OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION AND ENFORCEMENT

Annual Evaluation Summary Report

for the

Abandoned Mine Lands Program

Administered by the Public Service Commission

of the State of

NORTH DAKOTA

for

Evaluation Year 1998

(October 1, 1997 to September 30, 1998)

Reclaimed orphan pit located at New Salem, North Dakota.

1998 ANNUAL REPORT FOR NORTH DAKOTA

Part I. Introduction

The North Dakota Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation (AMLR) program operates under the guidelines of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), a formal Programmatic Agreement (PA) between the State and the Casper Field Office (CFO) of the Office of Surface Mining (OSM), the Federal Assistance Manual, and associated rules, regulations and policy decisions. The State program is administered by the Abandoned Mine Land Division of the North Dakota Public Service Commission. The State was granted primacy in 1981 and continues to administer an excellent AMLR program in full compliance with their approved AMLR Plan. Oversight of the program is conducted by the CFO, and the topics of the report were selected in a shared commitment process with the State. Annual Evaluation methods are based on OSM Directive AML-22 and the informal PA. This report covers the period of October 1, 1997 to September 30, 1998.

North Dakota is a minimum program State, and this requires that all work be completed in a very efficient and cost effective manner to stretch available funding as far a possible. The State completes most of the design and specification work for reclamation in-house using the existing staff, and then contracts the construction work out to the lowest qualified bidder. Construction supervision and monitoring are accomplished by the staff and an additional inspector that is hired for the construction season. Even with the excellent administration demonstrated in the State program, minimum funding does not allow some of the projects to be completed in one year. Larger projects must be phased over a period of years to achieve a complete and lasting reclamation. Chart #I lists projects that are ready for construction if additional funding were available as well as the estimated cost for each reclamation project.

Construction work begins as soon as heavy equipment can get to the sites in the spring and continues until it is halted by the severe weather conditions usually encountered during the winter. During the winter months design and specification work is completed so that projects are ready for reclamation activities as soon as weather allows again in the spring.

The CFO enjoys an excellent working relationship with the staff of the North Dakota Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Division. The State staff personnel are experienced, knowledgeable and very dedicated to the program. The AML Division also maintains good relationships with other State and Federal agencies that are contacted during the course of preparing projects for reclamation. One AML reclamation grant was awarded to North Dakota during this evaluation period and it was approved well within the government performance requirement of 60 days. No problems or issues exist in the North Dakota Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program.

Part II. Noteworthy Accomplishments

Of the four full time AML personnel on the North Dakota staff, three of them were engaged in activities during this evaluation period that served to increase the nationwide awareness of the expertise of the North Dakota AML program. Two of the staff have been interviewed and tentatively chosen to go to Indonesia and assist that country in writing regulations, training personnel and providing technical expertise to establish an abandoned mine reclamation program. Names of state personnel who have expertise in both the design and construction of AML projects were requested by OSM Headquarters, and these North Dakota staff personnel were immediately recommended.

The Director of the AML Division and one staff person collaborated in conducting a research survey of three completed AML sites in different parts of the State. The results were reported in a paper at the National Association of Abandoned Mine Land Programs annual convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Items such as vegetation types and density, soil conditions, surface water quality and wetland stability were compared against known standards and the existing conditions at these sites prior to reclamation. This information will be available to assist North Dakota personnel, and personnel in other State reclamation programs, in future mine reclamation activities.

The AML Division staff member who served as project manager for the Noonan Fire Emergency did an exemplary job of completing the project under very difficult conditions, and an article was published in the newsletter of the National Association of Abandoned Mine Land Programs to assist other states that may have similar fires (Vol. 20, No. 1, July 30, 1998, page 2).

