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Introduction <br />The Division received a Citizen's Request for Inspection on Thursday, May 23, 2002. This request <br />pertained to an allegation of off-site impacts occurring as a result of surface coal mine blasting. <br />The specific allegation was that blasting from the Lorencito Canyon coal mine located near <br />Primero, Colorado had caused a large rock to become dislodged from a road cut adjacent to State <br />Highway 12 and to come to rest in the middle of the highway. The request for inspection was filed <br />by a landowner whose residence is situated approximately 600 feet uphill from where the rockfall <br />occurred. Distances from the location of the rockfall to the vazious blast sites at the mine vazy; <br />blasts that occurred on May 20, 2002, and May 23, 2002 appear to have been situated from 4175 <br />feet to 5750 feet from the rockfall area. <br />I conducted the inspection on Friday, May 24, 2002. I interviewed several individuals involved in <br />the events that occurred azound the time of the rockfall before, during, and after my inspection. I <br />reviewed information obtained from Lorencito Coal Company (LCC) pertaining to six blasts that <br />occurred during the seven days prior to, and on the day of, the request for inspection. I took several <br />photographs of the area where the rockfall occurred, and, on 5/24/02, was given two photographs of <br />the rock on the highway by the landowner requesting the inspection. I also obtained some <br />assistance with this investigation from the US Office of Surface Mining. <br />I have prepazed this report in response to this request for inspection. The report is divided into three <br />sections: "A. Investigation", "B. Evaluations", and "C. Conclusions". <br />A. Investigation <br />I received a citizen's request for inspection from Mr. Ron Leef on Thursday, 5/23/02, via a <br />telephone voice mail message. Mr. Leef indicated in his message that he would also be contacting <br />Kent Gorham, whom Mr. Leef knew to be the current lead DMG specialist for the Lorencito <br />Canyon coal mine. Mr. Gorham was out of the office on 5/23/02, so I returned Mr. Leef's call at <br />his home (719-868-2131) during the afternoon of 5/23/02. I informed Mr. Leef that Kent was out of <br />the office, and that as a result, I was responding to his phone call. <br />Mr. Leef informed me that a lazge rock had fallen onto State Highway 12 (SH 12) during the <br />morning of 5/23/02. Mr. Leef stated that the rock had fallen from a hillside that was near his <br />property and adjacent to SH12. Mr. Leef stated that the rockfall had occurred at a point on the <br />highway north of the Lorencito Canyon coal mine and south of his house. <br />Mr. Leef stated that he believed the rock had fallen at approximately 10:00 am on 5/23/02. Mr. <br />Leef stated that the State Patrol had arrived at site of the rockfall around 10:30 am on 5/23/02, and <br />had closed the highway. Mr. Leef stated that a lazge front-end loader from the Lorencito Canyon <br />mine had amved at the rockfall site, had moved the rock off the highway, and that the Colorado <br />Department of Transportation (CDOT), who had arrived at the site after the State Patrol, had broken <br />the rock into smaller pieces. <br />