2010-12-10_REVISION - C1980007 (2)

Home Browse Search

Danie(L Hernandez Daniel I. Hernandez Senior Environmental Protection Specialist Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety 1313 Sherman St, Room 215 Denver, CO 80203 New Phone Number: 303-866-3567 ext 8126 Fax: 303-832-8106 Website: www.mininq.state.co.us From: Hernandez, Daniel Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2010 10:00 AM To: 'Welt, Kathy' Cc: Kaldenbach, Tom Subject: RE: Perimeter Disturbance Markers Policy Hi Kathy- You bring up a very good point, and one that we discussed at length w OSM. Here is why our policy was ultimately worded to require that disturbed area perimeter markers at underground mines be maintained through Phase III bond release: The State of Colorado did not create its own set of regulatory preambles to its rules regarding signs and markers. As such, the federal preambles on OSM's signs and markers rules became, by default, the state's preambles on the state's signs and markers rules. 30 CFR 816.11(a)(3) states "Signs and markers required under this part shall be made of durable material". Colorado's equivalent of this federal is 4.02.1(3), which states "Signs and markers required by 4.02 shall be made of durable material". OSM's preamble to 30 CFR 816.11(a)(3) states: "Signs and markers should be of durable material so that they will not deteriorate before final bond is released on the permit area. It would be to the permittee's advantage that signs and markers be constructed of durable material so that frequently reposting of them is unnecessary. Since the final bond on a permit area would not be released for 5 or 10 years (depending on the geographic location) following the last augmented seeding, it would be essential that durable signs and markers be posted so the regulatory authority could determine the perimeter of the permit area and the person responsible". 30 CFR 816.11(b) states "Signs and markers shall be maintained during the conduct of all activities to which they pertain". Colorado's equivalent of this rule is 4.02.4, which states "Signs and markers shall be maintained during the conduct of all activities to which they pertain". OSM's preamble to 30 CFR 816.11(b) states "Maintenance of signs and markers will be the responsibility of the permittee until the final bond is released on the permit area. OSM adopted this provision because it will be necessary for the regulatory authority to know who is responsible for the permit area, the boundary of the permit area, and the location of buffer areas, blasting areas, and topsoil stockpiles, in order to make thorough inspections. Without continued maintenance of these signs and markers, inspection of the permit area would be difficult." With regard as to how our new policy should be implemented at underground mines that have areas that have been reclaimed but have not gone through Phase III bond release, realize that while our policy asks that markers be maintained through Phase III bond release, neither the federal signs and markers rules, the states' signs and markers rules, nor our policy require a specific frequency/spacing of markers. As such, frequency/spacing is highly flexible (though it has been DRMS's practice to ask operators to erect perimeter markers such that they are visible from one marker to the next). MCC may therefore wish to consider proposing permit text that states something like "MCC will clearly mark, in an