Lawmakers take aim at uranium mills

Comment: Pretty ugly, the tailing ponds, the uranium mill uses all kinds of chemicals and the waste water stays in ponds for years, just leaking!  Virginia, we do not want uranium mining and milling in our state, it is a step back for such a modern state!  No to uranium mining!

By Andy Koen, Bea Karnes -
News First 5
Posted : Jan 26, 2010 1:56 PM
The water in the containment ponds at the Cotter Uranium Mill near Cañon City is a dingy yellow/brown color, tinted by the million of tons of heavy metals and toxic waste stored in them.

The linings of the ponds are slowly leaking contaminating the groundwater around the mill.

The area has been declared a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency, giving it federal priority for clean up. However, nothing has been done yet.

"I think it's absolutely absurd that 4.5 million tons of this kind of waste can be sitting a mile from somebody's house," said Sharyn Cunningham as she looked at the mill from an overlook nearby.

Cunningham is co-chairperson of the group Colorado Citizens Against Toxic Waste, one of several groups to rally at the Fremont County Courthouse Tuesday in support of tougher legislation on uranium mills.

The Uranium Processing Accountability Act is being sponsored by in the Colorado Assembly by Representative Buffie McFadyen, (D) Pueblo West, and Senators Ken Kester (R) Las Animas and Bob Bacon (D) Fort Collins.

It requires uranium mill operators in the state to comply with all clean up orders before new applications are processed and it strengthens public oversight of bonding requirements for clean-up and decommissioning.

Fremont County Commissioner Mike Stiehl the bill has the potential to force Cotter to clean up its mess.

The mills will aslo need to amend their operating license before accepting new sources of "alternate feed" material, such as radioactive or toxic waste from industrial or medical operations. Small amounts of uranium ore can be extracted from alternate feed sources.

The bill has already ben endorsed by more than 30 organizations and businesses in Fremont County, and more than 50 groups state wide.

For the last four years, the Cotter Corporation has stopped processing uranium under a self-imposed "stand down," but last year they announced plans to start it up again.

A letter written by John Hamrick, Cotter's Vice President of Milling, to the state health department in March of 2009 indicates that the company plans to refurbish the Cañon City facility and begin processing uranium ore from a mine in New Mexico sometime in 2014.

Hamrick could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Read more:
http://www.newsfirst5.com/news/lawmakers-take-aim-at-uranium-processors/

Uranium drilling still poses health risks

Comment:  Great letter!  People of Virginia, read the letter below, Colorado had uranium mining in the past which left deserted mines and tailings ponds and the federal government was a huge part of uranium mining and the feds did not protect the miners or their families. So demand the leaders to ban uranium mining and milling now!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Do people move to Grand Junction to be a part of “energy alley” or to be immersed in the on-going legacy of boom-and-bust uranium mining and milling?

We moved here because Mesa County was promoted as a fruit-growing region with great natural beauty and a friendly community offering recreational opportunity and diversified employment. During the ten years we have lived here, I have learned that most of this advertising is true.

It is also true that in a book titled “Warm Sands,” Grand Junction’s story of involvement in uranium milling unveiled a legacy of health problems and concerns that continue to plague our citizens. Note the advertisements in The Daily Sentinel to apply for recompense for uranium damage.

When Grand Junction’s water was tested in the 1970s, it was considered unfit to drink. When Colorado Avenue was renovated in 2009, the tailings from yellowcake milling found in the roadbed had to be removed and carried away for protection of the people because it was highly radio-active. Colorado taxpayers have paid over $1 billion in clean up costs for past uranium operations and there is still need for more.

Now, Energy Fuels wants to open a new uranium mill in the Paradox Valley that would likely transport yellowcake through Mesa County. Gateway recreation area could be affected by concerns with air and water pollution causing sustainable economic opportunities to be seriously hampered.

Hopefully, people from Grand Junction will attend the public hearing on health and economic issues regarding Energy Fuels’ intention to open Piñon Ridge Uranium Mill. It will be held Wednesday, Feb. 17, at 6:00 p.m. in the Montrose Pavilion on the Montrose County Fairgrounds.

FRAN DIDIER
Grand Junction, CO

http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/opinion/stories/2010/01/26/012610_email_letters.html

Good turnout reported at (uranium) mill hearing

Comment:  Ban uranium milling and mining now!

Staff Report

Published/Last Modified on Sunday, January 24, 2010 4:11 AM MST

NUCLA - Severe weather didn’t keep people away from the state’s first public hearing on Energy Fuels’ proposed uranium mill.

