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Mr. Leef stated that he believed that blasting from the Lorencito Canyon mine was the cause of the <br />rockfall. Mr. Leef stated that a blast had occurred aoound sunset on 5/21/02, and that he thought <br />that perhaps that blast may have caused the rockfall. Mr. Leef requested a copy of the blast log <br />from that blast. <br />Mr. Leef stated that because he believed the rockfall had been caused by the blasting, he believed <br />someone from DMG should investigate the incident. I asked Mr. Leef to submit a written request <br />for inspection to our offices, in order that we would have documentation of Mr. Leef s specific <br />concerns, and of his understanding of the facts. Mr. Leef agreed to do so, and provided his written <br />request fot inspection via fax later during the afternoon of Thursday, 5/23/02. <br />After speaking with Mr. Leef, I telephoned the Trinidad office of the Colorado State Patrol (719- <br />846-2227) during the afternoon of 5123102, and spoke with State Trooper Nicks. Mr. Nicks <br />informed me that a rock had fallen onto SH12 that morning; that another State Trooper had arrived <br />on the site, and that the Trooper had directed traffic aoound the rock for a period of between 45 <br />minutes and 1 hour. Mr. Nicks stated that afront-end loader from the mine then arrived on site and <br />moved the rock off of the highway, and that employees from CDOT, who were also on site, had <br />later broken the rock into smaller pieces. When I asked Mr. Nicks if he knew who at CDOT was on <br />site, he gave me the name and phone number of Mr. Jerry Lutz (719-846-9229), a CDOT employee <br />in Trinidad. <br />After speaking with the State Patrol, I telephone the Lorencito Coal Company (LCC) mine office <br />(719-868-2115) during the afternoon of 5/23/02, and spoke with Ms. Robin Torres, an LCC <br />employee. I informed Ms. Torres of the request for inspection, and that I would be coming to the <br />mine the next day. Ms. Tortes informed me that LCC had been notified of the rockfall by Mr. Leef <br />eazlier that same day. <br />I asked Ms. Torres to fax to DMG's offices copies of any logs of the blasts that occurred around the <br />time that Mr. Leef had mentioned in his request. Ms. Torres faxed copies of the logs from two <br />blasts that occurred on 5/16102, from one blast that occurred on 5/20/02, and from three blasts that <br />occurred on 5/23/02. Ms. Torres stated that LCC did not have any logs for a blast that may have <br />occurred on 5/21/02. <br />I left DMG's office the morning of Friday, May 24, 2002. On my way to Trinidad, I telephoned <br />Mr. Lutz with CDOT's Trinidad office. I informed him of the nature of my call, and of my <br />upcoming inspection. Mr. Lutz informed me that rockfall occurs often along SH12. I asked Mr. <br />Lutz how often he had been called out to clear rockfalls during the month of May 2002. He stated <br />that he had had to cleaz only one rockfall in May so far. I asked Mr. Lutz if he had any idea what <br />sorts of conditions contribute to rockfall along SH12. Mr. Lutz replied, "wind and moisture". I <br />asked Mr. Lutz if those conditions had existed aoound the time of the rockfall on SH12. He said <br />that Trinidad had experienced a rainfall event on Monday, 5/20/02, but that he didn't know what the <br />weather had been in the azea of the rockfall. <br />Mr. Lutz then referred me to CDOT Maintenance Worker Larry Cobo (719-332-7738), who Mr. <br />Lutz said was one of the CDOT employees actually at the rockfall site on 5!23102. I then contacted <br />