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Ms. Burgmaier said a Cessation Order was issued because the situation was or was expected to cause significant environmental harm at the time. Crude oil had gone into a drainage. She felt blasting had to cease until the problem was investigated. A subsequent review of the blasting records showed that the shot was in compliance and under normal circumstances would not have created such an impact. An unconsolidated ^pocket^ of the overburden material went undetected by the blasters. It was not competent enough to contain the energy needed to fragment the solid strata typically encountered in the area. The representatives of Peabody Western Coal Company, Gary Wendt, Curt Belden, Scott Williams, Brian Dunfee, and Steve Blomberg contested the issuance of the Cessation Order because, they did not feel the situation warranted the issuance of a Cessation Order. The reasons are clearly delineated in a letter to Mike Long dated October 27, 1993 and were discussed in the assessment conference. They are discussed below. As written the CO implies there were illegal ground vibrations citing 30 CFR §816.67(d). The true cause of the damage was from the flyrock, damage was not created by ground vibration. PCC felt it was inappropriate to cite a Federal Regulation. The Colorado program allows the use of the scale-distance formula, Rule 4.08.4(10)(1), using structures outside the permit area. The tanks and well are within the permit area. During the permitting of the Seneca IIW Hine concern about the oil well and tanks were raised. The issue was addressed by agreeing not to blast within 500 feet of the tanks. The blast was 650 feet from the facilities. They were in compliance with this requirement. They felt the nature of violation and the abatement should have addressed the true nature of the problem which was the flyrock. Furthermore, seismographic monitoring records from the oil facilities indicate that ground vibrations have never exceeded 4.0 inches per second (ips). The structures are designed to withstand peak particle velocities of at least 5.0 ips. PCC presented data and documentation supporting this. PCC realized the potential damage to the oil well facilities existed. A damage agreement had been signed with Southland Royalty Co. Meridian Oil subsequently became the operators of the well. A copy of the damage agreement was provided in the conference. There is no finding of significant imminent environmental harm to land, air or water resources. The topsoil resources was not lost or contaminated. There were no acid or toxic forming materials in the thrown overburden. This was documented by the analysis they brought in, Table 6-3 from the permit document. 2