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Army Corps of Engineers to Permit No. 199980194. The Al permit is limited to the land being <br /> mined and does not authorize the draining of the adjacent wetlands. <br /> II. Groundwater Should Be the Focus of the Amendment Application <br /> Throughout the Amendment Application, Al consistently focuses the design necessary to <br /> remove, drain, or otherwise deal with surface water. The core problem, however, is not flooding <br /> caused from surface water or draining surface water. Unless the groundwater table is also <br /> lowered under the Orr Property, the surface waters will remain and the property is unusable for <br /> any purpose with the current groundwater table. Al must make every attempt to return the <br /> hydrologic balance to the Orr Property by state law. <br /> If, however, Al is unable to drain the Orr Property and return it to its pre-existing <br /> condition, Al must begin again. This Amendment Application is not the "final" plan as Al <br /> repeatedly states. In the past, AI has claimed that its earlier solution was approved by the MLRB <br /> and that approval would relieve them of further attempts to alleviate the flooding of the Orr <br /> Property. This is patently false. Unless and until Al drains the Orr Property, it is still in <br /> violation of Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 34-32.5-116(4)(h),(i). <br /> III. Technical Errors in the Design <br /> Even assuming that the Orr Property is not considered a jurisdictional wetland according <br /> to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, there remain a host of significant technical issues that <br /> prevent the project from accomplishing the objective of remediating the changes in the <br /> groundwater table that caused the current inundation on the Orr Property. The following specific <br /> comments are particularly tied to the page and paragraph indicated in the Tetra Tech <br /> Memorandum attached to these comments for reference. See Attachment 3, Memo From Jeffrey <br /> A. Butson to Connie Davis (August 24, 2016). <br /> A. Tetra Tech Memo, Page 1, Paragraph 1 <br /> The sole cause of the condition of the Orr Property is AI's actions in moving the Bull <br /> Seep and installing a slurry wall. But for these actions, the Orr Property would not have standing <br /> water, would not have groundwater within 18 inches of the surface, and would not be covered by <br /> wetland vegetation. Thus, Aggregate Industries have effectively precluded the highest and best <br /> use of the Orr Property as a residential or permanent development property.2 <br /> Even though AI admits that "the amount of water necessary to maintain the wetlands and <br /> drain the Orr Property is not known at this time" we have found no plan to do a site specific <br /> investigation of the existing or future groundwater elevation on the Orr Property. Thus, there is <br /> no way to determine whether the design in the memorandum will work. We would strongly <br /> encourage the Division to require Al to install monitoring wells on the Orr Property to ensure <br /> compliance into the future. We would allow a maximum of five monitoring wells on the <br /> 2Subject to City of Thornton permits and local regulations. <br /> Page 2 of 5 <br />