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Sump No. 1, and (2) reinitiation of dewatering of the mine pool to reverse the <br />gradient of the pool away from the creek. <br />Although Cotter contested all violations, Cotter did not dispute that the <br />alluvium at the Mine, in which Cotter placed contaminated waste rock, <br />contributed to the loading of uranium from the Mine into Ralston Creek. Cotter <br />likewise did not contest re- initiation of collection and treatment of the water <br />reporting to Sump No. 1 <br />pounds of uranium over <br />. Cotter's primary protest in this case is its allegation <br />that the Board should n t have required it to dewater and treat the mine pool. <br />After extracting a out seventeen million pounds of uranium from this <br />underground mine over a 34 -year period, Cotter allowed the Mine to flood and <br />created a mine pool. The mine is 2,200 feet deep. The mine pool contains an <br />estimated 144 million gallons of water perched 500 feet above and less than two <br />miles away from Ralston Reservoir. <br />The mine pool is highly contaminated. It contains an estimated 42,000 <br />,000 times above the stream standard for uranium. In <br />addition, the pool contains molybdenum, thallium, iron, manganese, sulfate and <br />radium, at concentrations above applicable standards. <br />As the record indicates, Cotter's own expert consultant opined that a <br />hydraulic connection between the mine pool and Ralston Creek may exist and <br />that the mine pool could be contributing 0.8 to 8% of the uranium loading into <br />the creek. Cotter consultant's stated that the hydraulic connection was not a <br />8 <br />