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~~ ~II ~I~~I~~I~~~~~ II~ 999 DIVISION OF MINERALS AND GEOLOGY Department or Natural Rewurces 131 3 5hern.an ti1.. Room ? I i Denver, CO A02UJ Phone: IJOJi 856-3567 FAX: i?OJI 8J? R106 June 9, 1993 Mr. David L. Beverlin Edna Strip Mine Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Company P.O. Box 176 Oak Creek, Colorado 80467 RE: Edna Strip Mine (C-80-001) Notice of Violation C-93-026 Dear Mr. Beverlin: STATE OF COLORADO pF' f0 r%~bp •. ~ ° y rrr.~ Rny Romer Governor Michael B. Long Division Dveclor Enclosed please find a copy of a modification notice for the above mentioned notice of violation. As a result of the May 11, 1993 assessment conference, Dan Mathews (Division Assessment Conference Officer) recommended that the portion of the notice which applied to the coal spillage along the conveyor belt system be omitted. Mr. Mathews' recommendation was an objective decision based on facts presented at the conference by the Division and P&M. Mr. Mathews stated that given 1982 agreements between P&M and the Division, that portion of the notice was improperly written. He also stated that the permit may be defective in this regard. We believe that the Division inspectors made their 1982 determination in good faith, given the circumstances. We do not believe, however, that the decision to postpone maintenance of the spillage until final reclamation was correct. Clearly, it is impossible to predict the deterioration of any maintenance situation over an eleven year period without considerable deliberation and documentation. It is not apparent that either of these conditions existed at the time of the 1982 inspection. Further, a decision to allow a potentially negative practice to continue should be done by the approval of a revision to the permit. Again, this did not occur. To our knowledge, this situation is not addressed anywhere in the permit document. Finally, the opinion of an inspector does not constitute a final agenry action which precludes further investigation or even subsequent reversal. Inspectors are not always in the position to make a life of mine policy decision while conducting their inspections. Inspection documents should be utilized to document site conditions and permit compliance. They cannot, however, be construed to be binding permitting documents.