Comments: Drilling holes for uranium mining is consider mining, what is wrong with VA?
by Christina Rowland My Sou Tex.Com
1 day 3 hrs ago |
BEEVILLE – The Goliad County Groundwater
Conservation District is not a fan of uranium mining and exploration and is not
afraid of sharing opinions on the subject. The group has been dealing with
uranium mining in that county since 2006. The organization has spent more than
$600,000 to try and prevent one company, Uranium Energy Corp., from mining
there.
Those present were enlightened about part of the process that a company must go through to mine in a county.
Those present were enlightened about part of the process that a company must go through to mine in a county.
The process is regulated by two
different agencies. The Texas Railroad Commission regulates the exploratory
portion of uranium. A company is required to file an application with the RRC
prior to the drilling of any exploratory holes. Exploratory holes are small,
open bore holes that range in depth. In the latest exploratory permit
application filed by UEC in April 2012, the applicant said, “Boreholes will not
exceed a depth of 1,500 feet.” (To date, this application is still pending
approval by the RRC.)
Once a company is satisfied there is enough uranium ore in the area to start the mining permit process, separate applications are filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for a mine permit, air exemption permit and radioactive material license. An application for an aquifer exemption permit also must be filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Raulie Irwin, a member of the GCGCD, told the group the exploration holes are drilled 400 to 450 feet deep, and the water wells in the area are located at approximates 200 feet deep, so UEC or any other company drilling exploratory holes must drill through the water table to reach the ore.
In 2006, when the exploration started in Goliad, the GCGCD offered free water quality of people’s wells. The group tested about 350 wells around the county.
“Baseline data are very important,” Irwin said. “You can’t claim anything if you don’t have baseline data. It is imperative it is done before the aquifer is disturbed.”
Once a company is satisfied there is enough uranium ore in the area to start the mining permit process, separate applications are filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for a mine permit, air exemption permit and radioactive material license. An application for an aquifer exemption permit also must be filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Raulie Irwin, a member of the GCGCD, told the group the exploration holes are drilled 400 to 450 feet deep, and the water wells in the area are located at approximates 200 feet deep, so UEC or any other company drilling exploratory holes must drill through the water table to reach the ore.
In 2006, when the exploration started in Goliad, the GCGCD offered free water quality of people’s wells. The group tested about 350 wells around the county.
“Baseline data are very important,” Irwin said. “You can’t claim anything if you don’t have baseline data. It is imperative it is done before the aquifer is disturbed.”
Art Dohmann, president of the GCGCD, said that when the exploratory holes or the actual mining holes are drilled, oxygen is introduced into the holes; the oxygen activates the uranium and allows it to dissolve in the water that is then removed from the hole.
Another problem is that water migrates underground, so, once a water source is contaminated, it continues to move. In the application to mine (submitted to TCEQ) the company is required to answer how far water in that aquifer migrates per year. Irwin said that the UEC application currently being contested claimed that the water only moved eight feet per year, but Irwin feels it moves farther.
The company operating in an area will place a ring of monitor wells around an active site, but once the company leaves, it takes the monitor wells with them.
Irwin said that UEC explored 10,000 acres in Goliad County. The exploration included 1,500 bore holes, some no more than 50 or 60 feet apart.
The holes are supposed to be plugged within 48 hours, but Irwin said that was not always the case in Goliad and, during one site inspection, the company was “cited for 74 violations.”
UEC is currently in the process of trying to obtain an aquifer exemption permit from TCEQ. The GCGCD is doing everything it can to prevent that from happening.
Both speakers from the group encouraged the people to become educated uranium and get their wells tested.
GCGCD says
In a separate email after the meeting, Dohmann answered additional questions about uranium mining.
When it comes to applying for the exploratory permit from the RRC, “There is statutory requirement for testing domestic water wells, but testing prior to borehole drilling is not specified,” he said. “In addition, there are no specified procedures for baseline testing.”
A uranium company exploring an area is not required to work directly with a groundwater district, but some can choose to do so.
“When exploration began in Goliad County in 2006, GCGCD began independent testing and soon was contacted by the uranium company to do what is called split sampling where each party gets an independent sample at the same time,” Dohmann said. “We only tested existing wells in the exploration area. All of these wells tested to have good quality drinking water. Unfortunately, none of these wells are located in what is now defined as the aquifer exemption area which surrounds the mining area.”
