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Mountain Coal Company <br />West Elk Mine <br />Pos[ Office Box 591 <br />Somerset, Colorado 81434 <br />Telephone 970-929-5015 <br />February 24, 1998 <br />Ms. Susan McCannon <br />Coal Program Supervisor <br />Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology <br />1313 Sherman Street, Suite 215 <br />Denver, Colorado 80203 <br />RE: Notice of Violation CV-97-022 <br />Dear Susan: <br />RECEIVED <br />,=~3 2rr ~~r. <br />I~~~ <br />Division of Minerals 8 Geology <br />III IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII <br />sss <br />F~N1~~" <br />It was a pleasure to meet with you recently at the Bear Mine site and the West Elk Mine. We <br />very much appreciate you and other members of the Colorado Division of Minerals and <br />Geology ("Division") taking the time to meet with us and tour the sites, and I hope you found <br />the visit useful. <br />As the Division progresses with its evaluation of the above-referenced Notice of Violation <br />("NOV"), we need to keep an eye on the deadlines. As you know, Mountain Coal Company <br />("MCC") and the Division have, by agreement, extended some of the deadlines in the NOV to <br />allow both entities more time to study the landslide and water discharging from the hillside at <br />the Bear Mine. However, all of the deadlines -- as extended -- will expire this week. In <br />particular, the deadlines for the "complete removal of all waters stored in the Northwest Panels <br />Sealed Sump' and to "completely implement the mitigation plan" were originally set in the NOV <br />for February 24, 1998 and have not been extended. In addition, the deadline to "terminate the <br />transfer of all waters to the northwest panel sealed sumps" was and to provide a "detailed <br />mitigation plan to prevent off-site discharge of mine waters" were both extended from the <br />original deadlines in the NOV until February 24. Finally, Mountain Coal Company and the <br />Division agreed to extend the Rule 5.04.3.2 of the Regulations of the Colorado Mined Land <br />Reclamation Board for Coal Mining deadline to assess a proposed civil penalty until <br />February 27, 1998. <br />To the extent that the Division may require more time beyond this week to complete its review <br />of this matter and to decide MCC's request that the NOV be vacated, I suggest that the <br />Division suspend the current deadlines pending its decision or, alternatively, that we discuss <br />setting new deadlines at some point far enough in the future to allow the Division to make its <br />determination. <br />Thank you very much for your assistance in this matter. <br />Very truly yours, <br />~ ~~~ <br />Phil G. Schmidt <br />Engineering Manager <br />xc: Dave Berry Christine Johnston Kirk Mueller <br />Michael Boulay Scott Jones Kathy Welt <br />Gene DiClaudio Mike Long <br />