2011-08-26_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C1981008

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DIVISION OF RECLAMATION, MINING AND SAFETY Department of Natural Resources 1313 Sherman St., Room 215 Denver, Colorado 80203 Phone: (303) 866 -3567 FAX: (303) 832 -8106 COLORADO D IV IS I ON OF RECLAMATION MINING SAFETY 26 August 2011 John W. Hickenlooper Governor Ross L. Gubka, P.E. Mike Kin Western Fuels- Colorado, LLC Executive Director P.O. Box 628 Loretta E. Pineda Nucla, CO 81424 Director Re: Blasting Public Notice Dear Mr. Gubka: During the past fiscal year, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) evaluated blasting notifications at several Colorado coal mines. The purpose of these evaluations was to determine whether the DRMS is effectively implementing its program by requiring that blasting notifications be advertised to the public. A Federal oversight inspection occurred at the New Horizon Mine on 5 October 2010. During this inspection, Blasting Public Notices published in the San Miguel Basin Forum in April 2009 and April 2010 were reviewed for compliance with the requirements of Rule 4.08.3. Rule 4.08.3(1)(a) requires that the person who conducts surface blasting shall publish a blasting schedule at least 10 days, but no more than 20 days, before beginning a blasting program in which blasts that use more than 5 pounds of explosives or blasting agent are detonated. Similarly, Section 2.05.3(6)(a), page 10, of the New Horizon Mine permit states that the blasting schedule will be published every twelve months and at least 10 days, but not more than 20 days before blasting whenever the area covered by the schedule changes or whenever periods for blasting significantly differ from the prior announcement. The Notice of Blasting Schedule for 2009 was published on April 2 " and the date of commencement was listed as April 5 In 2010, the Notice appeared on April 15 with an April 14 t1i commencement date. For 2011, April 14"' was both the date published and the date of commencement. It appears that none of these three Notices technically complies with the requirement and commitment, as described above, to publish 10 to 20 days before the commencement of blasting operations. In the future, please ensure that the specified time frames are met. One option might be publish the Notice in the last week of March each year, with April lo the designated date of commencement. Please contact me with any questions you may have regarding this request. Sincerely, Marcia L. Talvitie, P.E. Environmental Protection Specialist cc: Sandra Brown, DRMS Office of Office of Mined Land Reclamation Denver • Grand )unction • Durango Active and Inactive Mines