles D . Bonham, Chief Investigator on site for Uniscale and Professor in Range Science at Colorado State University, and Mr. Rick Mills of the Division at the beginning of the inventory study. These values are also those acceptable to the Office of Surface Mining at that time. Based on the above, CF&I requests relief from the stipulations requiring additional sampling and reporting of data contained in this section. All information has been submitted in the application which meet the statistical confidence levels as defined by the agreed to parameters . The Maxwell Mine surface facilities were constructed in 1976 and topsoil was not salvaged prior to this activity. As a result , only limited amounts of soil material is available for the reclamation effort. Topsoil is being salvaged ahead of the mine waste placement in the disposal area. CF&-I proposes to use that topsoil and subsoil available on the waste disposal area. The remaining disturbance areas will be revegetated without retopsoiling. The fourth stipulation in this section requests an "acceptable" revegetation plan. The Maxwell Mine is an underground operation and as such essentially all current disturbance area is required for continued support of the mining activities . No permanent reclamation is planned during the permit term. Table 15 , Page 2 .05-29 addresses the anticipated reclamation schedule (which includes revegetation) for the Maxwell Mine surface area. This schedule is relatively specific; however, the date for initiating those reclamation activities is dependent upon when coal extraction is completed. The revegetation will be done during the first favorable planting time immediately following the final grading of the area.