2011-08-29_ENFORCEMENT - C1981012

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DIVISION OF RECLAMATION, MINING AND SAFETY Department of Natural Resources 1313 Sherman St., Room 215 Denver, Colorado 80203 Phone: (303) 866 -3567 FAX: (303) 832 -8106 Date: August 29, 2011 To: Sandra Brown From: Jason Musick"' RE: Notice of Violation CV- 201 -003 New Elk Mine C -1981 -012 Civil Penalty Assessment STATE OF COLORADO John W. Hickenlooper Governor Mike King Executive Director Loretta E. Pineda Director I issued NOV CV- 2011 -003 on August 3, 2011, at the New Elk Mine, and I am requesting that you propose a civil penalty for the violation. The notice of proposed civil penalty is due on September 3, 2011. In addition to the information provided in the Notice of Violation and my July 26, 2011 inspection report, I offer the following information for your use in assessing the penalty. The notice was issued for "Failure to obtain a permit prior to conducting surface coal mining and reclamation operations "; "Failure to contain areas disturbed by surface coal mining and reclamation operations within the boundaries authorized on permit application maps"; "Failure to include in the approved permit application an accurate map or plan clearly showing the boundaries of land to be affected"; "Failure to include in the permit application a plan where appropriate for backfilling, grading, compacting, soil stabilization, and revegetation of all affected lands within the proposed permit area "; "Failure to conduct all surface coal mining and reclamation operations only as described in the approved application"; "Failure to comply with the terms and conditions of the permit, all applicable performance standards of the Act, and the requirements of the Rules." There have been no NOVs or Cos issued at the site in the past twelve months. The last enforcement action taken at the site was August 20, 2008. During a July 26, 2011 Coal Complete inspection of the New Elk Mine mining equipment and material had been stored/laid down outside of the approved disturbance boundary and in some cases outside of the approved permit boundary. The area in the vicinity of the "C &W Train Shop ", the "10 Stall Garage ", and the "C &W Trains Sand Loading Bldg" (Map 11 Sheet 3 of the PAP) that is in the approved disturbance boundary covers —5 acres. The violation appears to be a lack of diligence on the part of the operator in failing to ensure that on -site contractors know the areas approved for disturbance and the permit area. Step 1 of the abatement of the NOV required the operator to submit a technical revision addressing in the approved application the areas that have been affected. Step 2 of the NOV is to obtain final approval of the technical revision and submit the appropriate amount of bond. TR -59 was received on August 12, 2011 and is currently being reviewed. Office of Office of Denver • Grand Junction • Durango Active and inactive Mines Mined Land Reclamation COLORADO D I V I S I O N O F RECLAMATION MINING — &— SAFETY