Additionally, the DEQ received $1,050,000 from the bankruptcy court in partial 

 settlement of state claims filed against the assets based on an identified need for 

 additional reclamation. The court directed that $450,000 be designated for 

 reclamation at the Zortman site, with the balance to be used for interim site 

 operations and maintenance at both sites until a reclamation contractor could be 

 retained by DEQ. 



In November 1998, the IBLA issued a decision on Fort Belknap's 1996 appeal of the BLM 

 mine expansion decision, and it ordered the BLM to work with the Tribes on the 

 selection of a reclamation alternative for the mines that considered potential impacts 

 on tribal water resources. This action essentially vacated the decisions made under 

 the 1996 EiS, which were based on the company's now-abandoned expansion plans. 

 The BLM was also directed to develop additional information about ground water 

 conditions at the mines. Since then, the BLM and the DEQ, in consultation with the 

 Fort Belknap Tribes, the EPA, and others, produced a final Supplemental 

 Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS), which was completed in December 2001. In 

 May 2002, the agencies issued a new joint Record of Decision that selected 

 reclamation alternative Z6 for the Zortman mine and reclamation alternative L4 for 

 the Landusky mine. 



However, these alternatives were dependent on the receipt of an additional $22.5 

 million in reclamation funds beyond what was available from the mine reclamation 

 bonds. The record of decision also provided that the agencies would reclaim the mines 

 under alternatives Z3 and L3, the "reserved selected alternatives", if the additional 

 funding could not be found. These alternatives were less costly and perceived by 

 some to be less protective than alternatives Z6 and L4. The DEQ and the BLM 

 determined that all four alternatives would reclaim the mines in compliance with 

 state and federal reclamation requirements while protecting human health, the 

 environment, and tribal trust resources. With either choice, the SEIS also determined 

 that the $14.8 million (the estimated 2017 value) trust fund provided by Pegasus 

 under the Consent Decree for the long-term maintenance and operation of the water 

 treatment facilities at the mines was $1 1 million less than what would be needed to 

 run the plants beginning in July 2017 when the short-term water treatment bond was 

 expended. 



Following the May 2002 Record of Decision, the DEQ began reclaiming the two mine 

 sites with reclamation bond settlement funds by performing tasks that were common 

 to both the Z3 and Z6 alternatives at the Zortman mine site and common to both the 

 L3 and L4 alternatives at the Landusky mine site. In June 2002, the Fort Belknap 



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