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'~Al III IIIIIIIIIIIII III HARD D ~~ nn <br />DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES <br />Harris D. Sherman. Executive Director <br />MIlVED LAND RECLAMATION <br />723 Centennial Building, 1313 Sherman Street <br />Denver, Colorado 80203 Tel. (303) 839-3567 <br />Hamlet J. Barry, I I I, <br />D irector <br />Occidental Oil Shale, Inc. <br />Logan Wash <br />File No. 77-424 <br />September 19, 1979 <br />On September 11, 1979, the site was visited. After lengthy clearance at <br />the entrance gate, I was allowed to proceed up to the mine site. Mis- <br />understanding my directions that I was to go up top, I continued up to <br />the top of the area above the mine site and observed a great deal of <br />activity in that area in preparation fora new retorts. My directions <br />were to go to the top and get in touch with MR. Ed Tardoni. Finally <br />after inspecting the upper area, I went down to the offices of Occidental <br />at the lower mine bench and found Ed. At this point, they are developing <br />two new retorts which will involve the excavation of on the order of <br />50,000 cubic yards of material. This material will be dumped into what <br />they call dry gulch, which is a small drainage to the west of the mine <br />benches. According to the reclamation plan these dump areas will be <br />reclaimed in a manner similar to the existing vegetation. <br />I was impressed by the quality of their road construction except for <br />the dust problem. The eventual reclamation of the mine dump itself <br />will be extremely difficult due to the very steep slope and a southern <br />exposure. The details of this reclamation plan need to be re-accessed <br />to determine whether or not it is reasonable. The disturbances on top <br />of the mesa will be relatively easy to reclaim although there was no <br />topsoil stockpile noticed on the site. This fact should be checked during <br />the next several weeks. <br />Drainage on the site seems [o be adequately controlled and should not be <br />a long term problem. The potential for a mine ire in the raw shale dump <br />should be posed to Occidental so that they do not end up with the same <br />problem that Perro has at this time. It may be that there is not a <br />sufficient amount of fines within the dump to cause a fire or even to <br />supply a fire with enough ignitable material. It appears that there has <br />been no provision for surface drainage through dry gulch during heavy <br />precipitation events. This needs to be investigated further. <br />