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ROY COOPER
Governor
DIONNE DELLI-GATTI
Secretary �AM° *
BRIAN WRENN NORTH CAROLINA
Director Environmental Quality
May 6, 2021
Certified Mail
Return Receipt Requested
7019 1120 0000 5072 4755
NOTICE OF VIOLATION OF MINING PERMIT
Ms. Patricia Jordan
Jordan Land Development,Inc.
PO Box 863
West Jefferson,NC 28694
RE: West Jefferson Quarry
Mining Permit No. 05-07
Ashe County
New River Basin
Dear Ms. Jordan:
This is to inform you and your company of a violation of the above referenced mining permit.
On April 28, 2021, this office received blasting records requested as a result of a complaint regarding your April
26,2021 blast. Our review of your records determined that one or more of the conditions contained in your mining
permit were being violated. The conditions violated are as follows:
Operating Condition No.9.A.:Ground Vibration With Monitoring: In all blasting operations,the maximum
peak particle velocity of any component of ground motion shall not exceed Figure 1 (below) at the
immediate location of any regularly occupied building outside of the permitted area such as a dwelling
house, church, school, or public, commercial or institutional building.
Operating Condition No. 9.F: Excessive Ground Vibration/Air Blast Reporting: If ground vibration or air
blast limits are exceeded,the operator will immediately report the event with causes and corrective actions
to the Department. Use of explosives at the blast site that produced the excessive reading shall cease until
corrective actions approved by the Department are taken. However,blasting may occur in other approved
areas within the permitted boundary. Authorization to blast at the blast site may be granted at the time of
the verbal reporting of the high ground vibration or high air blast reading if the circumstances justify verbal
approval. Failure to report will constitute a permit violation.
As stated above, your blast on April 26, 2021 produced a ground vibration reading that exceeded the
allowable limits in your permit. Your company failed to report this incident and did not send a report
detailing the causes and proposed corrective actions to the Department.
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� North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality I Division of Energy,Mineral and Land Resources
tr�-& -D E512 North Salisbury Street 1 1612 Mail Service Center I Raleigh,North Carolina 27699-1612
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s 919.707.9200

Certified Mail
Ms. Jordan
Page 2
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Figure 1 Alternative blasting level criteria
(Source modifred from figure 3-1. Bureau of Mines R98507)
As per your blast records sent to Jenna Spencer,Assistant Mining Engineer,your company's seismograph,
placed 170' from the blast at the closest offsite occupied structure, registered a reading of 2.3 inches per
second at 62.5 hertz at 1:45 PM on April 26,2021.
In order to bring this site into compliance,the following corrective actions must be taken:
1. All blasting operations at the West Jefferson Quarry must be suspended immediately until otherwise
notified.
2. All blast records,including any seismograph recordings made,and a third party blast investigation must
be submitted,in duplicate,to this office within 30 working days of your receipt of this Notice as to why
this particular blast exceeded the maximum peak particle velocity limit specified in your mining permit.
The report must provide the location of the April 26,2021 blast that exceeded the limit and must clearly
indicate the changes to be made in the blasting procedures at this site to avoid such excessive readings
in the future at this site.
3. A protocol for reporting excessive readings to the Department in a more timely manner in the future
must be provided within 30 working days of your receipt of this Notice.
4. Provide this office with complete records for each blast performed at this mine site after the April 26,
2021 blast. This corrective action must be completed for each blast until further notice is given by this
office.

Certified Mail
Ms. Jordan
Page 3
Failure to take the corrective actions specified above will result in the assessment of a civil penalty against your
company. If a civil penalty is assessed, the amount may be up to five hundred dollars ($500.00) for each day of
violation,beginning with the date of your receipt of this Notice of Violation(N.C.G.S. 74-64). Other enforcement
actions may include seeking an injunction,criminal penalty and/or revoking your permit.
The responsibility for understanding and complying with the conditions of your mining permit rests with you. The
responsibility also rests with you for notifying this office of your plans to correct the violations.
Please do not hesitate to contact Ms. Tamera Eplin, P.E., Regional Engineer, at [phone], or Mr. David
Miller,P.E., State Mining Engineer,at(919) 707-9220 regarding any questions you might have about this matter.
SinZIzk�—�
Brian Wrenn,Director
Division of Energy,Mineral,and Land Resources
BW/js
cc: Mr. David Miller,P.E.
Ms. Tamera Eplin,P.E.