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Colowyo Coal Company <br />?.r. 5731 State Highway 13 <br />O Meeker, CO 81641 <br />T: 970-824-1500 <br />18 November 2010 <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 /> <br />RE: Colowyo Coal Company, L.P., Nomination for a 2010 Coal Mining Reclamation <br />Award <br />Dear Ms. Brown: <br />Please accept this entry from Colowyo Coal Company, L.P. (Colowyo) as a nomination for <br />a 2010 Coal Mining Reclamation Award which honors outstanding reclamation of coal <br />mines and seeks to further the collection and dissemination of information about successful <br />reclamation techniques. <br />Colowyo once again demonstrated its commitment toward contemporaneous reclamation in <br />2010 by reclaiming approximately 180 acres mine wide; of which 130 acres were reclaimed <br />within the West Pit and 50 acres were reclaimed in the East Pit respectively. Similar to <br />2009 West Pit Reclamation efforts, Colowyo utilized its second largest dragline, a Bucyrus- <br />Erie 130OW with a 43 cubic yard bucket and a 260 foot swing radius, to perform most of the <br />major spoil movement in the 2010 West Pit Reclamation area. This included construction <br />of 7,600 feet of three major rock ditches; all three of which will allow this watershed to <br />report storm water and snow runoff to the East Taylor Pond for the first time since the West <br />Pit Boxcut began in 1996 and separated the pond from the watershed. These three rock <br />ditches were required by State regulations to be rock-lined which meant that a total rip-rap <br />volume of nearly 13,700 cubic yards was hauled by truck to the upper reaches of these <br />ditches, broken to the proper size by a rock breaker and distributed throughout the ditches <br />using a trackhoe to form the ditch slopes and bottoms. <br />2010 East Pit regrade efforts were completed by primarily using dozers, a front-end loader, <br />haul trucks, a trackhoe and a rock hammer. In addition to the approximately 50 acres of <br />regrade work completed in the East Pit, Colowyo designed and constructed three 2 acre- <br />foot capacity sediment control structures that will aide in reducing the amount of sediment <br />ultimately reporting to Prospect Pond via reclaimed (3+ years) or newly reclaimed (0-3 <br />years) watershed locations. These stock ponds will also facilitate post-mining land use <br />targets by serving as crucial watering holes for livestock and wildlife. Nearly 4,000 feet of <br />rock ditch was constructed in the East Pit during the 2010 reclamation season. Nearly <br />3,000 feet of the 4,000 foot total required rock-lining by the same methods discussed in the <br />West Pit.