1989-12-13_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C1981017

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Mike Long - 2 - December 13, 1989 Cessation Order C-89-019 again involved sediment pond series 016 (see C-89-003) . On June 28, 1989 a contracted dragline operator, in the process of cleaning the upper pond of the series, damaged the primary outlet, resulting in a Total Suspended Solids discharge of 1810 mg/l on June 29. Cessation of discharge from the pond series was required until the damaged pond could be placed in operating condition. The order was terminated on July 1 following recertification of the pond and clean-up of coaly residue below the outfall of the pond series . An assessment conference and formal Board hearing resulted in a Civil Penalty of $2000.00. Two violations (C-89-032 and C-89-033) resulted from an inspection which took place from October 31 to November 3, 1989. The first was for Failure to display a mine identification sign at each entrance to the permit area from a public road. The sign has for years been several miles down the road in the town of Redstone. NOV C-89-033 was written for failure to remove topsoil from areas affected by surface coal mining operations. Along an access road constructed in 1988, an area of approximately 1000 square feet has trees and brush protruding from the road fill . Although some topsoil was salvaged in this area, a small area was apparently missed. These final two Violations are very recent, and there is no proposed civil penalty at this time. The environmental impact of them is slight. Pattern of Violations Summary It appears that a Pattern of Violations finding for the Coal Basin Mines may be justified in any of three ways: 1 . The number of violations, cited on more than one occasion, of the same or related requirements of the Act, the Rules, or the Permit: C-89-003, C-89-017, and C-89-019, resulting from three different inspections, all involved maintenance of the hydrologic balance of the area, and 003 and 019 had detectable negative impact on the water quality of Coal Creek and the Crystal River. 2. The number of violations, cited on more than one occasion, of different requirements of the Act, the Rules, or the Permit: Four violations during three inspections have been upheld through administrative review and are final . An additional two violations resulting from a fourth inspection are just beginning the assessment process. 3. The extent to which the cited violations were isolated departures from lawful conduct: A Pattern of Violations finding for Coal Basin occurred in June, 1985, based on a large number of violations during 1984 (a huge spring runoff year). A Show Cause order resulted in a one-day shut-down of the mine. A single violation was cited (C-86-071 ) in 1986, for a failure to the face of the Sutey refuse disposal pile. In 1987 three NOV's and in 1988 two NOV's, were issued at Coal Basin. Four of these five previous violations involved potential impact to the hydrologic balance of Coal Creek, however no environmental damage was documented. Clearly the problems experienced at the mine in the past year have not been isolated occurrences.