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reflect the prevailing hydrologic balance in the mine. Such results from 2009 are also invalid, as <br />explained in the Cotter Rebuttal at 1-2. <br />Second, no "serious adverse impact" to the "prevailing hydrologic balance" in the mine <br />pool has occurred because uranium concentrations in the mine pool have for years exceeded <br />background. The Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety ("Division") approved the <br />bulkheading of the Steve and Pierce adits and thereby approved both creation of the mine pool <br />and the inevitable increase in metals concentrations (including uranium) within the pool. See <br />Order 115 ("After mining ceased, the mine was allowed to fill with water" (emphasis added)); <br />Tr. of Hearing at 85:4-5 (`Bulkheading was part of the original mined land reclamation plan <br />which was approved by DRMS"), 117:3-8 (original 1977 permit allowed for bulkheading and <br />mine flooding as a component of the reclamation plan), 151:17-18 (Division testifies "We talked <br />about the bulkhead being approved in a TR from 2007, three years ago") (pertinent pages of the <br />hearing transcript are attached hereto as Exh. 2); Letter dated December 18, 2007 from the <br />Division to Cotter, approving the Technical Revision for sealing the Steve Level adits <br />(Attachment 1 to Cotter's June 21, 2010 letter to the Division). As the mine initially filled, <br />uranium concentrations peaked in the pool at 60.2 mg/L. Susan A. Wyman, P.E., P.G., <br />Whetstone Associates, Rationale for Not Conducting Mine Dewatering and Mine Water <br />Treatment at the Schwartzwalder Mine, at 5-6 and Fig. 3 (June 25, 2010) ("Rationale"). A <br />uranium concentration of 35.4 mg/L is well below the peak uranium concentration and, <br />accordingly, is not a "serious adverse impact" to the prevailing hydrologic balance.2 <br />Third, the unequivocal evidence shows that "[u]ranium concentrations in the mine pool <br />have been declining for the past seven years." Rationale at 5 and Fig. 3. The Division does not <br />2 The uranium concentration of 35.4 mg/L decreased to 33.4 mg/L as of June 8, 2010.