INSPEC29508

• Permit No: C1981041
• IBM Index Class Name: Inspection
• Doc Name: Inspection Report
• Inspection Date: 8/28/2007
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

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.
General Comments
This was a scheduled bond release inspection conducted in accordance with Rule 3.03.2(2), by Dan Mathews of
the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety (the Division). The major portion of the inspection was
conducted on August 28, 2007. A follow-up inspection, to check for possible subsidence features near the
confluence of Rapid Creek and Cottonwood Creek, was conducted on October 17, 2007. The permittee,
Snowcap Coal Company, Inc. (SCC), has submitted an application requesting release of liability for specified
portions of the Roadside North and South Portals Mine permit area where the land surface was not disturbed by
mining related facilities or structures. Portions of the area for which the release was requested have been
undermined by operations conducted under Permit C-1981-041.
The mining operations in the permit area are logically separated into two separate units, the "North Portal Area"
and the "South Portal Area" (both areas are included within the single permit, C-1981-041). The North Portal
Area includes workings accessed from the Roadside North Portal, and is located to the west of Interstate 70 and
the Colorado River. The South Portal Area includes workings accessed from the Roadside South Portal, and is
located to the east of Interstate 70 and the Colorado River. Liability release was requested for approximately
7,302 acres within the 10,310 acre permit area. The release request area includes lands within both the North
Portal Area and the South Portal Area. The liability release request was made in conformance with the
Division's April 13, 1987 Policy Memorandum titled "Release from Liability of Areas Overlying Underground Coal
Mine Workings". Coal extraction operations in the South Portal area ceased in early 1997, and extraction in the
North Portal area ceased in 1999. Mine portals were subsequently sealed, and the operator initiated reclamation
operations. No further coal extraction operations are planned or approved under Permit C-1981-041. Because
there has been no coal extraction in the permit area for over seven years, the Division requirement of a minimum
three year liability period for undermined areas, as specified in the 1987 policy memorandum, has been met. No
bond monies are associated with this request; the operator is requesting release from liability for areas
potentially affected by subsidence, but is not requesting release of funds from the reclamation bond held by the
Division.
Surface landowners in the permit and adjacent area were properly notified of the liability release application by
SCC, and the Division notified permit area surface owners of the date and time of the scheduled inspection.
Persons present at the beginning of the inspection on August 28, and the interestslorganizations they
represented were:
• Bob Major and Rutheyi Thompson of the Bureau of Reclamation, whose concern was in regard to
possible subsidence effects on irrigation canals within the permit area;
• Rita Crumpton of the Orchard Mesa Irrigation District (OMID); whose concern was in regard to the
Orchard Mesa Irrigation Canal;
• Tom Crumpton representing Ute Water Conservancy District; whose concern was in regard to Ute
Water's treatment plant and related facilities.
• Mike Goolsby and Kane Schmeidel of the Colorado Department of Transportation, Division of
Highways (CDOT), whose concern was in regard to potential subsidence effects along the Interstate
70 right of way through the permit area; and,
• Jim Stover and Tonya Hammond of J.E. Stover and Associates, representing Snowcap Coal
Company, Inc.
At the beginning of the inspection, participants gathered around the hood of my jeep, and I briefly summarized
the liability release proposal, the regulatory process associated with the release, and mining operations and
monitoring activity that had been conducted in the past by the permittee, with input from Mr. Stover and Ms.
Hammond. Various operational maps and the bond release map were viewed and discussed. At the conclusion
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