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August 24, 2021 <br /> Page 5 <br /> caused by the Mill. C.R.S. § 34-32-117(4) (financial warranty should cover water quality <br /> protection, treatment and monitoring). <br /> In addition, the Application does not address how long the financial warranty will remain <br /> in place and what conditions must be met in order to release it. The Applicant should not be able <br /> to walk away from the site simply after capping the TSF. There should be ongoing monitoring of <br /> water quality for a long period of time after operations have ceased to ensure that residual cyanide <br /> leachate or other pollution is not affecting the District or surrounding community. <br /> Further, Rule 6.4.19 applies because the Applicant's affected lands lie within 200 feet of a <br /> significant,valuable and permanent man-made structure,namely the District's polishing pond and <br /> sewage pipeline infrastructure. Rule 6.4.19 provides that the Applicant must do one of three <br /> things: (a)provide a notarized agreement between the Applicant and the person having an interest <br /> in the structure for compensation for any damage done; (b) where such an agreement cannot be <br /> reached,the Applicant shall provide an appropriate engineering evaluation demonstrating that the <br /> structure will not be damaged by the Applicant's activities; or (c) where the structure is a utility, <br /> the Applicant may supply a notarized letter, on utility letterhead, that the Applicant's activities <br /> will have "no negative effect" on the utility. First, there is no agreement between the Applicant <br /> and the District. Second, the Applicant has not provided any engineering evaluation referring to <br /> the District's polishing pond or sewage pipeline infrastructure. Third, the District does not agree <br /> that the Applicant's operation will have no negative effect and has not supplied any letter to that <br /> effect. The Application should be denied for failure to comply with Rule 6.4.19. <br /> A further concern relates to the complicated and opaque corporate structure of the <br /> Applicant and the owner of the Leadville Mill, which also dictates that a sufficient financial <br /> warranty be posted for as long as it takes to assure there is no environmental damage. <br /> Transparency of Communications <br /> The Applicant has not been forthcoming or transparent about describing its plans for <br /> expansion. On November 19, 2020, the Applicant sent the District a letter asking the District to <br /> sign a Structure Agreement without any explanation about what the Applicant was planning to do. <br /> Instead of just signing the agreement, the District asked for information about the Applicant's <br /> plans for expanding its operations. The Applicant said that it would send information later, but <br /> the District received nothing. Instead, the District learned for the first time about the revised <br /> Application involving cyanide processing through a newspaper article in July 2021. To date the <br /> District still has not received current information about the Applicant's plans from the Applicant. <br /> Good neighbors talk to each other. The Applicant has not been a good neighbor. <br />