More groups join protest of uranium mill

In the Paradox Valley, a question of water

By Matthew Beaudin
Editor

Published: Monday, February 8, 2010 8:37 PM CST

The list of opposition to a proposed uranium mill in Paradox Valley keeps growing.

Last week, two Utah-based conservation groups took up arms against Energy Fuels’ planned uranium mill to be built on a swath of western Colorado’s high farmland.

Moab-based groups Red Rock Forests and Living Rivers are challenging the company’s application to pump groundwater from the Dolores River basin, and in doing so join local group Sheep Mountain Alliance and a coalition of groups in opposition of the would-be mill. Living Rivers Conservation Director John Weisheit says the Dolores River is one of the West’s most scenic and a popular river for whitewater rafting.

The Dolores is a 250-mile tributary of the Colorado River that drains into Utah, and Energy Fuels needs the water to process uranium ore. The river cuts across the Paradox Valley, a lofty piece of land between towering red walls an hour northwest of Telluride.

The debate over the mill and the possible resurgence of Uranium mining in a region where it once boomed has proven paradoxical; opponents have questioned the environmental record of the industry while those in support say they need the jobs a revived industry pledges.

Currently, the Colorado Department of Health and Environment is reviewing the project and could take up to 18 months to make a decision.

Other environmental groups are protesting the very approval from Montrose County the project hinges upon, disputing how the permit was obtained.

Sheep Mountain Alliance, a local environmental group, filed a lawsuit against the Montrose County Commissioners and its land use director, alleging a hopscotch of missteps in the board’s approval of the uranium mill to be built six miles outside of Paradox, Colo.

The problems in the approval, they say, are far-reaching and systemic: At the heart of the matter is the notion that a uranium mill — heavy in both regulation and stigma — could be plopped down in the middle of the lofty and stark valley, which is zoned for agricultural uses. The complaint alleges inappropriate meetings, abuses of discretion when approving a special use permit for Energy Fuels.

The groups say that the federal government failed to consider the cumulative effects of increased leasing.

Recently, a judge ruled that environmental groups can obtain information on given federal leases to challenge the program.

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