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for several weeks. Mr. Kirby also notified the Division that he had observed the Operator <br />conducting backfilling activities at the Speer Mining site in recent months. <br />3. Subsequent to Mr. Kirby's complaint and after the Division's inspection <br />described below, the Division received three additional citizen complaints from Mr. Kirby's <br />neighbors, Lyle Gurley, Chris Acklam, and Mike Matthews. Mr. Gurley's property is <br />located on the western side of Mr. Kirby's property. Mr. Acklam's property is across 120th <br />Avenue to the southeast of Mr. Kirby's property. Mr. Matthews's property is also across <br />120th Avenue to the south of Mr. Kirby's property and west of Mr. Acklam's property. <br />4. Mr. Acklam notified the Division that his leach field was backing up and that <br />his crawl space was flooded. Mr. Gurley, of Gordon's Stout LLC, notified the Division that <br />a water vault at his place of business flooded and that pressure tanks in the vault broke free <br />and floated to the top of the vault. Additionally, the floor of Mr. Gurley's shop heaved and <br />caused a door to jam. Mr. Matthews informed the Division that he had a static water level <br />problem at his property. The water was up to his leach field and he was having drain <br />problems in the toilet and shower. Mr. Matthews had standing water in his sewage cleanout. <br />Mr. Matthews was also concerned about his well house because if he lost power then his <br />transducer and pump control would be ruined. The sump pump was operating continually in <br />the well house. <br />5. The Division conducted an inspection of the Speer Mining site on March 25, <br />2009. Division staff David Bird and Tony Waldron met with Rob Laird, the Land Manager <br />for the Operator, at the site. Mr. Laird stated that backfilling started at the site in February, <br />2008.1 The backfill consists of overburden and other material imported from another pit. <br />Mr. Laird provided maps and data from two monitoring wells, MW3-AS and MW9-AS, <br />located at the eastern boundary of the permit area and believed to be hydrologically <br />upgradient of the pit. The data from MW3-AS and MW9-AS includes water level data <br />starting from 2004. The data for both wells show an anomalous rise in the water levels in the <br />months following the start of backfilling. Well MW9-AS rose 21/2 feet in February 2008, and <br />has continued to rise since. Well MW3-AS rose 4.8 feet from June to August 2008 and has <br />also continued to rise since. <br />6. Another monitoring well owned by the South Adams County Water and <br />Sanitation District (Well B-MW4), located on 120th Avenue between the site and Mr. Kirby's <br />property, also showed a recent rise in water level and on March 19, 2009 was at a level of <br />4.25 feet below the ground surface, which is the highest recorded water level since <br />measurement started in 1990. <br />7. During the inspection, Mr. Laird told the Division inspectors that the 124th <br />Estates Gravel Pit (Permit No. M-2001-085, operated by 124th Estate Partners), located <br />approximately 1,000 feet northwest of Mr. Kirby's property, had recently started filling with <br />water. Also, 124th Estates Partners reported to the Division in September, 2008 that the <br />1 The Operator did not submit a revision to the reclamation plan or a Construction Rule 3.1.5(9) notice for the <br />importation of off-site backfill. This is a separate violation that resulted in Notice of Violation No. MV No. 2009- <br />015, and a separate Board Order. Both matters were heard at the May 13, 2009 Board meeting. <br />Asphalt Specialties <br />Speer Mining Resource Pit 2 <br />M-1983-176