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SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT JUSTIFICATION NOV C-93-010 Assessment Conference Summary NOV C-93-010 was issued by Janet Binns of the Division during her March 17, 1993 inspection of the Deserado Mine, operated by Western Fuels-Utah, Inc. (WFU). The NOV was issued for "[D]ischarge of coal fines into an ephemeral drainage". The NOV applied to discharge from Processing Pond #2 (PP2) into Scullion Gulch. Regulations cited were 4.05,1(1), "...minimize disturbance to the prevailing hydrologic balance...", and 4.05.2(Sj, which requires that facilities be installed and maintained to insure compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and limitations. Ms. Binns explained that at the time of her inspection, there was a small flow in Scullion Gulch due to snowmelt runoff and discharge from Sediment Pond DP-1. PP2 was not discharging, but it was evident that a recent discharge containing a significant quantity of coal fines had occurred, based on the presence of a residue of coal fines beginning at the PP2 outlet pipe. She stated that for most of the length of the gulch between the discharge pipe and a raw water lagoon dike at the confluence of Scullion Gulch and the White River (approximately 1 1/2 mile), a thin residue of coal fines lined the banks of the gulch from 6 inches to 12 inches above the water level. At the lower end of the gulch, where flows are impounded by a dike along the White River, forming a lagoon/wetland, coal fines approximately 1/4 inch thick had been deposited in a delta near the lagoon inlet, affecting an area of approximately 1 acre. Ms. Binns collected a water sample from Scullion Gulch just below the third of a series of three check dams located a short distance below the PP2 discharge pipe. The sample was within NPDES limits, but as previously noted, at the time of the inspection discharge from PP2 had ceased. Ms. Binns showed a series of slides documenting her observations, taken the day of the inspection, as well as an aerial photo print taken on March 24, one week after her inspection. The aerial photo clearly showed the delta deposit adjacent to the impounded water in the raw water lagoon at the mouth of Scullion Gulch. It also appeared from the photo that coal residue had been contained within the lagoon, and had not passed through the dike spillway into the White River. Upon the conclusion of Ms. Binn's presentation, the operator representatives conceded that mistakes had been made and a violation had occurred. Murari Shrestha explained that several days prior to the inspection, a construction crew had been working in the prep plant area, and made the decision to discharge water from PP2 into Scullion Gulch, to avoid the possibility of a major spill which would have occurred had their activities damaged the water line between PPZ and the prep plant. The crew was evidently in somewhat of a rush to complete their work, and failed to notify Tim Chervick, the environmental coordinator of their intent to