More than 300 people braved winter weather to attend the hearing at Nucla High Thursday, and 73 spoke, county officials said.

Read more:
http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2010/01/24/news/doc4b5bcb58dbc96623319421.txt

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.

Read more:
http://telluridenews.com/articles/2009/12/18/news/doc4b299f708f329713501115.txt

August 19, 2009--Nunn uranium mine could adversely impact groundwater, expert says (Colorado Independent)

Comment: No to uranium mining and milling all over the World!

By David O. Williams 8/19/09 9:41 AM
Colorado has uranium on the brain these days.

An environmental engineer and lecturer brought in by conservationists told an audience in Fort Collins Tuesday they should be concerned about the deterioration of their water quality if a proposed uranium mine near Nunn goes forward, according to the Greeley Tribune.

“If I was living in this area, I would certainly have concerns about groundwater,” said Dr. Gavin Mudd, an assistant lecturer at Monash University in Clayton, Australia. “Knowing the extent of problems they’ve had at mines in Wyoming and Texas, for example, I would certainly be concerned about protecting my groundwater quality.”

An executive for Denver-based Powertech Uranium Corp. said he wouldn’t have a problem living next the mine, which would use in-situ leach mining.

“I would be very happy to live next to one of those things,” Powertech President and CEO Richard Clement told the paper. “Believe me, if I could move the project next to my house in New Mexico I would be more than happy to live there. I’ve been around these projects 30 some-odd years. There are no concerns.”

Mountain communities in Southwest Colorado, meanwhile, are heatedly debating the benefits and risks of a mill that would process uranium in Montrose County.

Uranium mining claims are on the rise around the state and nation as nuclear power continues to be touted as a renewable energy source that can dramatically reduce carbon emissions and global warming. But stopping mining claims near national parks and proposed wilderness areas, including the Grand Canyon, where President Barack Obama’s family vacationed over the weekend, has become a rallying cry for environmentalists.

Still, numerous politicians, including some former and current Democratic lawmakers from Colorado, are calling for more recognition of nuclear power and traditional energy sources such as natural gas in pending climate change legislation.

http://www.waterinfo.org/node/3587

Darryl Hannah decries proposed Colorado uranium mill

Comment: Ms. Hannah, come help us fight uranium mining and milling in Virginia!

Hannah grew up in the area and has a home in San Miguel County

Associated Press
Montrose, CO Colorado,

MONTROSE, Colorado — Actress Darryl Hannah is speaking out against a proposed uranium and vanadium mine in southwest Colorado.

Hannah, who grew up in the area and has a home in San Miguel County, spoke Wednesday at a meeting of the planning commission in adjacent Montrose County, where Toronto-based Energy Fuels Inc. wants to build the mill.

The site is about 225 miles southwest of Denver.

Hannah told the commission she's concerned "about short-term thinking leading to a disaster."

The planning commission voted unanimously to recommend a special-use permit for the mill, but the project has other hurdles to clear.

In West Virginia last month, Hannah and others were arrested in a protest of mountaintop-removal mining.

http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20090702/NEWS/907029985/-1/RSS02

The Navajo Nation and Uranium Mining

Comment: Just say no to All Uranium Mining, it just ruins people lives but makes Corporation Rich!!

Impacts of Resource Development on Native American Lands

This page was written by Erin Klauk as part of the DLESE Community Services Project: Integrating Research in Education.

Details

While the Navajo were struggling economically during the nuclear age, uranium was discovered on their reservation. Uneducated about the environmental and health risks from mining uranium, many Navajo men were thankful to have found work so close to home ([Brugge, 2000] ). This was the beginning of hardships that were previously unknown to the Navajo people. Today, more than 50 years later, the Navajo are still feeling the effects from uranium mining.

To get started, view pages, or follow the links below to pages that have been developed to illustrate the events that occurred on the Navajo Nation due to uranium mining:

http://serc.carleton.edu/research_education/nativelands/navajo/index.html

Physiography - Explore the physiography and landforms of the Navajo Nation.

Geology - Explore the geology of the Navajo Nation including geologic maps, the tectonic setting, bedrock and major structures.

Hydrology - Explore the surface water and groundwater quality and quantity on the Navajo Nation.

Climate and Biota - Explore the climate, flora and fauna of the Navajo Nation.

Cultural Heritage - Explore the culture of the Navajo including the traditional land and lifestyle, history and mode of living.

