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III. COMMENTS - COMPLIANCE <br />Below are comments on the inspection. The comments include discussion of observations made during <br />the inspection. Comments also describe any enforcement actions taken during the inspection and the <br />facts or evidence supporting the enforcement action. <br />This was a partial inspection conducted by Janet Binns of DRMS. The weather was mild and dry. The <br />mine is a reclaimed surface mine. The mine site is dry with a few remaining patches of snow at the <br />higher elevations. S1-10 was final December 10, 2009. The office and load out areas on the east side of <br />the ridge have received final bond release and are no longer inspected. <br />Access to the reclaimed mine on the west side of the ridge was attempted through the northern gate off <br />of Routt County Road No. 179. The combination provided to the Division by the operator was unable to <br />open the combination lock. The other 3 locks on this northern gate were key locks. The operator has <br />not provided any keys to the Division. Access to the mine site was attempted through the South gate off <br />of Routt County Road No. 27 (Twenty-mile road). Access to the mine along the Skyline road was <br />impeded by a large snow drift near the top of the ridge near an undisturbed Aspen patch. Although the <br />drift was not large, it was deep enough to prohibit additional access to the site. Driving around the snow <br />drift was not possible. Most of the mine site appeared dry with patches of snow at the higher elevations. <br />Observation of the West Ridge reclamation found vegetation greening up this spring. No noxious weeds <br />were observed emerging yet this spring. There were small pools of water in the contour ditches, but the <br />ground generally was dry throughout the reclaimed slope. The "string-of-pearls" series of rock check <br />dams were observed to be full of water. General observation of the site was conducted from Routt <br />County Road No. 29. The sediment ponds were not visible from the county road. The reclaimed slopes <br />were greening up. No obvious gully or erosional features were discernable on the reclaimed slopes. <br />One black cow could be seen on the reclaimed slope, on the lower elevation, near Trout Creek. The <br />Division has not been notified of a plan to graze the site at this time. <br />Chevron Mining needs to assure the mine site is accessible to the Division. Chevron needs to provide <br />the current lock combination or replace the lock and provide an access code to the Division. <br />3 of 4 WHITE - File YELLOW - Operator PINK - Specialist