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1 40 <br />Colowyo Coal Company <br />5731 State Highway 13 <br />Meeker, CO 81641 <br />T: 970-824-1500 <br /> <br />O <br />M¦r ? <br />11 10 November 2009 <br /> <br />Kim 'I a 2009 <br />iliining ;rid Safety <br />Ms. Sandra Brown <br />Senior Environmental Protection Specialist <br />Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety <br />Department of Natural Resources <br />1313 Sherman Street, Room 215 <br />Denver, CO 80203 <br />RE: Nomination for the 2009 Coal Mining Reclamation Awards, Colowyo Coal Company, L.P. <br />Dear Ms. Brown: <br />Please accept this entry from Colowyo Coal Company (Colowyo) for nomination for the <br />2009 Coal Mining Reclamation Awards that honors outstanding reclamation of coal mines <br />and seeks to further the collection and dissemination of information about successful <br />reclamation techniques. <br />2009 showed great promise for completion of new reclamation as Colowyo once again <br />reestablished its stance on contemporaneous reclamation by submitting a revised plan that <br />outlined its reclamation methodology and reclamation sequencing for the life of the mine. <br />This particular reclamation plan called for 76 acres to be reestablished in 2009. Colowyo <br />eclipsed this number by reclaiming 83.3 acres in 2009. Of those 83.3 acres, 32 were within <br />the East Pit and 51.3 were within the West Pit. Colowyo chose to reclaim these specific <br />areas with the East and West Pits for a number of reasons; the biggest reason being that <br />Colowyo felt these two areas were considered the cornerstones of the East and West Pit's <br />contemporaneous reclamation since these areas would be tying-in with the surrounding <br />native terrain. In a sense, Colowyo thought of the 2009 Reclaim Areas as completing the <br />edges of a puzzle thus giving the mine the opportunity for large quantities of land to be <br />reclaimed in the upcoming years. <br />Reclaim within the West Pit required Colowyo to first pump out and then backfill what was <br />known as North Taylor "Pond" (see photo # 1). This pond was a result of highwall miner <br />activity in the area from July of 2006 through March of 2007. In order to reach the <br />permitted post mining topography within the 2009 West Pit reclaim area, Colowyo needed <br />to backfill and rough grade the area with 1,053,776 cubic yards of overburden. Colowyo <br />achieved this task by utilizing loaders and haul trucks to tail dump the material into the <br />general area. From December of 2008 through February 2009 Colowyo drew on dozers to <br />position the dirt into strategic locations so that Colowyo could begin final grading of the <br />area in July by using its second largest dragline (102) along with a dozer assist (see photo <br /># 2). Starting just south of the East Taylor pond location, the dragline worked its way to the