2010-09-08_INSPECTION - C1992080

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STATE OF COLORADO DIVISION OF RECLAMATION, MINING AND SAFETY Department of Natural Resources 1313 Sherman St., Room 215 Denver, Colorado 80203 COLORADO Phone: (303) 866-3567 DIVIS ION OF N OF FAX: (303) 832-8106 M I N I N G September 8, 2010 SAFETY Sandra Pautsky Bill Ritter, Jr. Oakridge Energy, Inc. Governor 4613 Jacksboro Highway Mike King Executive Director Wichita Falls, Texas 76302 Loretta E. Pineda Director Re: Letter of July 28, 2010, The Carbon Junction Mine Oakridge Energy, Inc, DRMS Permit No. C-1992-080 Dear Ms. Pautsky, Thank you for your letter of July 28, 2010 regarding your concerns with inspections being conducted at the Carbon Junction Mine by DRMS Environmental Protection Specialist Marcia Talvitie. Please accept this letter as my reply. We understand that your concern with Ms Talvitie as an inspector of the Carbon Junction coal mine is due solely to her former employment with Four Corners Materials (FCM), an operator of a gravel mine situated adjacent to the Carbon Junction coal mine. According to your letter, Oakridge Energy Inc (OEI) and FCM had an adversarial relationship during a time that Ms. Talvitie was employed with FCM, an adversarial relationship that according to your letter continues to this day. We note that your letter did not cite any current concerns with Ms Talvitie personally, nor any current concerns with her scientific, engineering and other technical skills. We additionally note that your letter did not cite any past issues or problems between OEI and Ms. Talvitie while she was a FCM employee. Given the specialized nature of the mission of our agency, we may from time to time employ individuals with past experience in local industries. We recognize that conflicts of interests between our employees and their former local employers have the potential to exist. Upon hiring Ms. Talvitie, we recognized such a conflict might have existed, and did not assign Ms. Talvitie any responsibilities with regard to coal mines in the Durango area until now, a period of time that has exceeded two years. In addition, the Carbon Junction Mine was for a time inspected by Wally Erickson, another of our Durango Office Specialists. Mr. Erickson was responsible for duties in both our Coal and Minerals Program. Recent increases in Mr. Erickson's Minerals Program workload have required us to assign his responsibilities with regard to the Carbon Junction Mine to Ms. Talvitie. Ms. Talvitie will therefore remain an inspector of the Carbon Junction Mine until further notice. Sincerely, I /:?? , L Loretta E. Pineda, Director Cc: David A. Berry, Sandra A. Brown, Daniel I. Hernandez, Marcia L. Talvitie Office of Office of Mined Land Reclamation Denver • Grand Junction • Durango Active and Inactive Mines