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Division in the Mazch 2006 non-DMO determination would render the DMO provisions. <br />superfluous by equating them with the threshold issue of permit issuance and permit compliance. <br />In any case, read in context of the EPA's TENORM documents and the demonstrated harms <br />presented by underground uranium mining and the creation of uranium sulfate when ore piles are <br />exposed to rainwater, the record unambiguously demonstrates that the SM-18 mine disturbs acid <br />or toxic materials in "quantities sufficient" to cause an adverse impact to health and the <br />environment. Indeed, the entire analysis conducted by the Division and Cotter ignores onsite <br />impacts and relates only to whether the toxicity of the disturbed and leached materials is <br />sufficiently attenuated in the groundwater at a monitoring point at the edge of the mining <br />property. This entire attenuation analysis presumes "quantities sufficient" to have an adverse <br />impact on the mine site -mandating DMO status even under the erroneous standards used by the <br />Division. <br />Further, the notice in the April 12, 2006 meeting agenda indicates that the DRMS's final non- <br />DMO determination was based on staff's "acceptance" of groundwater models, unspecified <br />reports, and other assertions made by Cotter. <br />Staff accepts that contaminants fmm the waste rock or underground workings will not <br />have a deleterious effect on the ground water quality in the immediate area. <br />However, the DRMS appears to have adopted a position that contravenes the SPLP tests that. <br />establish that SM-18 has the potential to release toxic or acidic materials. As chazacterized in the <br />public notice in the April 12, 2006 meeting agenda: <br />The initial finding was based on SPLP test results that showed that toxic-forming <br />materials were present in the waste rock and ore that is being deposited at the surface of <br />the operation. <br />This notice, like the other records in the DRMS file, supports Appellants' request that the MLRB <br />reject the final non-DMO finding as contrary to facts in the record and applicable law. <br />Indeed, it appears that the DBMS is using an artificially heightened standard to review the DMO <br />status. For example, [he DRMS repeatedly equates the definition of "acid or toxic producing <br />materials" with "potential to release metals in concentrations that exceed ground or surface <br />water standards" See July 25, 2005 Notice and June 15, 2005 SPLP results review. However, the <br />MLRA specifically <br />defines "acid or toxic producing materials" as "natural or reworked earth materials having <br />acid or toxic chemical and physical characteristics." <br />C.R.S. § 34-32-103(1). In this way, the DRMS's March 2006 non-DMO findings are based on <br />the erroneous position that only where "acid or toxic producing materials" are present in such <br />quantities that will violate surface or groundwater standards is a DMO status warranted. <br />10 <br />