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III. Comments - Compliance <br />Below are comments on the inspection. The comments include discussion of <br />ouservations made during tire inspection. Comments also descriue any <br />enforcement actions taken during the inspection and the facts or evidence <br />supporting the enforcement action. <br />This was a partial inspection of the West Elk Mine. The focus of <br />this particular inspection was to investigate the possible effects <br />of subsidence on Mr. Larry Mautz's property. The Division received <br />a letter from Mr: Mautz on June 7, 1993, which alleges that the <br />flow from a decreed (adjudicated) spring on his property had been <br />discontinued or interrupted by subsidence above the West Elk Mine's <br />underground workings. The Division could not determine from <br />photographs sent by Mr. Mautz of the area in question, whether the <br />cease in spring flow was indeed related to effects from the West <br />Elk Mine, so the Division decided to conduct an inspection of the <br />area. Present during the inspection was Christine Johnston and Jim <br />Pendleton of the Division, Henry Barbe of Mountain Coal Company, <br />and Larry Mautz, the complainant. The weather was clear and warm. <br />The domestic spring is in the vicinity of Lone Pine Gulch in the NE <br />Y~, NW Y~ of Section 20. Mr. Mautz owns all of section 20 with the <br />exception of the SE Y~. According to mining maps, F seam workings <br />underlies the area in question. B seam mining has not yet <br />approached this area, as only one panel has been completely mined. <br />However, according to Mr. Barbe, B seam mining could reach this <br />area in late 1995 or 1996. The F seam was mined utilizing room and <br />pillar methods and the B seam is being mined using long wall <br />technology. West Elk has monitored a spring, G-26, which is in the <br />vicinity of Lone Pine Gulch, downslope from Mr. Mautz's domestic <br />spring, until October 1986 when it was destroyed by a landslide. <br />The flow recorded for this spring was variable; from being dry to <br />a flow of 120 gallons per minute (gpm). The location of this <br />spring was discovered during the inspection, and found to be dry. <br />Monitoring of an additional spring in this area, CR-12, began in <br />October 1992. This spring was found to be flowing at the time of <br />the inspection. From reviewing permit maps addressing spring <br />occurrence and hydrologic monitoring, it appears that no springs <br />existed or intended to be monitored within the immediate vicinity <br />of the spring. <br />According to Mr. Mautz, the spring supplied domestic water to a <br />cabin, barn, and associated barnyard through the mid-1970s. Mr. <br />Mautz stated that the previous owner claims that the spring flowed <br />continuously. Larry reported that the spring was not flowing when <br />he inspected the site in May of this year, which is documented by <br />photographs which accompanied his letter. Mr. Mautz also showed us <br />a well developed subsidence crack on the hillslope several hundred <br />feet upslope from the spring. The spring had been developed with <br />1 <br />