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151 Interior Dec. 286 <br />:(Cite as: 151 Interior Dec. 286, *304, 2000 WL 1740340, **14 (D.O.I.)) <br />Page 15 <br />any of the damage to appellants' house. (Memorandum to File, dated Feb. 16, 1995 <br />(referring to Trip Report at 2).) This was supported by Craft's own computer <br />modeling. (Craft Report at 4-5, 7.) <br />~ **15 Appellants contend that OSM erred in declining to initiate a Federal <br />¢nvestigation and take Federal enforcement action because BRI's underground <br />mining operations caused material damage to their home. (SOR, IBLA 96-91, at 1, <br />I7, 12, 14-15.) They argue that the three professional engineers hired by them, <br />Gerity, Attwooll, and Reins, as well as Vigil, the Las Animas County Building <br />4nspector, each support the conclusion that the "majority" of the damage evident <br />in their house resulted from mine subsidence. Id. at 1. They state that "[t]he <br />tudy of the cause and effect of coal mining is not exact," gut that "[n]o other <br />seasonable explanation can explain what has happened to our Mme * * *." Id. at <br />2. Thus, appellants conclude that BRI was required to repair ~'ze damage to their <br />'zouse or compensate them for that damage. Id. at 12, 14. <br />~ Gerity believed that subsidence could have caused the damage to appellants' <br />house because there was no verified distance from the mine workings to the <br />house. (Memorandum to Tatums from Gerity, dated Dec. 27, 1994, at 3 ("My <br />Friticism of (DMG's] reports is they did not indicate that they * * * eliminated <br />the possible [subsidence] effects because of the unsubstantiated distance").) He <br />later stated, after further reviewing DMG's files and reference information and <br />again visiting the site, that "[t]here is definitely the possibility of mine <br />subsidence, and this subsidence could have affected the stability of the house." <br />~("Report on the Potential Causes of Subsidence of the Solitario Ranch House," <br />~ated January 1995 at 2.) Gerity attributed this possibility first to the fact <br />hat subsidence "does occur" even with limited extraction room and pillar <br />mining: "Over time, the mine roof may fail, the pillars may fail, or the mine <br />[loor may fail. Failure is often accelerated by water in the mine, affecting the <br />~tability of the rocks, and failure can also occur when the floors are soft." <br />Id. at 3; see Memorandum to Tatums from Gerity, dated July 13, 1995, at 2-3. <br />*305 Attwooll, who inspected Appellants' house on February 23, 1995, concluded <br />chat the cracks observed in the exterior and interior walls were wider and more <br />pronounced in the eastern two-story portion of the house than in the western <br />bne-story portion, where the cracks were from hairline to less than one-eighth <br />bf an inch wide. (Letter to Appellants, dated March 16, 1995, at 1- 2.) He <br />attributed the narrow cracking generally in the western one-story portion of the <br />'louse to the normal aging process of an old adobe house, but the severe cracking <br />generally in the eastern two- story portion of the house; which was <br />"[r]elatively recent [and] * * * possibly ongoing," to a "settlement incident." <br />Td. at 3. He pointed out that the freshness of some of the cracks was "indicated <br />~y the separation of recently painted surfaces." Id. <br />**16 Attwooll then proceeded to assess the possibility that this extensive <br />racking was caused by water leaking from the roof, the rotting roots attached <br />o the stumps of two large nearby cottonwood trees,, fluctuations in the high <br />~ater table, poor drainage around the house, deterioration of walls above the <br />foundation, or, finally, subsidence extending northeast from BRI's First North <br />Lain mining. (Letter to Appellants, dated March 16, 1995, at 4-6.) He ruled out <br />each of the possible explanations other than mine subsidence, mostly because <br />none explained the extent or recent nature of the damage to the eastern two- <br />Copr. ° West 2001 No Claim to Orig. U.S. Govt. Works <br />