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Peabody Sage Creek Mining LLC <br />Peabody Sage Creek Mine <br />Pre -Law Area Bond Release Request July 2013 <br />Interim programs areas are those lands that are reclaimed after August 3, 1977 until the time a permanent <br />Colorado program permit was issued (sometime after December 15, 1980). <br />The reclamation standards under previous Colorado laws were not as stringent as S1lICRA and therefore the <br />bond release criteria must coincide with the lain and permit in 0ect at the time reclamation was conducted A <br />sarnzmary of the previous law is provided below. Once a permanent program permit was issued the operator was <br />bound to the standards under the permit, the Colorado Surface Alining and Reclamation Act and regulations <br />promulgated pursuant to the Act. <br />Colorado Open Cut Land Reclamation Act of 1969 <br />1. Grading must strike off ridges and peaks to a width of not less than 15 feet with an even or undulating <br />skyline as the objective. <br />2. If post mining land use was to be range, seeding had to be done by hand, power, or aerial means. Seed <br />mixture chosen using advice from various qualified professionals. No revegetation success criteria. <br />3. Reclamation was to be carried to completion with all reasonable diligence. If the area could not be successfr >lly <br />reclaimed within 10 years because of acid or toxic material, or because of the texture of the material, an <br />equivalent number of acres of previously mined and unreclaimed land could be reclaimed in its place to satisfy <br />the surety requirements. <br />Colorado Open Alining Land Reclamation Act of 1973 <br />1. Grading nzztst strike off `all the peaks and ridges to a width of not less than 15 feet, and to the greatest extent <br />possible, restore slopes to their original condition. No slope was to be too steep to be traversed by livestock <br />subject to Board approval. <br />2. Seeding requirements mere similar to the 1969 law, with seed mixture chosen using the advice of qualPies <br />experts. No gratiing was permitted until the vegetation was firmly established as determined by the Board, <br />landowner, and the Soil Conservation Service. <br />3. Wl'henever possible, the operator was to retain topsoil for reclamation. <br />d. If the land could not be successfully reclaimed within 10years because of acid or toxic material, or because of <br />the texture of the material, an equivalent number of acres of previously mined and unreclaimed land could be <br />reclaimed in its place to satisfy the surety requirements. The area to be traded must be shown on a map. <br />Applicable Rules for Pre -Law Bond Release (Reclamation Board Rules Effective February 25, 1976) <br />These rides, again, expanded the detail needed in a permit application concerning the methods of reclamation and type <br />of reclamation that was proposed to be achieved. <br />Grading was to be: appropriate to the post- mining land use; a physically attractive surrounding; and, completed to <br />control erosion and siltation of the affected area, szrrrozanding proper y, and water courses. The Board could <br />require terracing. <br />Backfilling and grading was generally completed within 180 days following coal removal and was <br />not over four (4) spoil ridges behind the active pit. The majority of the grading work was <br />performed with dozers and motor graders. In some cases grading was done with scrapers and <br />draglines. All areas affected by the surface mining operations, except as specifically exempted by <br />the Division, were regraded on a timely basis to a stable configuration that conforms to the <br />3 <br />