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In the alternative, should activities be allowed to proceed, prior to conducting any such <br />activity at the site, Powertech must provide competent information required to support a formal <br />DRMS finding on whether or not the proposed activities will in any way affect, alter, or distort any <br />future baseline characterization of the site and the groundwater. <br />2. The Request for Modification lacks information necessary to assess impacts <br />The MLRA mandates that: <br />Operators of in situ leach mining operations shall take all necessary steps to prevent and <br />remediate any degradation of preexisting ground water uses during the prospecting, <br />development, extraction, and reclamation phases of the operation. <br />C.R.S. § 34-32-116(8)(emphasis added). <br />The MLRA further requires that any notice of intent to conduct prospecting activities must <br />"contain the following:... (f) Measures to be taken to reclaim any affected land consistent with the <br />requirements of section 34-32-116." C.R.S. § 34-32-113(2). Section 34-32-116 specifically <br />requires that: <br />(7) Reclamation plans and the implementation thereof shall conform to the following <br />general requirements: <br />(g) Disturbances to the prevailing hydrologic balance of the affected land and of the <br />surrounding area and to the quality and quantity of water in surface and groundwater <br />systems both during and after the mining operation and during reclamation shall be <br />minimized <br />C.R.S. § 34-32-116(7). <br />With respect to the content of Powertech's Request for Modification, substantial critical <br />information is lacking, including information necessary to establish compliance with the MLRA. <br />In particular, without full knowledge of the previously existing groundwater quality, there is no <br />rational way to comply with the specified land and groundwater protection requirements. As <br />amended by BB 08-1161, in the special case of in situ uranium leach mining, the MLRA requires <br />that baseline conditions must be protected during any and all site activities. <br />However, the information submitted by Powertech does not appear to include any baseline <br />monitoring information that has already been compiled, even though actual data is required in order <br />to establish a legitimate "pre-mining site condition," to ensure baseline is protected, and to ensure <br />that the proposed activities do not disturb this baseline. Rather, Powertech proposes several <br />monitoring wells to collect data during the proposed aquifer pump test, rather than before. This <br />failure to provide existing groundwater information and the failure to include a plan for obtaining <br />data prior to pumping highlights the need for the baseline characterization plan to be coordinated <br />with the proposed activities, and to be approved prior to pump test authorization. <br />It may be that some of the relevant data exists, as Powertech previously submitted a <br />proposed plan for an aquifer pump test that included some data showing elevated uranium and <br />4