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<br /> <br /> <br />Proposed Civil Penalty Assessment <br />Trapper Mining, Inc. / Trapper Mine <br />Violation No. CV-2023-001 (Issued June 21, 2023) <br />Date of Proposed Assessment: July 19, 2023 <br /> <br />Materials reviewed: DRMS Cessation Order CO-2023-001 issued on June 13, 2023, DRMS Notice of Violation CV-2023- <br />001 issued on June 21, 2023, DRMS inspection report issued on June 21, 2023, and Map M10B from Permit Revision No. <br />11 issued on May 27, 2023. Trapper Mining, Inc. (TMI) did not submit written information about the violation for DRMS <br />consideration within 15 days of service of CV-2023-001 (by July 6, 2023), as allowed by Rule 5.04.3(1). DRMS Senior <br />Environmental Protection Specialist Jared Ebert requested a Proposed Civil Penalty Assessment on June 22, 2023. <br /> <br />Rule 5.04.5(3)(a) – History of Previous Violations <br />No notice of violations have been issued within one year of the issuance date for CV-2023-001. A cessation order (CO- <br />2023-001) was served to TMI on June 13, 2023. However, the time within which TMI can request administrative and/or <br />judicial appeal of the CO has not yet expired. Therefore, no penalty will be assessed for this provision. <br /> Penalty assessed: $0 <br /> <br />Rule 5.04.5(3)(b) – Seriousness <br />Up to $1,750 of the penalty assessment shall be based on the seriousness of the violation. The amount to be assessed for <br />seriousness depends on whether the violation was one of performance requirements or of administrative requirements. <br />CV-2023-001 was written for a violation of performance requirements (and permit conditions). <br /> <br />In the case of a violation of performance requirements, the amount to be assessed for seriousness is based on two factors: <br />(1) the probability of the occurrence of the event which a violated standard is designed to prevent, and (2) the duration and <br />extent of the potential or actual damage in terms of area and impact on the public environment. <br /> <br />With respect to the first factor, the event that standards are designed to prevent did in fact occur, as approximately 18 <br />acres of disturbance occurred outside of the approved 2023 topsoil strip/reclaim limit of J Pit West, per Map M10B <br />approved with Permit Revision No. 11 (PR-11). This disturbance included topsoil stripping and active drilling in <br />preparation of mining the area, as DRMS observed during its June 12, 2023 site inspection. Therefore, the probability of <br />the occurrence of the event was very low since the impacts were entirely avoidable if TMI had received approval of a <br />technical revision prior to commencing with the unapproved activities. However, TMI had submitted a technical revision <br />(TR-134) to expand the disturbance area for J Pit West, and this revision was under review at the time that CO-2023-001 <br />was issued. DRMS proposed its decision to approve TR-134 on July 14, 2023. Provided there are no objections, this <br />decision will become effective upon the termination of the ten day public comment period. This means the final approval <br />of TR-134 will likely occur prior to the abatement due date set for the violation (August 11, 2023). <br /> <br />With respect to the second factor, the full duration of the damage is unknown. However, the damage may have occurred at