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3 <br />~~ ~ United States Forest Paonia P.O. Box 1030 <br />Department of Service Ranger District N Rio Grande Ave. <br />Agriculture PHONE NO. 970-527-4131 Paonia, CO 81425 <br />FAX 970-527-4151 <br />File Code: 2820-4 <br />Date: July 21, 2003 <br />Mr. Gene DiClaudio <br />President <br />Mountain Coal Company <br />P.O. Box 591 <br />Somerset, CO 81434 <br />Dear Gene; <br />I wanted to follow up with you on an incident that occurred on July 9 and 10, 2003 on MCCs <br />-metbanedrainage project: A Fcrest Service-inspcctorvisited the-22-05/22-06 drill sites and <br />found a white hose had been placed in the reserve pit and was used to pump out fluids. The <br />fluids were pumped through the hose and allowed to discharge down a hillslope at the head of <br />Box Canyon. <br />Lang Drilling personnel performed this act on two consecutive days. This act.is in violation with <br />the FS Conditions of Approval (COAs) for the methane drainage project, and clearly contrary to <br />best management practices. A similar incident occurred on the RAV-10 site in 2001, and Lang <br />was informed at that time that this was unacceptable and required to clean up the spill. As this <br />has occurred a second time, it appears to be an egregious act on the part of Lang Drilling, and the <br />Forest Service will not tolerate this disregard for the project COAs. <br />MCC is responsible for the conduct of their contractors, and ensuring that [he contractors are <br />informed of the COAs, and that the COAs are followed. As such, MCC holds ultimate <br />responsibility for any remedial activity required to correct the problem, and is the entity that <br />would be cited in any notices of violation. <br />The Forest Service has some options available when dealing with types of issues; administrative <br />action and issuance of citations, or a combination of these. Administrative actions can include <br />requiring immediate remediation of the problem, issuance of shut down orders until the problem <br />is resolved, issuance of warnings, request removal of the contractor, among others. The agency <br />can also issue citations that wculd require a mandatory appearance in federal court for these <br />types of violations. <br />Upon learning of the problem, Mike Peacock took quick action. We appreciate his timely <br />response in remediating the problem, and his reprimand of Lang Drilling personnel on the drill <br />site and in their Salt Lake City office. Our law enforcement officers have advised me that the <br />actions by Lang Drilling are a citable offense. We have spent some time discussing this option <br />internally, and have decided to pursue a course of administrative actions for resolving this <br />problem. <br />I will take this opportunity to underscore the need for communication. This was discussed at the <br />annual operating plan meeting, at which MCC was advised to alert the Forest Service if problems <br />or difficulties were arising before we found them on a site inspection. I believe that this was a <br />~'~ Caring for the Land and Serving People Footed on Recycletl Paper ~~ <br />