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<br />BEFORE THE MRJED LAND RECLAMATION BOARD <br />STATE OF COLORADO <br />ENDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND ORDER <br />IN THE MATTER OF THE ALLEGED VIOLATION OF THE PATHFINDER DEVELOPNIENT, INC. <br />FILE NO. M-1994-113 <br />THIS MATTER came before the Mined Land Reclamation Board on September 21, 2000 at Denver, <br />Colorado for hearing on a notice of alleged violation pursuant to § 34-32-124, C.R.S. Scott Smith appeared on <br />behalf of Pathfinder Development, inc. Steve Shuey appeared on behalf of the Division of Minerals and <br />Geology. Jack Sperber, Esq., appeared on behalf of the Public Service Company. Bill Janke, a complaining <br />citizen, appeared on his own behalf. The Board, having considered the notice of violation, the testimony and <br />exhibits of the parties, and having been otherwise fully informed in the premises, hereby finds and concludes as <br />follows: <br />FINDINGS OF FACT AN'D CONCLUSIONS OF LAW <br />1. This case involves an alleged violation by Pathfinder involving its failure to demonstrate the stability of an <br />upgrade to its access road to its gravel mine, known as the Pathfinder Pit, located in San Miguel County, <br />Colorado. The issue is whether the access road should be part of the Pathfinder Pit affected area. <br />2. A portion of the access road for this mine runs along an embankment in which the Public Service Company <br />has buried a water supply pipeline known as the Ames Hydro Penstock. This is a fiberglass pipeline that <br />carries water from two lakes located upstream on the Lake Fork of the San Miguel River to the Ames Hydro <br />Power Plant. <br />3. The Division inspected the Pathfinder Pit on November 12, 1999, finding a substantial upgrade on the <br />access road for the pit. This upgrade included adding substantial earth fill to the embankment, over and <br />adjacent to the PSC pipeline at the location where the pipeline had ruptured in 1997. At that location, the <br />embankment is located in a drainage upstream from several homes, including Mr. Janke's home. <br />4. After inspecting the new fill on the embankment, the Division became concerned about the stability of the <br />fill and the embankment. The Division is concerned about [he stress this fill adds [o the embankment and [o <br />