NEW WEST BLOG: Groundwater Gets Rights
Ritter Signs Uranium Protection Bill
By Richard Martin, 5-21-08
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| You can mine it but you can't pollute with it | |
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Gov. Ritter yesterday signed a bill that will strengthen uranium mining restrictions in Colorado – but that may also have the effect of bringing new uranium mines online in the next couple of years.
Signed by Ritter after a long battle in the state legislature, HB1161 will require extraction companies to certify they will return underground water reserves either to pre-mining conditions or to ones that are within existing state standards. It’s hardly a triumph for environmentalists, though: it effectively clears the way for the ongoing rebirth of Colorado’s long-dormant uranium industry, which faded in the 1970s as the price of uranium dropped below $10 a pound. With nuclear power being touted as part of the solution to global warming, uranium is now trading at close to $100/lb.
The bill was also watered down, if you’ll pardon the pun, from its original state. Hard-rock mining companies, far more entrenched in Colorado than the renascent uranium industry, succeeding in keeping the new restrictions from affecting their operations.
Powertech (USA) Mining Corp. is likely to move forward now with permitting for its planned uranium mine northeast of Fort Collins.
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Comments
Here is what Stuart Sanderson, president of the Colorado Mining Association, said. He said HB 1161 "now imposes one of the most stringent regulatory programs for all uranium mining in the country." (http://www.ncbr.com/article.asp?id=93646)
So you think you could have done better? Who are you kidding...