INSPEC09940

• Permit No: M1980233
• IBM Index Class Name: Inspection
• Doc Name: MINERALS PROGRAM INSPECTION REPORT
• Inspection Date: 2/27/1995
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

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MINE ID#: M-80-233
INSPECTION DATE: 2/27/95
INSPECTOR'S INITIALS: JCS
This was a routine monitoring inspection. Mr. Epi Jaramillo, Coetilla County Commissioner,
and Mr. Joe Ortiz, pit supervisor, were present during the inspection.
There was no ID sign at the entrance to the pit as required by Rule 3.1.12 (Copy attached).
The boundaries of the permit area and landfill are apparently marked by fences. The long
dimension of the permit area ie, however, oriented EW and the short dimension NS in contrast
to representations made in the approved permit application.
The pit was not undergoing active mining at the time of the inspection. The excavated area
was being used exclusively as a landfill by the operator which ie the approved post-mining
land use. The pit has almost completely been filled. What remains of the pit walls ie
gently eloped. The operator's representatives indicated that no further mining at the site
was intended and that they expected to have the pit filled within a year.
There is no evidence of a Certificate of Designation as a landfill in the Division's records
for the pit. While the approved poet-mining land use was ae a landfill, the Division
believes it necessary that the county provide evidence of an approved Certificate of
Designation ae a landfill for the site before the county can be released from its reclamation
responsibilities under its MLRB permit. Such evidence prior to release is also required by
the Division's MOU with the Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division. If the county
ie to close the pit within the next year, presumably it also intends to have its MLRB permit
terminated, so it should provide evidence of a Certificate of Designation in the fairly near
future.
Since the pit ie, at present, still under an MLRB permit and current activities underway at
the Bite appear to have the potential to adversely impact the quality of ground water in its
area, the Division believes that permit conditions protective of existing and reasonably
potential future uses of ground water in the area should be established for the pit.
Consequently, pursuant to the requirements of Rule 3.1.7 (3) (b) (ii) (A) (Copy attached),
the Division ie, with this report, notifying Coetilla County that the burial of dead animals
in the land fill together with such other contaminants as might be expected in a landfill,
the 20 foot depth approved for excavation of the pit under the MLRB permit and the reported
occurrence of ground water at a depth of 20 feet in a domestic ground water supply well in
the same quarter quarter of Section 21 (See copy of State Engineer's records attached)
combine to create reasonable potential for degradation of ground water quality in the
vicinity of the pit and that there ie a possible need to modify the permit for the Landfill
Pit to include permit conditions to comply with Rule 3.1.7 (2) of the Mineral Rules. The
Division ie also notifying the county, with this report, that Coetilla County, ae operator
of the Landfill Pit (Permit M-80-233), is to provide the Division by July 1. 1995 the
necessary information to determine ground water quality, dept he and uses in the vicinity of
the pit together with such other geologic, hydrologic and contaminant information ae may be
necessary to establish permit conditions protective of ground water, Points of Compliance,
and, possibly, a ground water monitoring plan for the Landfill Pit.