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challenging the agency's well-documented determination that DMO status applies, as <br />documented in the SPLP results. <br />Overall, three months of monitoring data during periods of the year without any <br />substantial precipitation is insufficient to demonstrate the lack of any adverse impact on <br />persons, property, or the environment -the high standard Cotter must meet to escape <br />regulation as a Designated Mining Operation and avoid the preparation of an <br />Environmental Protection Plan. C.R.S. § 34-32-103(3.5)(a)(II);C.R.S. § 34-32-112.5(2). <br />[...] <br />Because Cotter has failed to make a credible, threshold factual showing where a heavy <br />burden of proof applies to an operator seeking to avoid DMO status, there exist no <br />Bounds to reverse the Division's July 2005 determination that the JD Mines are DMOs. <br />For this reason, and in order to conserve agency resources, the Board should summarily <br />dismiss Cotter's appeal and adopt a schedule for submission and review of the <br />Environmental Protection Plan required for the operation of a DMO. <br />Intervenors' Opening Brief at 4. Likewise, no factual basis exists, or could be provided at this <br />stage of these proceedings, for the Board to issue a DMO exemption, regardless of the applicable <br />standards that may apply to such an exemption. C.R.S. § 34-32-112.5. <br />Due to the well-established fact that Cotter has failed to conform with DMO provisions that <br />became applicable in the mid-1990s, an expedited schedule for DMO-compliance, including the <br />preparation and adoption of an EPP before any mining may recommence, would provide a fair <br />and expeditious resolution of Cotter's appeal. <br />RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED THIS 12TH DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 2007, <br />Travis E. Stills <br />Travis Stills <br />Energy Minerals Law Center <br />Je,(fParsons <br />Jeff Parsons <br />Western Mining Action Project <br />Attorneys for the San Juan Citizens Alliance, Information Network for Responsible Mining <br />(INFORM), and the Colorado Environmental Coalition <br />