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Three concrete examples will illustrate why Basin's experts must necessarily discuss <br />causality prior to 1997, if only to address issues raised by Mr. Gerity's report. <br />First, Mr. Gerity azgues that Basin's mining activities must have caused the problems at <br />the Tatum residence from the be inning due to a coincidence of timing. <br />There have been many opinions expressed as to the cause of the failure to <br />the Tatum house, other than coal mining, but none of these have explained <br />why the house would suddenly fail after it stood for over 60 years without <br />a problem. During that time frame there have been all kinds of climate <br />changes, ground water fluctuations, and other natural conditions. The <br />house did not fail until after coal mining had started in the neaz vicinity. <br />Gerity Report at 6-7. One of Basin's experts, Mr. Rold, has discovered, based on conversations <br />with the previous owner of the Tatum house and deposition testimony offered in the District <br />Court proceeding, that the Tatum house was subject to cracking many years before mining <br />approached that house. Mr. Rold has also Teamed that Mr. Tatum sealed the adobe house with <br />cement stucco shortly after he bought it in 1988, which provides a changed circumstance that <br />might account for the allegedly sudden failure of the house shortly thereafter. Mr. Thompson, <br />Basin's other expert, is a structural and geotechnical engineer familiar with the Tatum structure. <br />He analyzed soil samples taken from beneath the Tatum house in December of 2000. These <br />sample confirm that settling soils under variable moisture conditions could cause movement <br />sufficient to explain the damage at the Tatum house. These facts aze presumably among those <br />that the Tatums and the Division wish to exclude from the Board's consideration. These facts <br />must necessarily enter the record to allow Basin [o respond to the misleading conclusion offered <br />by Mc Gerity in his report. <br />Second, Mr. Gerity azgues that the damage to the Tatum house may have been triggered <br />by seismic events related to coal mining. Gerity Report at 6. He notes that a mine explosion <br />occurred on February 27, 1991 (although he doesn't note that this explosion was a considerable <br />-7- <br />