INSPEC40618

• Permit No: C1981041
• IBM Index Class Name: Inspection
• Doc Name: Inspection Report
• Inspection Date: 6/17/2003
• 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 complete quarterly inspection of the Roadside North and South Portals Mine.
Required records were checked in the mine office and all disturbed areas were inspected in
the field. The inspection was begun at 8:30 a.m. on 6/17/03 and concluded at 11:00 a.m.
on 6/19/03. Tonya Hammond of Snowcap Coal Company (SCC) was present during the
inspection on 6/17 and 6/18, but not on the morning of 6/19.
Weather was clear and mild, and site conditions were dry throughout the period of
inspection. A coal mine waste bank special focus inspection was conducted on the morning
of 6117. The special focus portion of the inspection was conducted jointly with OSM.
OSM representatives Mitch Rollings and Howard Strand were present for this portion of the
inspection, which was limited to evaluation of offsite impact prevention and reclamation
success at the approved coal mine waste banks. The waste bank topics were selected as a
component of OSM's oversight evaluation of the Colorado program for the current year.
The special focus portion of the inspection is addressed in the following section of this
report.
Coal Mine Waste Bank Special Focus Inspection
The special focus portion of the inspection was conducted on the morning of 6/17/03.
Inspection participants walked the perimeter and interior portions of the three refuse
disposal areas (CRDA-1 and CRDA-2 in Coal Canyon, and RSRDA in the South Portals
vicinity). At the CRDA disposal sites, the primary focus of the inspection was on the upper
portions of the piles, which had been graded, cover soiled, and reseeded during 2002.
Permanent diversion and perimeter collection ditches for both CRDA piles were also
completed in 2002. Lower benches of the CRDA piles had been the subject of a special
focus inspection in 1997. The RSRDA pile had also been evaluated during the 1997 special
focus, but the entire RSRDA pile was modified by reclamation and drainage construction
operations in 2002.
At present, CRDA-2 has been fully reclaimed, CRDA-1 has been fully reclaimed except for a
segment of temporary "in pit" road, along the eastern side of the pile that has been left
open to accommodate disposal of coal fines from clean-up of various mine facility areas.
The slopes of the RSRDA pile were reclaimed in 2002, and the reclamation project included
the proper installation of two slope terrace drains, a new upper diversion ditch and
perimeter collection ditches, as well as cover soiling and revegetation. The relatively flat
top of the RSRDA pile had been cleaned up and graded to drain away from the outslope. A
thin soil cover was spread over the top of the pile, but the final reclamation grading, cover
soiling, and revegetation is not required to be completed until 2004.
Specific measurements of bench slopes and distances, cover soil depths, and diversion ditch
dimensions were not taken during the inspection, because such measurements had
previously been made by the Division, as documented in inspection reports referenced here
below. Likewise, compliance with construction certification and hydrology/stability