Uranium Regs Under Scrutiny

Comment:  Uranium has never been mined anywhere in the world, it ruins the water, no matter what type of mining!  No to uranium mining!

Kirk Siegler (2010-04-12)

DENVER, CO (KUNC) - The public has a chance to comment beginning this week on a slate of new tougher regulations proposed for uranium mining in Colorado. The changes ordered by the state legislature stem from controversy surrounding a proposed uranium mine in northern Colorado.

In 2008, lawmakers passed three bills that crack down on future uranium mining - and particularly the process of in-situ. It's a technology that the Canadian company Powertech USA hopes to use if it wins approval to mine millions of pounds of uranium on private land northeast of Fort Collins.

In-situ involves the pumping of water below the surface to recover dissolved uranium, and the company and industry says the process is environmentally sound.

Still, many residents living near the proposed mine worry it could pollute groundwater along the eastern plains, which is one of the main reasons behind the new laws.

"Groundwater in that part of the state is precious and limited," says Theo Stein, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.

"And it's appropriate to make sure that any industrial activity does not adversely impact that groundwater," Stein says.

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