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Mr. Robert F. T. Krassa - 7 - July 26, 1993 <br />14. (continued) <br />Basin Resources currently implements a subsidence monitoring program. <br />The Division is pursuing this matter further to determine what findings <br />regarding material damage or diminution of reasonably foreseeable use had <br />been made in the past regarding their proposed operations. We will <br />provide your office with this information as soon as we obtain it. <br />15. C.R.S. 34-33-121(2)(a) does not require operators to prevent subsidence. <br />This statute states that operators are required to "adopt measures <br />consistent with known technology in order to prevent subsidence causing <br />material damage to the extent technologically and economically feasible, <br />maximize mine stability, and maintain the value and reasonably foreseeable <br />use of such surface lands, except in those instances where the mining <br />technology used requires planned subsidence in a predictable and <br />controllable manner." Longwall mining, used by Basin Resources, is a <br />method of mining that utilizes planned subsidence. <br />16. The issue of ventilation at the Golden Eagle Mine is not under the direct <br />jurisdiction of this Division. These sections of the law were deleted <br />from Colorado Law in 1988. We recommend you contact the Federal Mine <br />Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), and the Colorado Air Quality <br />Control Division of the Colorado Department of Health. <br />17. On March 6, 1990, the Division received Map 1, Surface Ownership, and <br />Attachment to Map 1, Surface Ownership. These items were apparently not <br />placed in the public and office copies of the Golden Eagle Mine permit <br />application when they were submitted. They are there now. Map 2, <br />Coal Ownership, received at the Division on September 1, 1989, and <br />attachment to Map 2, revised on January 9, 1990, are in the permit <br />application. These submittals adequately meet the requirements of <br />Regulation 2.10.3(1)(a). <br />18. In analyzing the data provided by Basin Resources as a response to the <br />Division's adequacy question in the December 1992 Midterm Permit Review, <br />the Division has determined that certain surface landowners were not <br />notified at least six months prior to mining beneath their property, as <br />required by Regulation 4.20.2. The Division is in the process of <br />initiating enforcement action against Basin Resources for this issue. <br />19. Statute 34-33-121(2)(a) does not require operators to indemnify overlying <br />landowners for surface damages. It does state that operators are required <br />to adopt measures to prevent subsidence causing material damage, to <br />maximize mine stability, and maintain the value and reasonably foreseeable <br />use of such surface lands, except in those instances where the mining <br />technology used requires planned subsidence in a predictable and <br />controlled manner. <br />However, Rule 4.20.3 does require operators that conduct underground <br />mining activities which result in subsidence that either causes material <br />damage or reduces either the value or the reasonably foreseeable use of <br />surface lands to proceed with certain compensatory measures. <br />