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United States Department of the Interior <br />Ameag <br />Mr. Steven G. Renner <br />Coal Program Supervisor <br />Division of Minerals and Geology <br />Department of Natural Resources <br />1313 Sherman Street, Room 215 <br />Denver, Colorado 80203 <br />Dear Mr. Re • - r <br />OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING <br />RECLAMATION AND ENFORCEMENT <br />WASHINGTON, D.C. 20240 <br />OCT 2 6 1993 <br />6. <br />NOV 01 1993 <br />_ <br />• <br />Tha you for your letter of August 18 requesting informal review of the <br />Albuquerque Field Office (AFO) Director's determination that your agency did <br />not take appropriate action with respect to ten -day notice (TDN) number 93- <br />020- 190 -05, Mid - Continent Resources (Mid- Continent), Coal Basin Mine. <br />The TDN alleges a failure to maintain a diversion ditch in a stable manner. <br />In your request for review, you state that the ditch and pre -law refuse pile in <br />question have been in place since approximately 1964 and that your agency <br />has already issued a Notice of Violation (NOV) for failure to maintain the <br />ditch located at the base of the refuse pile. For several reasons, you <br />disagree with the AFO's position that the abatement measure in the NOV <br />issued by your agency should extend to include stabilization of the pre -law <br />refuse pile. First, you state that the problem areas of the ditch identified in <br />your NOV resulted from sediment deposition by flows in the ditch, and not <br />from slumpage of the pre -law refuse pile into the diversion. Second, you <br />note that there is no evidence to suggest that the material in the pre -law <br />refuse pile which has slumped did so as a result of the ditch's presence and <br />without such evidence you believe that additional enforcement action is not <br />warranted at this time. Third, you add that movement of refuse or cover <br />material or/ the pile may be due to many causes and that your agency <br />intends to conduct a geotechnical evaluation within thirty days and should <br />that evaluation show that the regulated ditch is causing instability in the pre - <br />law refuse pile, your agency will then take appropriate enforcement action. <br />According to the record, on June 17, 1993, your agency issued an NOV to <br />Mid - Continent citing a failure to maintain the diversion ditch in question. <br />■ <br />