Sheep Mountain Alliance challenges Energy Fuels’ application to state

Comment: No to Uranium Mining and Milling!

By Matthew Beaudin, Editor
Published: Wednesday, December 16, 2009 9:08 PM CST

Early this fall, those opposed to a uranium mill in the far western reaches of the state said they would fight at every turn.

After two filings since a contentious approval from Montrose County Commissioners, their threats have proven anything but idle.

Local environmental group Sheep Mountain Alliance continues to take the fight to a company that hopes to build a large uranium mill in the Paradox Valley, this time in a memo that questions an application by the would-be developers to the State of Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment.

Energy Fuels Inc., as part of the state’s review process, just filed an application; Sheep Mountain Alliance’s newest paperwork disputes the completeness of that application, questioning its social, economic and technical findings and foundations.

The Paradox Valley Sustainability Association is also a party in the filing.

“The way in which they do it, and the completeness of it, according to the state statues, is severely lacking,” Sheep Mountain Alliance’s Executive Director Hilary White said of Energy Fuels’ review.

As an example, White says the company addresses mines that would feed its mill but doesn’t delve into the impacts of expanded mining operations.

The application, opponents say, is too vague for its potential consequence.

“This thing is not 21st century material; this is certainly not the way these kind of things should be done, should they be done,” said Travis Stills, an attorney for Energy Minerals Law Center in Durango. “According to the highest standards.... what we see is a ‘cost cutting measure.’”

On Friday, the state will accept or deny the Energy Fuels’ application.

Should it accept, it will trigger a succession of legally mandated steps: The first public meeting would occur 45 days from then, and Montrose County, the county in which the mine would be built, will have 90 days to review the proposal.

All told, there will be four public meetings in the region and the process will take a year, White said.

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