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R <br />outside of the jurisdiction of DMG, the blockages along the rail line did pose a potential risk to <br />the environment. Once completed within the week, the backhoe would have been used to clean <br />the culverts at the East Portal. <br />If the plugged culverts at the East Portal posed a reasonable environmental risk then hiring a <br />contractor and renting equipment would have been warranted. However, this was not the case. <br />When working in the real world one must learn to set priorities and deal with many issues using <br />limited resources. Not everything can take top priority but none-the-less everything must be <br />dealt within a reasonable amount of time. One must also develop a sense of patience since <br />Murphy's Law usually prevails and a seemingly simple project will take twice as long to <br />complete as originally anticipated. Cleaning the East Portal culverts took four full days of work <br />which included an unanticipated complete replacement of [he longest culvert (120 feet) through a <br />material storage area. <br />Other factors which may have influenced Mr. Mathews' decision to issue the NOV was his <br />recent reassignment [o a different supervisor and an OSM inspection pending less than two <br />weeks away. While these items technically should have absolutely no bearing on his decisions <br />everyone is subject to outside influence; consciously or subconsciously. It is not ours to say to <br />what degree these factors came into play. <br />Blue Mountain Energy, Inc. takes pride in maintaining a safe and environmentally responsible <br />operation. We firmly believe we were acting well within the constraints of the law while <br />appropriately addressing environmental concerns at the time the NOV was issued. While DMG <br />has recommended that no monitory penalty be assessed with this alleged violation BME does not <br />agree that a violation occurred. We take such accusations very seriously. <br />[f your have any questions or would like to further discuss this issue please call me at 970-675- <br />4322. <br />Thank you. <br />Sincerely, <br />~~~_,~.~ <br />Scott Wanstedt <br />Environmental Engineer <br />enc.: <br />cc: Dan Mathews -DMG <br />Ed Thatcher - DG&T <br />Alan Hillard - BME <br />Jeff Dubbert - BME <br />Rick Brady - BME <br />