Uranium Deposits - Explore resources about uranium and uranium deposits specific to the Navajo Nation.

Exploration and Development History - Explore the discovery history, extraction methods, and development and production history of uranium mining on the Navajo Nation.

Environmental Impacts - Explore the impacts to air, land and water due to uranium mining on the Navajo Nation.

Human Health Impacts - Explore the impacts on human health due to uranium mining on the Navajo Nation.

Policy - Explore political issues related to uranium mining on the Navajo Nation.

What's Next? - Explore the mining issues that have occurred recently on the Navajo Nation.

Listen to Navajo Nation Pushes for Uranium Cleanup by Ted Robbins, broadcast on National Public Radio May 30, 2008.

http://serc.carleton.edu/research_education/nativelands/navajo/index.html

Protect area from 'benign' uranium mining

Comment: Well, all the uranium companies call uranium mining & milling: Benign, they have a problem with the truth because they want the MONEY, Greedy Bunch and they do not care who the poison!!

Article Last Updated; Thursday, June 04, 2009

While reading the piece on mining rules and the push to open uranium mining along the Dolores River (Herald, May 30), we were struck by the comment of Stuart Sanderson, spokesman for the Colorado Mining Association, that "Uranium mining is relatively benign."

Colorado and its many mountain communities have suffered from the "benign" practices of mining before.

Aside form the obvious concern about mining near the beautiful gold-medal fishing of the Dolores, here are a few other facts to consider:

Uranium mining, using various technologies, produces massive amounts of polluted water, which is pumped out of the mine site and usually ends up in groundwater; the process produces radon gas from tailings (if any) and sulfuric acid, which is used as a leaching liquid. Trace amounts of radioactivity end up in rock from the milling process, which then is dumped at or near the mill site.

This is hardly benign.

We urge people to participate in the rules-making process and pay careful attention to ensure that we are protected adequately from such "benign" practices.

Our future health and the viability of the Dolores River are at stake.

Doug and Jan Parker,
Cortez

http://durangoherald.com/sections/Opinion/letters_to_the_editor/2009/06/04/Protect_area_from_benign_uranium_mining/

Uranium offers empty economic promises

Comment: Another Great Letter, No Uranium mining and milling!!!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 10:07 AM EDT

This letter is in answer to a letter from Philip Shelton of Blairs published in your paper on May 20, 2009.

I have read your letter regarding the issue of mining uranium in Pittsylvania County where you state, hopefully, that this industry will be such a boon to our economy that our taxes will be reduced.

Let me state now that if this industry is allowed to mine uranium we will lose the enrollment of both Chatham Hall and Hargrave Military Academy.

Both of these institutions are a prime source of local tax revenue.

No one who knows anything about the past history of this industry with its widespread elevations of cancers, birth defects, and death would dare to send their children to a school that is within five miles of an open-pit uranium mine.

Further, if you study the records of uranium mining sites out west, where the industry has tried, unsuccessfully, to mine uranium without harming the environment or the surrounding population for years, you will note that in each case, the cleanup of toxic waste sites is left up to the local taxpayers to foot the bill.

Mr. Shelton, are you aware that Mr. Coles has sold Virginia Uranium Inc. to a Canadian mining company named Santoy?

Why would he sell out? Why is a Canadian mining company buying Virginia Uranium?

The answer is that Santoy's mining operations have been closed down by the Canadian government because of the pollution mines have caused in Canada.

Additionally, VUI has promised record employment here in Pittsylvania County. This is a bald lie.

Their plan states that they will use experienced mining personnel as well as students from the newly formed nuclear science school at Virginia Tech.

VUI claims it will produce 300 to 500 jobs in the county. How can we believe that when, nationwide, the uranium mining industry employs considerably less than 500 people in mining uranium?

It is only through knowledge of the problems of the uranium mining industry that you may begin to realize what a disaster we are in for if the existing moratorium were to be lifted.

I suggest that you, and anyone else who wishes to inform themselves about this industry, study what has gone on before now, worldwide, with the mining and milling of uranium.

I have come to love this area of Virginia and the people who reside here. It is for this reason that I will continue to educate myself and anyone who will listen to the dangers of the uranium mining industry.

I am not, to quote your letter, an "anti-everything" person. However, with what I know I am an anti-uranium mining, tree-hugging resident of Pittsylvania County.