Once the exploration phase is complete, the company is required to turn in another map of the area that shows the outline of the land it will actually mine on. The outline is not a nice, neat square but, rather, a shape with many sides that goes in all different directions to best encompass the area that will be used.
“Baseline water quality provided in the mining permit application is taken only in the mining area, and the wells are screened in the ore body,” he said. “In summary, existing landowner wells do not establish baseline water quality for restoration after mining. Baseline water quality is determined by new wells drilled in the ore deposit after the area has been disturbed with the drilling of exploration boreholes and becomes part of the mining permit application.”
When asked about the advice he would give other counties such as Bee or Live Oak that could be experiencing the same thing in the coming months, Dohmann said, “There is no one answer. Jeopardizing a drinking water supply is an environmental issue and an economic issue. There is no provision in the permit to protect landowners outside of the mining area.”
UEC says
A spokesperson, Matt Welch, from UEC was asked in an email about testing water samples.
“For the exploration permit (via the Texas Railroad Commission), only random wells are sampled and only if the property owner allows,” he said. “If an application to mine (production) is submitted to the TCEQ, all wells within a quarter mile of the perimeter of the mine permit area are taken and analyzed and their results included in the mine application.”
Welch also explained exactly what happens when the company drills an exploratory well.
“After a borehole is drilled, a logging unit lowers a logging tool to the bottom of the borehole and slowly retrieves the tool back to the surface,” he said. “As the tool is retrieved, it measures naturally occurring gamma radiation and makes distinctions between the different rock and sediment zones. The readings are then printed to a log, and geologists interpret the logs for a number of characteristics, one of which is the gamma reading. There is no oxygen injected into the boreholes during exploration. Oxygen is only introduced during the production phase, when the boreholes have been cased and the well field is authorized for injection.”
Several things must be included by the company in the application.
“The applicant is required to provide locations for water wells located in and within 150 feet of the proposed exploration permit area,” she said. “If the proposed exploration permit area is located within a state-approved Groundwater Conservation District, the applicant must also document groundwater quality for all or a portion of those wells. This baseline water sampling is required to be performed at least 15 days prior to commencement of exploration activities.”
The staff at the RRC carefully checks over each application before it is approved.
“Staff evaluates information provided in an application to ensure compliance with Texas Uranium Surface Mining Regulation, Title 16, Texas Administrative Code, Chapter 11, prior to a final decision on the permit application,” Nye said. “This evaluation involves verification of the information in the application using publicly available geologic and hydro-geologic information. The regulations do not require a pre-permit field investigation.”
Once the permit is granted, a company can begin drilling the exploratory holes. The RRC requires that the holes are never actually fully uncovered.
“Exploration boreholes, which are few inches in diameter, are never open because they are filled with drilling mud from the time drilling is initiated to the time the borehole is either permanently plugged or cased as a well,” Nye said. “Drilling mud is displaced when the exploration boreholes are plugged with cement or an approved alternative hole abandonment material or cased as a well in accordance with the requirement of the statewide water wells drilling regulations (16 TAC, Section 76.1000).”
The RRC requires that all holes be permanently plugged within three business days of being drilled.
The commission also makes site visits during the process to ensure everything is being done by the rules.
“Commission staff conduct monthly inspections at each permitted site, and inspections are also conducted in response to complaints,” she said.
The application was revised in 2010.
“These revised regulations resulted in additional information being required in applications to conduct uranium exploration,” Nye said. “This includes contact information for local and state officials and entities, landowner and mineral estate ownership information as well as baseline geological and hydrologic information. In addition, monthly borehole plugging and cased-well reports are now required to be submitted. Formerly, an annual plugging/casing report was required.”
After the exploration process is complete, the company must start the permitting process with TCEQ. That process is multiple steps and multiple years to complete. UEC is waiting on the aquifer exemption portion of its permit that was filed several years ago. The latest exploration application the company filed has not yet been approved by the RRC.
As of December 2011, both UEC and Signal Equities LLC had exploration permits for Bee and Live Oak counties.
Christina Rowland is the regional editor at the Bee-Picayune and can be reached at 358-2550, ext. 119, or at regional@mySouTex.com.
Read more: mySouTex.com - Uranium mining A controversial process
