Under the glassy glare of a mounted moose head in Nucla's Moose Lodge, opponents and supporters of a proposed uranium mill in Montrose County's Paradox Valley this week are wrangling over the future of what could be the nation's first new uranium processing mill in more than 25 years.
In a courtroom-style setting presided over by retired Boulder County Judge Richard Dana, Energy Fuels Resources officials testified Thursday about their plans to build a $150 million uranium mill west of Naturita.
Company leaders were questioned by their own attorneys and grilled by lawyers representing critics of the proposed Piñon Ridge mill.
Those opponents, led by Telluride's Sheep Mountain Alliance, in June notched a victory in their fight against the mill when Denver District Court Judge John McMullen overturned the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment's March 2011 approval of Energy Fuel's Radioactive Materials License and ordered a formal adjudicatory hearing.
"There is so much that needs to be addressed and analyzed that they need to go back and do it again," said Hilary White, executive director of the Sheep Mountain Alliance.
The hearings began Wednesday in Nucla and will run into next week
.
Dana, who also is reviewing 60 to 70 written comments, will submit his recommendation to the health department. The health department will issue a decision on the mill license in April.
The hearing on Thursday delved into the health department's 2½-year environmental review of Energy Fuel's application. Testimony addressed tailings piles, evaporation ponds, dust control, groundwater protection, wildlife protection, and a range of risk assessments and environmental mitigation measures the company plans for its mill.
Thomas Power, a retired University of Montana professor and consultant enlisted by Sheep Mountain Alliance to scrutinize the mill's socioeconomic impact, said the economic impact is "grossly exaggerated," explaining that the volatility of the uranium market could actually hinder economic vitality in the valley and contribute to the boom-bust cycle that plagues mining towns across the West.
(Energy Fuels this month announced it was suspending operations next year at three of its Colorado Plateau uranium mines near Moab, Utah, citing declining uranium prices.)
"There will be a modest impact, but the question is, is it really true that revival of the uranium industry is a path to economic vitality in this valley? That's really hard to see," Power said.
Jason Blevins: 303-954-1374, jblevins@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jasontblevins