Hunter Austin
Hurt

http://www.wpcva.com/articles/2009/06/03/chatham/opinion/opinion02.txt

Mill termed perpetual radioactive hazardous waste facility

Comment: If Virginia approves Uranium Milling, will it be a "perpetual radioactive hazardous waste", is this Virginia's future, Heck No We Won't Glow --- demand Virginia to ban uranium mining & milling!!

By Dick Kamp
Wick Communications Environmental Liaison

MONTROSE -- Montrose County Planning Director Steve White said Thursday that he would not postpone a May 19 Montrose County Planning Commission public hearing on the Energy Fuels Pinon Ridge uranium mill special use permit. White received a request for hearing postponement and permit denial from the Durango-based Energy Mineral Law Center (EMLC).

EMLC attorney Travis Stills, on behalf of mill-opponents Paradox Valley Sustainability Association, e-mailed White a letter on May 13 requesting the action and stated that,“in addition to the milling facility, the special use permit under consideration could allow a series of specially designed byproduct disposal impoundments for purposes of perpetual disposal and storage of hazardous radioactive wastes, a use which is explicitly prohibited in the Agricultural Zone.”

Still’s letter continued, “...the milling facilities would operate for a period of years and then be removed. By contrast, the associated ‘byproduct materials impoundments’ would become permanent features of the agricultural zone with the impoundments, and the hazardous wastes they contain, deeded to a state or federal agency for perpetual management of these unusually hazardous wastes.”

Regarding the wastes, Still’s wrote, “Energy Fuels description is misleading, at best, and lacks any detail on the actual composition of the hazardous wastes which may be placed in the ‘byproduct material impoundments.’ Byproduct material includes, but is not limited to, the tailings from the proposed mill.”

Stills quoted from an EPA document categorizing radioactive hazards from uranium milling (beneficiation) that said, “Waste constituents of concern include (radioactive) radionuclides (radium, radon, thorium, and to a lesser extent lead), arsenic, copper, selenium, vanadium, molybdenum, other heavy metals, and dissolved solids. Brines, spent ion exchange resins, and chemicals used in beneficiation operations are also constituents of wastes generated during beneficiation. Most wastes generated by conventional mills are disposed of in tailings impoundments.

“(The) fate of radionuclides is of special interest in uranium mill tailings….The concentrations of radionuclides in the tailings will vary depending on the leach method used…..typically, tailings will contain between 50 and 86 percent of the original radioactivity of the ores.”

Stills added, “it appears that many of the problems with the public notice and staff review may have been due to the changing nature of the application under current consideration. The current version was provided in publicly reviewable form on May 6, 2009, after the public notice was published.”

“The correct thing to do is hold the hearing”

White said that although Stills might have been raising a legitimate concern, “we’ve long known that the waste cells would contain mill wastes and on the surface this project is one big package that may require more information. The planning commission can certainly ask for that; they could even ask for separate applications with more information and Stills and his group can raise their concerns to them. Why did Travis send this letter at the last minute instead of three weeks ago? Although I haven’t spoken with our attorney, the correct thing to do at this point is to hold the hearing as we’ve announced to the public.”

Could the mill process radioactive waste?

Stills said that he is concerned that not only will the facility become a waste dump containing the elements described by EPA, but that it could theoretically receive ore from regional uranium mines such as those owned by Energy Fuels and other local producers, but also radioactive wastes from other sources for processing. “One example could be wastes from in-situ leach operations or from other sources. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) denied permission to the Canon City mill to import Mayfield, N.J. hazardous and radioactive waste after the county demanded that the state halt efforts by the mill not to import them. The Dennison White Mesa mill in Utah has considered bringing in wastes from Japan and Italy.

“What type of facility is the county considering a special use permit for in an agricultural zone? First, you can’t just suddenly decide that this is a heavy industrial zone, that is not how planning and zoning laws work. At this point this is a facility that has been drawn on the back of an envelope, albeit an expensive one. Will this permit explicitly prohibit the importation of wastes as a feedstock?

“Why does the county want to have a hearing now instead of in the fall, or the spring of next year when we know what the state is approving,” Sills told the Daily Press.

White acknowledged that, the importation of mill feedstock, beyond ore from regional mines, is a serious consideration that goes beyond Still’s issues in his letter. He said, “I would certainly consider that restricting the mill to processing ore would be a reasonable consideration, and I believe that the planning commission and county commissioners would agree with that. If it comes to that, we could certainly put a condition on a permit that prohibits the importation of waste for processing.”

George Glasier, CEO of Energy Fuels, had not responded to requests for comment.

http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2009/05/16/news/doc4a0f6aa1d533b961867129.prt