Laserfiche WebLink
system by monitoring, AR:01016:6-01017:17, which is not mentioned in the Order and the <br />record does not contain cost information about it or any reasonableness evaluation. <br />Finally, the Board erred by lacking basic information required for any reasonableness <br />evaluation. At the Hearing, in considering the idea of reversing the hydraulic gradient from <br />Ralston Creek alone, instead of from both Ralston Creek and Ralston Reservoir, one Board <br />member asked the Division whether it would be possible to dewater the mine to a level that <br />would be less than 500 feet below the Steve level. AR:00899:12-00900:7. However, the <br />Division did not know why it picked 500 feet below the Steve Level for the depth of dewatering <br />- other than because it "would certainly assure a very steep gradient." AR:00900:8-17. The <br />Board found without substantial evidence that "[d]ewatering the mine pool to the level below <br />Ralston Reservoir will ensure that the hydraulic gradient is again reversed away from Ralston <br />Creek and Reservoir - by creating a cone of depression," implicitly adopting the Division's <br />demand for certainty. Order ¶ 33, AR:00850 (emphasis added). Requiring certainty is <br />inconsistent with evaluating reasonableness.9 Nothing in the record supports the reasonableness <br />of dewatering to 500 feet below the Steve Level. <br />The record does not contain substantial evidence of the reasonableness of Corrective <br />Action No. 2 without which the Board could not make the required reasonableness evaluation, <br />resulting in the Order's being contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious. <br />9 Moreover, the Board failed to recognize that the proponent of an order (in this case the <br />Division) had the burden of proof by accepting the Division's argument that "there must be <br />certainty in the corrective actions imposed to address the violations," and "[d]ewatering the mine <br />pool provides that certainty." AR:00333; Colo. Rev. Stat. § 24-4-105(7); see AR:00402. <br />25