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specifications and to re-cettify and submit the as-built to the Division, The abatement date was
<br />March 16, 2001.
<br />The NOV was modified because the original NOV form was missing two items; the NOV issue
<br />date and the permit sections [hat were violated. Also, the abatement date was extended to March
<br />23, 2001 to allow time for the re-certification. The operator completed both steps of the NOV
<br />abatement by March 22, 2001, one day ahead of schedule. However, Dave B. wants me to
<br />inspect the pond myself. Therefore, a second abatement date extension to April 13, 2001 was
<br />made to allow me to get into the field during my next monthly inspection, so that I can inspect
<br />the pond.
<br />The original abatement date was not sooner than 10 days because, a[ the time of the inspection,
<br />there were several reasons to believe that the sedimentation pond could still treat the mine site
<br />runoff appropriately. First, it is unusual for the pond to have significant amounts of water in it
<br />and, at [he time of the inspection, there was almost no water in the pond.
<br />Also, because of the reclamation activities at the West Portal azea, the drainage area that reports
<br />to the pond had been reduced by about half. The facilities bench that used to drain to the pond
<br />had been graded and is now down gradient of the pond, draining to a large berm and two rows of
<br />silt fence. The area that still drains to the pond is well vegetated and has never shown much
<br />runoff. I was confident that, if there was a 10 year precipitation event, the pond would probably
<br />fully contain the runoff, without discharging.
<br />Finally, the pond embankment and spillways were not impinged upon by the additional soil in
<br />the pond.
<br />The operator had the contractor begin to clean out the pond on March 7, 2001, the day after the
<br />NOV was issued. The operator could not begin the excavation work sooner because the
<br />contractor was no[ on site the day the NOV was issued. After I returned from the Feld, the
<br />operator e-mailed pictures to me, showing the progress of the excavation work. The first a-mail
<br />pictures were sent to me on March 8, 2001 in the a.m., showing some of the excavation work that
<br />had been done the previous day. According to Basil Bear, the pond excavation was completed on
<br />Friday, March 9, 2001.
<br />According to ]im Stover, consultant for Bowie Resources, the reworked pond was surveyed on
<br />March 16, 2001. Jim Stover inspected the pond, and took pictures, on March 21, 2001. ]im, then,
<br />recertified the pond on March 22, 2001 and sent the recertification to the Division on the same
<br />day. This satisfied the two abatement steps, one day ahead of schedule. On March 23, 2001, Jim
<br />e-mailed the photos of the pond that he had taken two days before.
<br />The deadline for the operator to submit comments concerning the NOV was March 21, 2001.
<br />The Division did not receive any such comments.
<br />To assist you in your evaluation of the various components of the civil penalty, I present the
<br />following information. In the last twelve months, the Bowie No. I Mine Permit No. C-81-038
<br />has received one NOV, CV-2000-013, for failure to maintain a proper reclamation bond
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