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
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