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• . <br />Seriousness $1750.00 <br />Fault $750.00 <br />Good Faith $0.00 <br />Total $2750.00 <br />History <br />There have been five NOV's issued to the Golden Eagle Mine during <br />the past twelve months. <br />Seriousness <br />Mr. Lopez strongly disagreed with the penalty proposed for <br />seriousness. He did not feel a large amount of contaminated <br />water was discharged. Most of the water was contained in a <br />ditch, albeit an irrigation ditch. The areal extent of coal <br />fines in the fields was approximately 50' x 30' where the ditch <br />broke and approximately 30' x 30' plus 40' of road where the E-W <br />ditch deposited the fines. Additionally, the ditch and fields <br />have not been used for several years. None of the disturbed area <br />water went into the adjacent Purgatoire River. He felt the <br />damage was low. <br />Based on the information presented in the conference, I agree the <br />penalty may be a little high, I don't think this is the worst <br />case situation. The duration of flow was two days and if gone <br />undetected much longer the extent of damage would have been much <br />greater. However, the fact that 5-8,000 gallons of disturbed <br />area water did flow and deposited coal fines into the irrigation <br />ditch and fields, regardless of whether they are in use this year <br />or not, constitwtes severe damages. I recommend a penalty of <br />$1,500. <br />fault <br />Mr. Lopez requested a reduction in this penalty. He felt he was <br />diligently maintaining the ditch. Apiece of plastic had blown <br />into the ditch creating the blockage. He observed the damage <br />during his regular weekly maintenance check and immediately <br />repaired it. <br />The circumstances of this NOV are unfortunate, 1 piece of plastic <br />blown into a critical culvert, and the heavy late spring snowfall <br />followed by unusually warm temperatures. Unusual weather <br />conditions may create the need to inspect more frequently than <br />once a week. I agree with the proposed penalty. <br />C,,god Faith <br />The ditch was sealed immediately after the breach was observed. <br />A few days later, as soon as the area was accessible by <br />equipment, the entire mine ditch system was cleaned. The <br />operator contacted the land owner immediately upon observing the <br />problem and they agreed to a clean-up plan. However, the lessee <br />wanted to evaluate all his alternatives before granting access to <br />the irrigation ditches or the fields. Basin Resources worked <br />