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the last three months have all been within the permitted water discharge standards, demonstrating <br /> the water treatment system's effectiveness. Exhibit C, ¶3 (July 12, 2022 Aff. of S. Muller). <br /> As discussed above, the Cross Mine, like many other gold and silver mines in Colorado, <br /> historically treated water through a filtration process using on-site retention ponds. To GIR's <br /> knowledge, the Division has not treated any of those mines as a DMO, including the Cross Mine, <br /> likely because that is not the intent behind the DMO Rule and the mines were able to manage the <br /> water treatment process to ensure that although toxic materials that were present at the mine <br /> (such as the very metals that were being mined)would not be discharged in quantities sufficient <br /> to adversely affect human health, property or the environment. Now that the Cross Mine's new <br /> water treatment system is calibrated and working effectively, the Cross Mine is for all intents and <br /> purposes in the same position it was in prior to the installation of the new water treatment system <br /> when it was effectively treating water through the use of its on-site retention ponds. The Cross <br /> Mine, like other mines that use on-site ponds to treat water, was not a DMO then and there is no <br /> reason for it to be a DMO now, simply because the Cross Mine installed a better and more <br /> sophisticated water treatment system to ensure the safety of humans and the environment. As <br /> such, the Board should exempt the Cross Mine from the DMO requirements of Rule 7. <br /> V. CONCLUSION <br /> GIR has sufficiently demonstrated that the Cross Mine is not a DMO and the Division's <br /> interpretation and application of the DMO Rule to the Cross Mine individually and as compared <br /> to other mines that treat water discharge is arbitrary and capricious or otherwise contrary to the <br /> Rules and law. As such, GIR respectfully requests that the Board find that the Cross Mine is not <br /> a DMO and reverse the Division's June 13, 2022 final determination that the Cross Mine is a <br /> DMO. In the alternative, to the extent the Board is inclined to adopt the Division's interpretation <br /> 15 <br />