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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, IUC 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. 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 material." The material also includes cyanide, lead, tin and a host of hazardous chemicals. It 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 never been addressed in any generic or site specific Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The White Mesa mill was originally constructed and licensed 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, IUC 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 of land in southwestern Colorado, northern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah during the late 1940’’s and 1950’’s. In 2004, when the market price for uranium and vanadium 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 remain 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.. I 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 (and its dumping ground.) What a devilish plan. 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 caused many problems - mine-water discharges, treatment pond leakages and releases of hazardous wastes. There must be a programmatic EIS prepared that covers the whole gamut and separate site-specific EIS studies that cover each affected site. Our health comes first. Have our citizens been placed in harm’s way? In nearby Monticello, a current study will determine the extent of the cancer deaths in the town. The town once had a uranium mill, now reclaimed. For a number of years we have called for epidemiologal studies that would cover the entire San Juan County. This has been continuously rejected by regulatory agencies for unknown reasons. The White Mesa mill emits radioactive and toxic pollutants into the air. Windblown particulates and gases travel off-site and eventually affect our water and wildlife and us. It is a continuous and perilous situation. Ancient archeological sites on the mill property have been destroyed. Others in the area, such as pit houses, kivas, storage sites, and burials await the same fate if IUC constructs a new tailings impoundment at the mill. Transportation problems loom ahead. There will be impacts on the streets of Moab, a city that relies economically on mom-and-pop outfits and "industrial tourism." Under the expanded program some 120 to 150 haul trucks per day would be on the road - possibly passing through Moab, Monticello and Blanding; and definitely passing through Monticello and Blanding via La Sal Junction or Dove Creek. "Danger: Nuclear Waste Ahead." Groundwater, which underlies the dump, risks being polluted. The current impoundments –– constructed over 20 years ago –– are lined with thin plastic. The detection system will surely not detect leaks until the Navajo aquifer has already been contaminated. What a catastrophe it would be should radiation and harmful chemicals enter the aquifer. The communities of White Mesa and Bluff rely on this aquifer for their drinking water. Drink at your peril. Racial and environmental injustice raises its ugly head too. San Juan County comprises over 50 percent Native American people, and it shows the lowest average income of any county in Utah. The IUC mill lies adjacent to land belonging to the White Mesa Utes. I doubt that we can wholly rid ourselves of all of the threats, but we can surely control them if all concerned citizens and concerned citizen groups get with it. We must not jeopardize our lives and squander away our heritage. We must not allow our government, or the IUC, or the mining industry and its lobbies to cause us harm and heavily impact our lives. With forethought and action we can yet do something about it.
Note: Please do contact Sarah Fields to join the cause or for more information. I don’’t often plea for money, but those who want to help can also send a few bucks or more to Sarah. This issue is so important. Contact address: Sarah Fields, Chair, Nuclear Waste Committee, Glen Canyon Group, Sierra Club: (435) 259-4734 P. O. Box 143, Moab, UT 84532 Ken Sleight’s phone number: (435) 259-8575 Email: kensleight@frontiernet.net A draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment (EA) concerning its Uranium Leasing Program can be obtained from the DOE in Grand Junction. Phone Tracy Plessinger, Program Manager, (970) 248-6197, or at http://www.lm.doe.gov/land/sites/uranium_leasing/uranium_leasing.htm The reader can gain further perspective by tuning into the IUC website: www.intluranium.com |
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