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exemption were not even addressed -even assuming the Board would accept Cotter's invitation <br />to read the MLRA in a manner that allowed for DMO exemptions for 112 operations. <br />In sum, neither the procedural nor the substantive requirements for the Board to grant DMO <br />exemption have been met. <br />VI. THE MLRB REGULATIONS PREVENT DMO EXEMPTIONS FOR THIS 112 <br />OPERATION <br />As set forth more fully in Appellants Opening Brief, pursuant to the plain language of the <br />applicable MLRB rules, if a mining operation is permitted as a 110 Operation, a Rule 1.1(14)(e) <br />exemption to DMO status maybe considered by the Board. Appellants' Opening Brief at 12. <br />However, the Board has correctly determined in its September 13, 2006 Order that the SM-18 is <br />a 112 Operation, and therefore is not eligible for Rule 1.1(14)(e) exemption. Thus, the dispute <br />over this matter is purely hypothetical since no 110 Operation is currently before the Board for <br />consideration. <br />There is a live dispute over the question of whether or not a mine permitted as a 112 operation <br />may obtain DMO-but-Exempt status. Cotter and DRMS do not identify any explicit provision in <br />the MLRB rules fora 112 Operation to qualify for such a DMO-exemption. No such explicit <br />provision exists in the MLRB rules. <br />Lacking any support in the MLRB Rules, Cotter and DRMS rely entirely on a novel argument <br />based on the silence in the MLRB Rules and the language of the MLRA to argue that 112 <br />Operations can obtain DMO-but-Exempt Status from this Board by raising the issue at any time, <br />in any Board proceeding, including the late stages of the present appeal. Cotter Response at 9-10 <br />(arguing for DMO exemption). <br />Had the MLRB interpretation of the MLRA included a determination that 112 Operations could <br />be eligible for exempt status, a process similar to that set out for 110 Operations would have been <br />set forth for 112 Operations to gain a DMO-but-Exempt status. None was provided in the <br />MLRB rules. <br />Regardless of any ambiguity that maybe read into the MLRB Rules, as set forth above, Cotter <br />has not satisfied the two statutory elements by providing any information regazding the <br />"quantities" of materials nor whether these quantities of toxic and acid forming materials are <br />sufficient to "adversely affect any person, any property, or the environment." C.R.S. § 34-32- <br />112.5(2). Even. assuming, arguendo, that an exemption is available, Cotter has not shown any <br />facts to establish eligibility under the statutory provision it relies upon. Cotter Response Brief at <br />9-10. <br />Based on application of the appropriate legal standards, the SM-18 Mine is properly recognized <br />as a DMO in accordance with the unambiguous and plain language of MLRB's HRMM Rules <br />and the Long-standing interpretation that the DMO-Exemption in the MLRA is only available to <br />