Laserfiche WebLink
JAMES A. BECKWITH <br />LETTER TO BROCK BOWLES, CO DRMS / SNOWCAP COAL COMPANY RECLAMATION / PG. 5 <br />Ventilation Shaft were characterized by low resistivity. [SCC Report; Pg, 5] The SCC Report <br />suggests that the low electrical resistivity could be explained by "rubble filled pathways with <br />higher clay content." <br />However, air is highly resistant to electron transmission. A sub -surface void destroys the <br />natural compactness of the soil and allows the formation of air pockets, or disaggregated soils, <br />through which water may permeate downward into the mine cavern. The more open or <br />disaggregated the void becomes, the greater the amount of air in the void and, thus, the higher <br />resistance to electron flow. Thus, an air ventilation shaft — drilled for the very purpose of <br />transmitting air through a "tube" as it were — should have a high resistivity to electron flow. A <br />void created by the collapse of a mining cavern several tens of feet below ground would not have <br />a direct air flow. The soil is disaggregated and has various air pockets due to subsidence and <br />cavern collapse. The electron flow will encounter resistance from air, but the degree of <br />resistance would be lower than the resistance in an "air tube". <br />Moreover, "clay" is merely a term given to small particles of natural material which have <br />certain similar characteristics. One of those characteristics is the resistance by clay to water <br />permeability. This resistance varies from low to extremely high. Bentonite, for example, will <br />contain water and is highly valued as a liner for various water reservoirs or ponds. Ilium and <br />Mudstone, however, are poorly valued since they will merely deflect water (at best) or simply <br />dissolve in water (at worst). The undisputed finding that there is high water conductivity, <br />therefore, strongly suggests that a large percentage of clays (low water conductivity) are not <br />present in the tested soils. Therefore, explaining the low resistivity anomalies by the presence of <br />"rubble filled pathways with higher clay content" is contradictory to known site conditions. <br />Curiously, the Fugro Report did not report any "anomalies" below the very sinkhole <br />down which thousands of gallons of water had rapidly (nay, immediately!) disappeared in June, <br />2014 and April 4, 2016. The Fugro Report does not attempt to explain this lack of anomalies. <br />Instead, it finds anomalies only under the air ventilation shaft down which no water was ever <br />dumped or inserted. The Fugro Report suggests that these anomalies under the air shaft are <br />subsurface voids, and Fugro posits their location. Yet, Fugro never took the next confirmatory <br />step of boring into the ground to locate the suspected void! <br />A geological report would normally include the taking of samples; the identification of <br />soil constituents; and, if possible, a correlation between the soil constituents and undisputed <br />surface/subsurface activity. However, neither the SCC nor the Fugro Report reference any <br />sampling; testing; or efforts to correlate the loss of 10,000 gallons of water to the soil <br />constituents. <br />SCC's investigation was directed to determine the "...extent of the hydrologic <br />communication..." existing (without dispute by SCC) between surface water and mine inflow. <br />This has not been done. Indeed, the waters have muddied: no pun intended. SCC relies entirely <br />upon the Fugro Report: having not reported any investigation of its own. The Fugro Report <br />appears to rely upon opinions that do not comport with known geologic properties of clay, <br />known resistance by air to electrons and known site conditions. <br />