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III. COMMENTS -COMPLIANCE Below are comments on the inspection. The comments include discussion of observations made during the inspection. Comments also describe any enforcement actions taken during the inspection and the facts or evidence supporting the enforcement action. This was the 3`d Quarter complete inspection of the Roadside North and South Portals Mine, conducted by Dan Mathews of DMG, accompanied at various times by Tim Stover and Tonya Hammond, representatives of Snowcap Coal Company (SCC). Field inspection was conducted the afternoon of September 9, all day September 10, and the morning of September 13. Office records were reviewed the afternoon of September 12. Weather was cloudy and mild to cool throughout the week, with scattered light rain showers during the period. Heavier rains had fallen on portions of the mine azea over the weekend prior to the inspection, and weekend rains in the Coal Creek watershed had resulted in significant flow in the Coal Creek channel through the permit area. The Coal Creek flow was of typically short duration, and by Monday afternoon there was no flow in the channel. Enforcement Actions Two enforcement actions were issued as a result of the inspection NOV CV-2002-018 was issued forfailure to construct or mairaai» disturbed area drainage collection pipes tofunction as designed, to ensure that adverse impacts to hydrologic balance are minimized Specifically, apparent leak in collection pipe has developed because water inflow at upper end does not discharge through pipe outlet into Pond 8 per approved design. Also, outlet pipe diameter is 6 ,rather than 8 diameter specifred on Map 6B. The NOV pertains to a disturbed area drainage collection conveyance system consisting of inlet drains on the South Mine portal bench/parking area, and associated buried PVC pipes designed to route storm drainage and portal area seepage from the portal bench down to Sediment Pond 8. On September 9, Tonya Hammond of SCC had arrived at the mine site prior to the inspection, and discovered problems with two sets of drainage collection pipes in the South Mine area. The fvst problem was a plugged pipe leading from a collection sump on a road segment immediately west of the portal bench pazking area, to Sediment Pond 8. The operator took appropriate and timely measures to address this problem prior to the end of the inspection, and it was not included in the NOV. The item is discussed more fully in a following section of this report. The second problem Ms. Hammond discovered was that, although seepage from the mine ` portal azea was drnining into a small inlet drain on the mine bench, there was no dischazge at the outlet end of the pipe into Pond 8. When I arrived at the site at approximately 12:15 p.m., we observed the locations of concern and discussed possible remedial measures. Checking the site Sediment Control Map (Exhibit 6B), we noted that the map showed one buried 8 PVC pipe leading from the road segment collection sump drain into Fond 8, and a separate buried 8 PVC pipe leading from three gated collection drains along the west end ofthe portal bench, into Pond 8. The map does not show the smaller collection drain inlet located in the mine bench parking area further to the east, adjacent to the shop building, which presumably also ties into the same pipe collection system associated with the three larger grated drains. We also noted that, while the map shows an 8 diameter PVC pipe leading from the collection drains to the pond, the blue PVC pipe that outlets into Pond 8, appazently the pipe from the pertinent collection drains, was only 6 diameter. On September 10, a contractor hired by the operator ran a significant volume of water through one of the collection drains on the mine bench, but the water did not discharge through the pipe outlet into Pond 8. This would seem to confirm that there is a break in the pipe. We were unable to locate any areas of surface seepage or erosion along the apparent route of the pipe, where the break might have occurred.