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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. The focus of this partial inspection was to examine the relationship between the pond dischazges at the Bowie No. 2 Mine into the Deer Trail Ditch and how the dischazge may affect the Fire Mountain Canal. The Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology (DMG) was contacted by Bob Major of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), who had concerns that the Bowie No. 2 pond dischazges could or aze getting into the Fire Mountain Canal. The USBR owns the Fire Mountain Canal. It was decided to meet in the field and examine the Bowie No. 2 sediment ponds in question and to inspect those sections of the Deer Trail Ditch and Fire Mountain Canal that are near the Bowie No., 2 Mine site. Present for the Feld inspection were Bob Major and Dan Crabtree, both of the USBR. Paul Schmucker, Vice President of the Fire Mountain Canal.organization, and Dixie Luke, a Fire Mountain Canal water user and former Fire Mountain Canal representative, were also present. Merritt Denison, superintendent of the Fire Mountain Canal Company was present for only a portion of the inspection. Bill Bear of Bowie Resources Limited (BRL) and Jim Stover, consultant for BRL, represented the Bowie No. 2 Mine operator. Joe Dudash represented the DMG. Before the field inspection began, Bob Major explained why the USBR has a water quality issue and a water capacity issue with the Bowie No. 2 Mine pond discharges as they relate to the Fire Mountain Canal. According to Bob Major, the Fire Mountain Canal receives certain exemptions from the Clean Water Act as long as the water in the Fire Mountain Canal is not degraded. Therefore, the USBR has a policy to not allow storm runoff from disturbed land to get into the Fire Mountain Canal. The USBR even tries to keep storm runoff from undisturbed land out of the Fire Mountain Canal. However, if the Bowie No. 2 Mine sediment pond dischazges that flow into the Deer Trail Ditch get into the Fire Mountain Canal, these Clean Water Act exemptions aze jeopardized. The USBR keeps upgradient storm water out of the Fire Mountain Canal by passing the runoff through culverts that go under the Fire Mountain Canal, called undershoots, through culverts that go over the Fire Mountain Canal, called overshoots, or through a siphon system, such as is used to pass the Fire Mountain Canal water past the Hubbard Creek drainage. One such Fire Mountain Canal undershoot culvert is located in the drainage for the Bowie No. 2 Mine coal waste pile number 2. That culvert was four feet in diameter. In the azea of the Bowie No. 2 Mine, there were several overshoots of the Fire Mountain Canal to handle the imgation water from the Deer Trail Ditch. The USBR is also concerned that, if there is a precipitation event that results in all of the Bowie No. 2 Mine sediment ponds to dischazge at the same time, the dischazge may overwhelm the Deer Trail Ditch and flow into the Fire Mountain Canal, especially if the Deer Trail Ditch has reduced capacity due to lack of maintenance. If the water flow from the Deer Trail Ditch into the Fire Mountain Canal is large enough, the integrity of the Fire Mountain Canal structure may be jeopazdized. This situation is exacerbated if seepage from the up gradient Bowie No. 2 Mine sediment ponds adversely affects the slope stability, and therefore the integrity, of the Fire Mountain Canal.