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ARCO ~i 555 Seventeenth Street III III'IIIII'III'll Denver, Coloratlo 80202 Telephone 303 293 4246 999 Fax 303 293 4098 October 29, 1996 R. Kirk Mueller Senior Attorney Mike Long Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology 1313 Sherman Street, Suite 215 Denver. Colorado 80203 RECEIVED ~:T 3 0 199 ~IYISIeH ar wnRaldip ~ Uaaip~Y Re: Permit No. C-80-007/Notice of Violation No. C-96-013 Dear Mr. Long: On June 13, 1996, a Notice of Violation ("NOV") was issued to Mountain Coal Company in connection with certain conditions at the lower refuse pile at the West EIk Mine near Somerset, Colorado. Mountain Coal requested a settlement conference to discuss the NOV which was held on September 26, 1996 and the conference officer recommended certain adjustments to the penalty. The adjusted penalty was proposed to Mountain Coal as a settlement agreement with the condition that the penalty must be paid by October 26, 1996. My purpose in writing is to request an additional adjustment to the penalty assessment. The stated basis for the NOV was Mountain Coal's failure to 1) separately remove and segregate subsoil material located on the lower refuse pile, 2) protect the physical and chemical properties of the subsoil, and 3) obtain Division approval prior to creating a new subsoil storage pile. Mountain Coal indicated at the settlement conference that a number of problems leading to the issuance of the NOV were caused, in part, by miscommunications between the Division and Mountain Coal for which Mountain Coal takes responsibility. Indeed, the settlement conference served as a useful forum for identifying and developing an awareness of communication problems so that such problems can be avoided in the future. Also at the conference, Mountain Coal asked for a reduction in the "seriousness" component of the penalty with regard to the reported loss of subsoil. Although Mountain Coal acknowledges that the salvaging and stockpiling of resources such as subsoil is an important reclamation obligation, the amount of subsoil identified in the Notice of Violation as being lost or changed in its chemical or physical characteristics was, relatively speaking, extremely small. Of the total subsoil involved in the refuse pile salvage project, only 0.7% was allegedly affected. In terms of the total volume of subsoil available at the West Elk Mine site (which Mountain Coal believes will be substantially more than adequate for all present and anticipated needs), Mountain Coal estimates that the amount of AOenUC PrcM1Veltl Cpmpanv