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<br />51 Interior Dec. 286
<br />Cite as: 151 Interior Dec. 286, *289, 2000 WL 1740340, **3 (D.O.I.))
<br />~tated, in his December 10, 1993, deposition, that he found the well inoperable
<br />n the various occasions that he observed it after February 1990, because "the
<br />mechanism that powers the windmill has been disconnected." (Deposition at 20.)
<br />The Tatums have not asserted that they operated the well at any time during
<br />kheir ownership of their land or that it was ever in a condition to be operated.
<br />They claim only that they "had the windmill looked at in 1990 *290 to determine
<br />hat windmill parts were needed," their position being that BRI's activities in
<br />991 caused the well to go dry. (Statement of Reasons for Appeal (SOR}, IBLA
<br />6-90, at 10, 11.)
<br />By letter dated December 18, 1991, the Tatums first advised BRI that damage,
<br />hich might be attributable to its underground mining operations, was occurring
<br />o their house. One year later, by letter dated December 15, 1992, they notified
<br />DMG that their water well was dry as a result of BRI's underground mining
<br />operations. On May 25, 1993, they sent a letter to DMG expressing concern that
<br />amage to their house was occurring as a result of subsidence caused by BRI's
<br />snderground mining operations. The letter was accompanied by a May 24, 1993,
<br />report prepared by Vince J. Vigil, Las Animas County Building Inspector. Vigil,
<br />yho, at the Tatums' request, had inspected their house on May 18, 1993, observed
<br />iumerous structural cracks in the walls (both interior and exterior), ceilings,
<br />ind corners of the various rooms and around the windows and doorways on both
<br />.evels. He concluded that there had been recent earth movement in close
<br />proximity to the residence, but did not attribute it to subsidence caused by
<br />sRI's nearby underground workings. (Memorandum to the Tatums from Vigil, dated
<br />ay 24, 1993, at 3.) Rather, Vigil advised the Tatums to hire a structural
<br />ngineer to conduct an in-depth investigation of the cause and remedy. Id.
<br />**4 DMG responded to the May 25, 1993, letter and attached report on July 7,
<br />993, concluding that it did not appear that any damage to the house was caused
<br />y mine subsidence. In a subsequent letter to the Las Animas County Planning and
<br />and Use Office, dated August 12, 1993, DMG expressed the same opinion.
<br />By letter dated November 30, 1993, the Tatums filed a citizen's complaint with
<br />3M alleging the BRI's underground mining operation had caused subsidence damage
<br />~ their residence and damage to a water well on their property. On December 7,
<br />393, in response to the citizen's complaint, OSM issued TDN No. 93-020-370-005
<br />~ DMG, listing three violations of Colorado State program standards. The TDN
<br />ascribed the violations as a failure to properly conduct a subsidence survey,
<br />~bsidence monitoring, and subsidence control plan for the Tatums' property, in
<br />olation of sections 2.05.6(6) and 4.20 of 2 Colo. CodejRegs. (1991) (Violation
<br />failure to control adverse consequences to a water well on the property
<br />iolation 2); and failure to provide a detailed operations plan of the proposed
<br />>r actual) underground workings as it related to the Tatum property (Violation
<br />. In accordance with 30 C.F.R. § 842.11, OSM required that the State take
<br />propriate action to correct the violations or show good cause for failing to
<br />so.
<br />7n December 20, 1993, DMG responded asserting that BRI had not violated State
<br />3ndards as alleged in Violations 1 and 3, and that, due to lack of historical
<br />Formation from the Tatums concerning the water well, it did not consider BRI
<br />have violated State standards, as set forth in Violation 2. On February 4,
<br />34, following the receipt of further information from DMG, the Albuquerque
<br />Copr. ® West 2001 No Claim to Orig. U.S. Govt. Works
<br />
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