_ENFORCEMENT - C1981017 (12) - Laserfiche WebLink

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Immediately upslope of these ponds-in-series is the waste rock disposal area. At some time past the company had applied and received approval for a revision that allowed permanent disposal of non-coal waste on the front slope of the pile, adjacent to the first pond. The permit application package states that this material will be "built up along the slope" and previous indications to OSM inspectors on site was that the material will be placed in lifts from the toe of the slope. A huge amount of material, including some actual domestic garbage, currently lays exposed on the slope, apparently placed there by end-dumping off the top of the pile. Additionally some scrap metal and machinery and a irreparable house office trailer sat at the top of the rock pile. It appeared that no compaction or coverage of material had occurred since before the mine shut down. After returning to AFO, I contacted Glenn Mallory of the Solid Waste section of the Colorado Department of Health, who concurred that the material should be covered. State regulations use the term "adequate cover" and Glenn stated he would expect that a situation such as this would require at least weekly cover. This pile needs to be configured and compacted appropriately and covered. We continued the inspection with the haulroad to number 4 mine, inspecting the erosion and road drainage situation. Immediately after turning onto the road we encountered the excavation MRI was doing to change out a rusted CMP. This was one of seven locations addressed in one of the violations written by the state after the October RSI. The company stated that the drainage channel had just recently dried up and they had excavated what they could with the one piece of equipment they had on site. They were currently waiting for a different piece of equipment to be brought to the site to finish the job. A rolled steel pipe was at the excavation site ready to replace the CMP. Abatement date extended to Sept. 20, 1991 We proceded up to the portal pad, planning to walk/inspect down the road. #4 was last used in the early 19801s. We looked at the pond at the pad which does not have an emergency spillway and which was written in one of the violations written after the October, 1990 RSI. This is also not abated yet - extended to September 20, 1991. A large building at #4 was hit by an avalanche some time ago. It is in ruins with twisted metal sheeting hanging from the steel I- beam framework. Much of the building is not salvageable. Additionally there is other non-coal waste lying around in this area. All the non-coal waste, including the non-salvageable portions of the ruined building, should be disposed of in the appropriate manner. We started back down the haul road, stopping at the third switchback down from the pad. Here we inspected road ditch # 5 (RD-5) which had been part of the October 1990 violations. The state considered this site to be abated because the company had filled in the deep incision cause by the draining water. Several