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complex in Germany, the government is supportive of mine flooding, and natural attenuation of <br />uranium is occurring. Id. at 2-3. The Britannia Mine in British Columbia, Canada is not <br />comparable to the Schwatzwalder mine because surface water enters the mine workings through <br />open pits and glory holes. Id. at 3-4. Similarly, the Giant Mine, Yellowknife, Northwest <br />Territories, is not a valid comparison to the Schwartzwalder mine because mine water was being <br />treated for arsenic, which behaves very differently from uranium and other metals in solution. <br />Id. at 4. <br />(G) Mine Dewatering Could Be Environmentally Damaging. <br />Paragraphs 19 and 20 of the Order address Cotter's position that, if mine dewatering is <br />not implemented, uranium concentration in the mine pool will eventually decrease to background <br />concentrations, and the Division's response that it "does not agree that it is certain that the <br />reducing trend will continue." Paragraph 20 also states that "the Division calculated that if the <br />trend continues, it may take seventeen years for the mine pool to attain uranium concentrations <br />of 0.03 mg/L." Again, the Division's position became known to Cotter for the first time at the <br />hearing, which provides the ground justifying reconsideration. <br />The Division cites to no law requiring that a mine pool would need to attain a standard of <br />0.03 mg/L, which is more stringent than background. The suggestion that the mine pool would <br />have to meet an 0.03 mg/L uranium concentration conflicts with the law applicable to this site <br />requiring compliance at a point of compliance. See May 10, 2010 "Comments on <br />Schwartzwalder Mine Environmental Protection Plan," from Steve Gunderson, Director, Water <br />Quality Control Division, CDPHE, to David Berry, Office of Active and Inactive Mines, <br />Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety at 2 ("For the Schwartzwalder Mine, the <br />groundwater point of compliance, which has been determined by DRMS, is Ralston Creek at the <br />lower property boundary.") See also Cotter Rebuttal at 2-3. Comparing the mine pool water to <br />17