Comment: Now what is wrong with this statement: "Federal leasing supervisors said they had no regulatory authority over Cotter and weren't aware of any uranium stockpiles." I mean really.....Well Duh, dudes, visit the place, take back the leasing agreement and demand this uranium corp clean up it's mess! No to uranium mining!
By Bruce Finley
The Denver Post
Posted: 11/04/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT
State mining regulators have found heaps of toxic uranium ore at a dormant Cotter Corp. mine in western Colorado and are moving to prevent contamination of land and water near the Dolores River.
The regulators ordered Cotter to build berms around the 300 to 500 tons of uranium ore by Nov. 17 and to remove the uranium by early next year.
"The worry is that an inactive mine can have maintenance and upkeep problems.
It could cause polluted runoff," said Bob Randall, deputy director of Colorado's Department of Natural Resources. "What we want Cotter to do is clear it. They've got to put the berms up. They've got two weeks to do it."
Regulators also have ordered Cotter to submit an environmental protection plan.
No state tests have been done on soil and water near the mine, which is about 4 miles from the Dolores River near a site, southwest of Montrose, where Energy Fuels Inc. proposes to build the nation's first new uranium mill since the Cold War.
Cotter's mine sits on federal Bureau of Land Management land, leased by the U.S. Department of Energy. It is one of several uranium sites where state environmental overseers are pressing Cotter for cleanup action.
A shuttered Cotter uranium mill near Cañon City has been designated an environmental disaster. A Superfund cleanup begun there in the 1980s is still not complete. Cotter's defunct Schwartzwalder mine, west of Denver, has contaminated Ralston Creek, which runs into a Denver Water reservoir that supplies drinking water to 1.3 million metro-area residents.
An Oct. 27 report by the Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety, following recent inspections at 10 Cotter mines, asserts that "uranium ore is classified as a toxic material. Its prolonged storage and exposure at the surface, with no environmental controls, creates a condition that presents a potential adverse affect to persons, property and the environment."
Federal leasing supervisors said they had no regulatory authority over Cotter and weren't aware of any uranium stockpiles.
Environmental advocates lauded state efforts.
"The Dolores River and these public lands are very important for recreation in Colorado and for the world in providing wildlife habitats," said Travis Stills, managing attorney at the Durango-based Energy Minerals Law Center.
"What we need is for the state to do what it looks like they've started to do: Enforce state environmental laws," Stills said. "It is really amazing that there's raw uranium ore just sitting up on the surface of federal lands."
Bruce Finley: 303-954-1700 or bfinley@denverpost.com
Read more:
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_16517999
Read more: Mining regulators order Cotter to address heaps of toxic uranium ore - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_16517999#ixzz14XDEuIz5
