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September 7, 1995 <br />Bear Coal Company, Inc. <br />P.O. Box 518 <br />Somerset, CO 81434 <br />Bear Mines 1, 2 & 3 <br />Complete Oversight Inspection <br />August 30 & 31, 1995 <br />Participants: <br />Christine Johnston, Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology <br />(DMG) <br />Basil Bear, Bear Coal Company, Inc. <br />Henry Austin, Office of Surface Mining (OSM) <br />I participated in a complete inspection of the Bear Mines as <br />indicated above. Weather conditions were clear and hot and ground <br />conditions were dry throughout the site. I conducted the last OSM <br />complete oversight inspection of this site on 3/8/94 and the <br />Albuquerque Field Office (AFO) participated in a partial bond <br />release inspection of this site during August 1994. <br />We began the inspection during the afternoon of 8/30/95 by <br />conducting a review of the permit and monitoring records <br />available at the minesite office. The office review included: <br />3/8/95 Construction Permit from the Air Pollution Control <br />Division; The NPDES Permit was amended during 10/94 to include <br />the Storm Water Management Plan and the Permit is current through <br />6/30/97; The quarterly discharge monitoring reports were current <br />through the second quarter of 1995; Sediment pond inspection <br />reports were current through the second quarter of 1995; The <br />Annual Reclamation Report was submitted 2/8/95 with no additions <br />from the previous year and the 1995 Annual Hydrological Report <br />was submitted on 3/17/95; The current bond is a U.S. Treasury <br />Note in the amount of $ 155,000 dated 12/13/93; There was a <br />spring survey in Lone Pine Gulch reported 12/22/94; Water <br />consumption data is current through 7/95; and there was a 4/19/95 <br />DMG letter to the permittee outlining water monitoring <br />requirements. Additional records reviewed beginning the morning <br />of 8/31 included: The current Liability Insurance Certificate <br />good through 5/1/96; The 7/17/95 most recent subsidence <br />monitoring report including the haul road monuments ( we <br />discussed the apparent vandalizing and/or bear damage to several <br />of the subsidence monitoring monuments and the consulting firm <br />doing the monitoring is in the process of reconstructing the <br />monuments as necesary ); and finally Mr. Bear discussed a few <br />recent incidents of high TDS sampling in the sediment pond. The <br />pond was not discharged out of compliance. Mr. Bear indicated the <br />company had pumped water from the base of the stacker/reclaimer <br />at the ROM coal stockpile into the sediment pond and that this <br />pumping could have been the source of the high TDS water. <br />