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iii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 999 ..~_ United States Department of the Interior OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING = Reclamation and Enforcement ~ ~ WASHINGTON, D.C. 20240 Mr. Steven G. Renner Coal Program Supervisor Mined Land Reclamation Division Department of Natural Resources 1313 Sherman Street, Room 215 Denver, Colorado 80203 AUG 2 3 1991 Mined Land Reclamation Division Dear Mr. Renner: This is in response to your July 29, 1991, request for informal review of the Albuquerque Field Office (AFO) Director's determination that your agency did not ~.__ take appropriate action with respect to alleged violation No. 1 in ten-day notice ;(`1'DN) 91-02-116-5. The TDN alleges that American Shield Coal Company failed to backfill and grade all spoil material to eliminate all highwalls, spoil piles, and depressions to return disturbed areas to approximate original contour as required at State Rule 4.14.1(2)(a). In your request for informal review, you maintain that the reclaimed configuration of the azea in question approximates the original and surrounding topography which consists of naturally steep slopes with cliffs. Moreover, based on a strict literal construction of the definitions of "highwall," "overburden" and "spoil," you azgue that since the excavated vertical face at this site was located below the coal seam being mined and thus, did not expose overburden and coal, it is not a highwall as defined and the material excavated is not spoil as defined since it did not originate from overburden. Colorado rule 4.14.1(2)(a) requires mined lands to be restored to the approximate original conwur e~hich includes elimination of all highwalls. The tee ~n "highwall" is defined under the Colorado program as "the face of exposed overburden and coal in an open cut of surface coal mining operations or for entry to underground mining operations." Under any meaningful application of this term, an excavated vertical face would constitute a highwall regardless of its relative position above or below the coal seam being mined if the vertical face was created for the purpose of extracting coal or creating a production face-up. There is no question in the record that the vertical face excavated in this case was necessary for entry into and extraction of coal from the Cameo coal seam. Your agency's reliance on a strict construction of the language contained in the definitions of "highwall," "overburden" and "spoil" has effectively rendered the highwall elimination provisions of the Colorado program meaningless at this or similaz sites.