Protecting The Groundwater
Uranium Mines A Step Closer
By Richard Martin, 4-18-08
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The Colorado legislature pushed forward yesterday a bill that aims to protect groundwater and other natural resources from possible uramium mining in Colorado. HB1161, sponsored by state representatives from the Fort Collins area, would “require uranium miners to prove they could return groundwater to either pre-mining conditions or levels in line with existing state standards,” reports Jason Kosena of the Daily Coloradoan. It was passed unanimously by the Senate Local Affairs Committee.
The certification of the water quality would be completed by a third-party contractor approved by the state – a key provision overriding the mining industry’s traditional authority to carry out such tests.
While this bill, which is expected to clear the full Senate, is viewed as a victory for environmental activists, it could clear the way for the long-awaited rebirth of Colorado’s 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.
Local residents are still trying to fend off new U mining projects: “The Greeley City Council has joined the movement against a proposed Uranium mine near Nunn,” reports Andrew Villegas of the Greeley Tribune, “saying it comes with too many unanswered questions and could hurt people and business in northern Colorado.” The Fort Collins Council has already voted against the new mine, being proposed by Powertech Uranium Corp. for a site near Nunn and Wellington in Northern Colorado.
In other energy news:
-- People who believe that the world is in no danger of running out of oil have some new evidence to bolster their claims. If expectations for the huge Bakken Formation in North Dakota prove to be accurate, we could be looking at a field in the continental U.S. with 3 to 4.3 billion barrels of oil. Just a dozen years ago the Bakken was thought to contain only 151 million barrels, but high prices and new drilling technology have driven the recoverable reserves up sharply.
-- Seeking to end the most contentious issue in Colorado’s oil and gas boom, Sen. Ken Salazar and two other Colorado Democrats introduced a bill in the U.S. Congress that substantially mirrors the proposal put forth by Gov. Bill Ritter in March to manage drilling on the Roan Plateau, on the Western Slope. Rejected by the Bureau of Land Management, the scheme outlined in the Salazar bill would introduce leasing on the plateau in a phased fashion, over time, and nearly double the amount of land given heightened levels of environmental protection, to almost 40,000 acres.
-- If natural gas is going to provide an increasing portion of our electricity needs, it’s going to cost us. Xcel Energy said this week it plans to hike natural gas prices for consumers 16 percent. That’s a 48 percent jump from a year ago. Xcel spokesman Mark Stutz said that prices are going up thanks to new pipelines shipping Rockies gas to markets in the East, which has had a hard winter and a chilly spring.
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Comments
Ritter could stop this whole business brought on by the huge subsidies provided by Congress and Bush to nuclear in the Energy Bill by telling the Secretary of Interior not to let the mineral leases underlying private land. He has this authority under the Surface Mining act, sect 601, but seems loath to use it. Why doesn't he standup to the energy boys? Hell, why doesn't he stand up at all?
Also, Colorado is "afflicted" with another threat to uranium mining, and that is gentrification of the back country with unwary home owners building in or near old uranium mining districts. Caveat emptor in the West means checking who owns the mineral rights for your property. Many don't.
http://djysrv.blogspot.com/2008/01/tales-of-two-uranium-mines-in-colorado.html