Part III. Overview of the Public Participation Opportunities and the Responsiveness of the Abandoned Mine Land Division to Public Concerns

The North Dakota AML Plan dictates that Public meetings are to be held in the county of an AML project prior to the initiation of that project. The State is to solicit comments on any AML projects that are within the purview of interest of the citizens attending these meetings. The State is accomplishing this task in an excellent manner. Letters are sent to the landowners, county commissioners, and city officials, personally inviting them to the public meeting. Notice of each meeting is published in the newspaper that receives the most circulation in the project area, and public service announcements are broadcast on local radio and television stations. The overall plan for the project area, construction design, maps, overlays and aerial photographs are all available at the public meeting, and the AML Division personnel are open to any suggestions that may improve the reclamation of the project.

Part IV. Status of the Approved Reclamation Plan and Compliance With the Plan

No Plan amendments were initiated during this evaluation period and none are planned for the foreseeable future.

Part VI. Fiscal and Administrative Controls

North Dakota submitted all AML financial reports on a timely basis. All reports were complete. Grant applications were timely.

North Dakota agreed to report any overdraws from the U. S. Treasury or any instances where excess cash was held as a result of drawdowns from AML grants. The CFO conducted a drawdown analysis, sampling drawdowns which occurred during the evaluation period. In all cases, expenditures occurred before the drawdown and the amount of the draw coincided with the amount of the expenditure. No problems were found.

During the last evaluation year State auditors had reported in an A-128 audit that the PSC had made OSM grant expenditures that were unallowable. The PSC has since reimbursed OSM. This audit was for two years ending June 30, 1996.

Other financial systems were also reviewed. CFO looked at the payroll, procurement and travel systems to ensure that the PSC was following their own policies and procedures. No problems were found.

Part VII. Summary of Reclamation Activities

Administrative Planning- Part of the administrative planning duties of the North Dakota AML Division are to properly apply the lien regulations to appropriate AML projects, ensure that all projects that are reclaimed are eligible under the law, and maintain the inventory system of AML sites. Lien status is well documented in each project file, as are the statutory exemptions from lien placement. Any project that may be lienable is appraised before and after construction to determine any increase in value attributable to the reclamation. The State did not file any liens during this evaluation year, and none have been filed in the past. Each abandoned mine site is thoroughly investigated for eligibility under the provisions of SMCRA, and an eligibility determination signed by the PSC attorney is attached to each request for authorization to proceed with the reclamation of a project. Oversight investigations in North Dakota AML since the inception of the AML program have found no problems with the eligibility of projects presented for reclamation. The AML Division generally does a good job of keeping the Abandoned Mine Land Inventory System (AMLIS) up to date. Early in this evaluation period changes in the AMLIS computer operations caused the State to have difficulties connecting into the system. This has been corrected and the system is now accessible to the State. Since the small staff of the AML Division is usually in the field throughout the summer construction season, a limited amount of information is entered into the AMLIS during this time. The State is very conscientious about entering the data from the construction season as soon as the weather forces closure of outdoor reclamation activities, and staff personnel get back into the office.

Grouting Program- During this evaluation period two grouting projects were undertaken. The Lehigh Road (Phase III) Grouting Project was initiated to grout underground voids in major roadways just east of Dickinson. Several subsidence holes have opened up in these roads in the past and the State completed a wintertime drilling project designed to find and mark the underground voids for grouting. These roads are heavily utilized by school buses, emergency vehicles and the general public. The road that receives the most intense use also leads to the Dickinson landfill and is constantly traveled by heavy garbage trucks in addition to regular school bus traffic. Heavy vehicles such as trucks, buses, fire equipment and loaded stock trailers transmit vibrations below the surface that, along with freeze/thaw and wet/dry changes in soil conditions, greatly accelerate subsidence. One can only imagine the extent of injury, and possibly death, if a loaded school bus plunged into an open subsidence hole in a roadway. It is estimated that in excess of 300 people a day travel these roads that were grouted, and vehicular worth could run well over a million dollars in any one day.

The second grouting project was the second phase of the Beulah/Zap Project. Here, the grouting was done under and adjacent to buildings, mobile homes and a parking lot. As in the Lehigh Project, drilling was completed during the winter to locate and mark the voids for grouting. Most of the 3,300 person population of Beulah visited the businesses located in the project area at some time during the year, and 2 mobile homes and a large storage building are also located there. Possible property losses averted by the grouting are in excess of a half million dollars.

