_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C1981017 ‎(252)‎

• Permit No: C1981017
• IBM Index Class Name: GENERAL DOCUMENTS
• Doc Name: Bid Documents ‎(IMP)‎ 1993 Correspondence
• Permit Index Doc Type: General Correspondence
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

AREAS OF CONCERN
• Unpaid royalties and fees to Federal agencies.
Mid-Continent Resources, Incorporated (MCR) failed to make royalty payments to
the Minerals Management Service (MMS) for the leased BLM coal it mined in
1990. MMS and MCR entered into a settlement agreement for a payment
schedule; MCR made partial payment in 1990. Phone contact with Robbie
Schloss, MMS Office, Tulsa Office, [phone] verified that Mid-Continent
currently has two outstanding bills in the sums of $492,983.53 and $260,705.64.
Additionally, MMS believes that up to another $600,000 may be owed by Mid-
Continent because an audit indicated that Mid-Continent had attributed too little
tonnage to the Federal lease and too much to the private coal.
Mid-Continent did not pay its AML fees for all four quarters of 1990. Following the
multi-agency meeting March 8, 1991 where the Albuquerque Field Office (AFO)
learned of the extensive MCR debts, AFO contacted OSM's Division of Debt
Management. The Division of Debt Management informed AFO of the unpaid AML .
fees and stated that OSM was negotiating a settlement agreement with MCR to
pay the delinquent fees. This agreement was executed April 30, 1991. Payments
of nearly $60,000 were made but the bankruptcy papers show OSM's claim to be
$24,113.69. OSM Directive AML 15-1 directs the Field Office Director to issue
citations for unpaid fees; however, AFO was never informed of the outstanding
debt until it requested the information. At that time AFO was directed by Debt
Management not to issue because of the settlement agreement Debt Management
was entering into.
The bankruptcy documents list MSHA as having an unsecured non-priority claim
of $312,824.61 as a result of civil penalties for infractions against health and safety
regulations. Mid-Continent was one of the companies named in the national case
regarding abnormal white centers on dust testing filters.
• Black Water.
In 1985, the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Division (MLRD) entered into an
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Water Quality Control Division
(WQCD) of the Colorado Department of Health for water quality enforcement at
coal mines. Basically, the agreement provided that MLRD would cite the cause or
source of a violation and WQCD would cite the discharge.
In late 1988, Mid-Continent Resource's Coal Basin Mine made changes in
underground procedures that resulted in a heavy sediment loading to a pond not
designed for this type of influent, resulting in the discharge of "black water" to the
stream. This discharge continued for 37 days. The standard in effect for the
discharge was 70 mg/I but the company was discharging water analyzed at 6,000
2 Mid-Continent January 26,1M