ENFORCE38065

• Permit No: C1980004
• IBM Index Class Name: Enforcement
• Doc Date: 12/9/2004
• Doc Name: Memo -Penalty Assessment Request
• From: Dan Mathews
• To: Dan Hernandez
• Violation No.: CV2004005
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

STATE OF COLORADO
DIVISION OF MINERALS AND GEOLOGY
Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman St., Room 215
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
DATE: December 9, 2004
TO: Dan Hernandez
From: Dan Mathews t
COLORADO
DIVISION OF
MIN SRALS
GEOLOGY
RECLAMATIO N•MI NING
SAf ETY•SC IENCE
Bill Owens
Governor
Russell George
Executive Director
RE: NOV CV-2004-005 Penalty Assessment
Ronald W. Cattany
McClave Canyon Mine, Permit No. C-1980-004 Division Director
Natural Resource Trustee
Dan, I need to request that you prepare a proposed civil penalty assessment for NOV CV-2004-
005. I issued the NOV to Central Appalachia Mining, LLC/ Lodestar Energy Inc., on 11/19/04. I
included both companies in the citation, due to the fact that we had issued a proposed decision to
transfer the permit from LEI to CAM on 11/17/04. The transfer decision will not be final until
12/19!04. CAM has been operating the mine for over a year, but the transfer was held up due to
lease royalty issues with LEI that had precluded BLM from approving the transfer of federal
leases to CAM. In case you were curious.
There have been no enforcement actions at the mine in the past 12 months, so History
component = $0.00
Documents pertinent to a proposed penalty assessment include the Notice of Violation, which I
issued on 11/19/04 based on my inspection of that date, and my inspection report of 11/22/04.
My 11/22/04 inspection report includes as attachments 7 digital photos that I took of the sediment
pond embankment from various perspectives during the inspection (labeled #1440 through 1446,
and 1449). Also attached to my inspection report is a quarterly pond inspection report completed
by P.E. Jim Stover, consultant to the operator, based on a pond inspection he did on October 28,
2004. I did not view a copy of the quarterly pond report until 11/22/04. Additional documents
pertinent to your assessment include Jim Stover's email to me, dated 11/22/04, and an
abatement extension notice that I issued on 11/24/04. The final relevant document is my
inspection report dated 12/9/04, based on my site inspection of 12/7/04. All of the relevant
documents should be in the Denver NOV file, with the exception of the 12/9/04 inspection report,
which I FAXED to you. [Note, V just now noticed that I erconeously dated the extension notice
11/29/04, it should have been dated 11/24/04. I stopped by the mine on my return from
Steamboat on the afternoon of 11/23, and it was based on my observations and discussion with
the operator on that date that I issued the extension notice the following day. I will write a memo
to the file to document this error]. Let me know if you are missing anything.
I think the evidence supporting the violation are adequately described in the 11/22/04 inspection
report and the photos attached to the report.
Seriousness:
Worst case scenario is that had there been a large precipitation/runoff event that filled the pond,
there likely would have been extensive seepage through the embankment and possibly a
collapse of the embankment with a surge of coal fines laden flow out of the pond and into East
Salt Creek. The sediment pond detains runoff from the coal stockpile, mine portals area, and
haul road. Uncontrolled discharge of disturbed drainage would have continued for some period of
time until control measures could have been implemented. In actuality, what happened is that the
operator noted initial cracking on 11/17 and contacted Jim Stover. He viewed the embankment
on 11/18 and directed the operator to begin pumping down the water level in the pond in
Office of Office of Colorado
Mined Land Reclamation Ac[ive and Inactive Mines Geological Survey