Subsidence- This is a major problem for the North Dakota AML program. Many of the early coal mines were underground and the coal seams were not buried very deep. In addition, the composition of the soil over most of the State does not add any stability to the overburden, and there are very few undermined areas that have any rock strata to provide solid roofing for the old mines. Roads, homes, schools, hospitals and sometimes entire towns were constructed over abandoned coal mines, so when subsidence occurs, some degree of property damage is assured. While no injuries, deaths or major property damage occurred during this evaluation period, several close calls were noted. One subsidence hole opened up under the anchor of a guy wire for a 500 foot high radio tower. Had the anchor given way, the tower could have easily fallen. Another hole opened under a mobile home, and part of the supporting substructure of the home fell into the hole. Several cases of farmers having to remove livestock from subsidence holes were reported during the year. The AML Division filled in excess of 80 subsidence holes during the evaluation period. Most were filled using funding from the maintenance project since the holes were areas that had been previously reclaimed.

Part VIII. Summary of Emergency Investigations and Abatement Activities

Two emergency investigations, both occurring in the coal refuse (fines) piles of the abandoned Noonan Mine Site, were completed during this evaluation period. The first fire was fairly small and ignited the coal fines on the west edge of a pile that covered approximately 30 acres. Had the fire not been extinguished quickly, it could have ignited the entire pile and endangered the nearby town of Noonan. The project was completed by digging a trench adjacent to the burning area and pushing the burning fines into it. The trench was then covered with a cap of clay several feet thick to smother the fire.

The second fire was much more dangerous to the town of Noonan and the people who live on the outskirts of the town. The coal fines were again ignited by a grass fire, but this fire was pushed by winds that were 35 to 45 miles per hour, and at times registered gusts at 60 miles per hour. This spread the fines into additional dry grass and caused several fires that had to be addressed at the same time. Trenches were again dug and the fines pushed into them, and they were covered with clay. Additional fires were started when the wind would blow the burning fines into an area of dry grass and it took over a month of careful examination to find and cover all the hot spots. In addition, several subsidence holes opened up in the project area, posing a danger to the personnel and equipment until they were excavated and filled. The quick action of the North Dakota AML Division in getting a contractor on site, and the coordination of several local fire fighting agencies possibly saved the town of Noonan. Most of the area between the abandoned mine and the town is in the Conservation Reserve Program with the Natural Resource Conservation Service and the vegetation is very thick. The cost of extinguishing the first fire was just over three percent of the emergency funding of the FY97 AML grant, and the second fire expended 45 percent of the emergency funding included in the FY98 grant. The attached chart #IV on Emergency Projects gives additional information regarding the two emergency projects.

Chart #I

North Dakota

Additional AML Projects That Are Construction Ready If Funding Were Available

Project Cost Economic Impact* Environmental Benefits

*Income expressed in millions of dollars.

Employment expressed in number of persons employed as a result of the expenditure.

ACRES AND HAZARDS-CHART II

¹ AMLIS Keyword

² A "snapshot" of the status at the beginning of the year

³ PAD additions, by keyword, during the year

⁴ Reclamation accomplishments-GPRA requirement

⁵ A "snapshot" of the status at the beginning of FY99

CHART III

COMPLETED PROJECTS

Project Name Project Cost Economic Impacts Environmental Benefits

CHART #IV

EMERGENCY PROJECTS

CHART #V

NORTH DAKOTA STAFFING (Full-time equivalents as of September 30, 1998)
Function	EY 98
AML PROGRAM	5.65

CHART #VI

FUNDS GRANTED TO NORTH DAKOTA BY OSM (Millions of dollars) EY - 1998
Type of grant	Federal funds awarded	Federal funding as a percentage of total program costs
ABANDONED MINE LANDS	1.62	100
Totals	1.62	100