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10. "Water and methane intrusions were also common at least three yeazs before the mine closure. <br />In a letter to the Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on January 25, 1950, the <br />president of the Calumet Fuel Company described the following conditions in the Oliver No. <br />2 Mine (unpublished letter written to BLM Director Marion Clawson by Claude P. Heiner, <br />January 25, 1950): <br />I. In October 1949, water seeped into the 3`d West entries from Sylvester Gulch, as the <br />entries were driven beneath the gulch. The water softened the entry floors and caused the <br />roof to swell and cave. Mining was halted because of mining problems (it became <br />impossible to operate the mobile loaders and shuttle cazs) and to protect the miners. <br />2. About this time, the south main, consisting of four entries, was driven southwazd in an <br />attempt to turn off another set of entries either east or west. Sudden, large outflows of <br />water and methane were encountered in the development entries. The volumes were large <br />enough to force the company to remove the mobile loaders and shuttle cars and replace <br />them with shaker conveyors in order to continue development." <br />[Exhibit 60, "Subsidence Evaluation for the Apache Rocks and the Box Canyon Mining Areas <br />- May 1996; Revised February 1998", page 21; repeated on Permit page 2.05-127 (Mazch <br />2005)] <br />11. "Seals, consisting of a double row of cinder blocks, were installed 75 to I50 feet north of the <br />northern entry of 151 West entries of the Oliver No. 2 Mine in December 1953 (Boyd <br />Emmons, oral communication, November 6, 1996). They were installed to seal off the water <br />and methane coming from various areas of the mine. Appazently these seals did not <br />completely seal off either water or methane under pressure because water was observed <br />draining from the Oliver No. 2 Mine in the early 1970's and methane was detected with a <br />methanometer above the portal azea (Dunrud 1976, p. 33)." [Exhibit 60, "Subsidence <br />Evaluation for the Apache Rocks and the Box Canyon Mining Areas" -May 1996; Revised <br />February 1998", page 21; repeated on Permit pages 2.05-127 and 128 (March 2005)] <br />12. "Although no water was observed in the Oliver No. 2 portal area during a field inspection in <br />October 1996, water may be flowing beneath the road grade of State Highway 133. <br />According to Bob Barrett, Grand Junction District Geologist for the Colorado Department of <br />Transportation (CDOT), a drainage system (cobble and geotechnical fabric) was installed <br />within the drainage area of the unnamed drainage west of Box Canyon to channel the <br />numerous springs that were encountered during highway construction in 1980 (oral <br />communication, Bob Barrett to John Rold, November 14, 1996). The reported springs <br />encountered during construction of Highway 133 aze thought to reflect flows emanating from <br />the Oliver No. 2 Mine." [Exhibit 60, "Subsidence Evaluation for the Apache Rocks and the <br />Box Canyon Mining Areas -May 1996; Revised February 1998", pages 21 and 22; repeated <br />on Permit page 2.05-128 (March 2005)] <br />13. "Based on the history of mining the Oliver No. 2, water and methane also may locally be <br />expected to be encountered during the mining of the B-Seam in that area at least. Apparently <br />