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Show THE ZEPHYR/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2006 The White Mesa mill was originally constructed and treanacd to mill only natural uranium ore. Accepting other wastes from many areas have turned the mill site into a national and international radioactive and chemical dumping site. Shipments to the White Mesa mill have come from Tonawanda, New York, Japan, and Ontario, Canada and from many other places. The company receives exorbitant disposal fees just for taking these hazardous wastes, in addition to the revenue received from their recovery of uranium. Quite a gravy train at the expense of the San Juan County citizenry. On another front, [UC also holds a number of conventional mining properties on the Colorado Plateau. They lie in three mining districts — the Uravan Mineral Belt, the Henry Mountains, and the Arizona Strip. The company reports that it has reopened some of its own uranium/vanadium mines. The mined ore will be stockpiled and later processed at the White Mesa mill. If that threat is not enough, now comes the Grand Junction Office of the Department of Energy (DOE) to support and promote the industry and IUC. The agency is reviewing alternatives for leasing uranium mining tracts in southwest Colorado. A Programmatic Environmental Assessment has been prepared for the Uranium Leasing Program. The Department would continue to administer 38 lease tracts all located in the Uravan Mineral Belt of Mesa, Montrose, and San Miguel counties in Colorado. Thirteen of these lease tracts are still actively held under lease. Historically, the Atomic Energy Commission withdrew lands from the public domain and then leased them to private industry for mineral exploration and for the development and mining of uranium and vanadium ore. The agency leased out some 25,000 acres AROUND THE BEND AGAIN of land in southwestern Colorado, northern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah during the late 1940s and 1950s. In 2004, when the market price for uranium and vanadium in San Juan County with Ken Sleight WHITE MESA — UTAH’S NEW NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP We know International Uranium Corporation’s (UC) plans. Ron Hochstein, its president, told us so in the company’s recent news release - “JUC is happy to be back as a sig- nificant U.S. uranium producer — and at a time of record uranium prices...... Our mines and mill will provide us with many years of rapid growth to look forward to.” The company intends to utilize its “large capacity mill” (and its dump) to its full advantage. This would include (1) continuing its lucrative ‘ ‘alternate feed” material program, (2) processing its own ore from its own mines, and (3) entering into third party toll mining contracts with other miners in the area at some future date. Currently, [UC seeks “alternate fuel” material that originates from a metal cleanup outfit FMRI, Inc. at Muskogee, Oklahoma. This outfit is a subsidiary of the now bankrupt Fansteel, Inc. that ran a “rare metal extraction” company at Muskogee. Some 32,000 tons of this radioactive and hazardous waste would|be trucked down the streets of Moab, Monticello and Blanding en route to the mill (and its dump) which lies adjacent to the Ute Indian community of White Mesa. The company would then extract the available uranium and discard the rest at the dump. The company intends to utilize its “large capacity mill” (and its dump) to its full advantage. This would include (1) continuing its lucrative “alternate feed” material program, (2) processing its own ore from its own mines, and (3) entering into third party toll mining contracts with other miners in the area at some future date. The White Mesa Mill near Blanding, Utah increased, there came a renewed flurry of lease activities. Leaseholders resumed mining/production activities on four of the active lease tracts. Some intend to resume similar activities on several other active lease tracts. The federal government receives production royalties from these active mining operations. Three options are now on the table. The “Expanded Program,” the preferred alternative by DOE, would continue leasing 13 active lease tracts and offer leases on up to 25 inactive lease tracts to the domestic uranium industry. The “Existing Program” alternative would continue leasing the 13 existing lease tracts. The 25 inactive lease tracts would re- Formerly, prior to 2004, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulated Utah’s uranium mills. The agency transferred this responsibility to the State of Utah. When the oversight duties were in the hands of the NRC, the state’s Division of Radiation Control (DRC) called the disposal of previous imported wastes, “sham disposal,” because it too thought the import of the material was mainly for creating a new unauthorized nuclear waste dump. Once the state took it over however, thoughts and positions changed. (Odd what a few years and a bit of intense lobbying will do.) Preposterously, the DRC on June 13, 2006 granted International Uranium an amendment request to receive and process the Oklahoma radioactive waste. A sham in itself —and a most shameful one at that. Recently, attorneys with the Glen Canyon Group of the Sierra Club, under the guidance and leadership of Sarah Fields, chairperson of the nuclear waste committee, filed a petition with the Utah Division of Radiation |Control to counter the state's action. It requested the Utah Radiation Control Board to strike down the DRC decision. The Sierra Club argues that the harmful material from Muskogee does not qualify under the federal definitions of “ore.” within the|definition of uranium “byproduct mate- main inactive. The “No Action” alternative would allow existing leases to expire, reclaim all sites, and return all jurisdiction of the land to the Bureau of Land Management.. [hail the “No Action” alternative. The agency plans to expand uranium leasing and production in southwest Colorado. Some of the land parcels are along the Dolores and San Miguel Rivers — waters that flow to the Colorado River. These rivers are all presently polluted with radionuclides and other hazardous chemicals. Are we now to add to them? Apparently the DOE's main focus lies in promoting and spearheading uranium mining while seemingly downplaying its responsibility in regulating the industry and protecting the environment and our health. The biggest beneficiary in this will assuredly be International Uranium. I fear that all hauls from both new leasers and old will head to the White Mesa mill ae its dumping ground.) rial.” The material also includes cyanide, lead, tin and a host of hazardous chemicals. It What a devilish plan. has high radium content and contains thorium-232 and its decay products. Both the NRC and International Uranium claim this “alternate feed” material being processed at White Mesa is only “ore.” Yet the processing of this type of material has nev- The past continues to cast a shadow over the whole program. As Sarah Fields points out, any renewed or expanded uranium mining “must also include requirements, policies, procedure, associated with past mining activities.” The industry historically has er been addressed in any generic or site specific Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Moab's Oldest Legal Brewery! Gi Meet me at We offer seas aS SERVICE ae REALITY??? What's that? McStiffs..... E£DDIE PICSTIFF SS Restaurant caused many problems - mine-water discharges, treatment pond leakages and releases &3 Microbrewery EDDIE PREPARES FOR THE FALL RUSH BY ASSUMING HIS ALTERNATE REALITY 7S. Main in the McStiff's Plaza 259.BEER Www, edadiemcstifts. com 16 |