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March 17, 2008. Ten organizations from five western states met in Casper, Wyoming on Saturday, March 15, 2008 to discuss concerns over uranium mining in their regions and its potential impact to surface and ground water, human health, and local property values.
 South Dakota faces mining proposals along the southern Black Hills and three groups, Defenders of the Black Hills, South Dakota Sierra Club and ACTion for the Environment, attended from that state.
The Powder River Basin Resource Council and the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance attended from Wyoming with concerns over recent applications for uranium exploratory and mining permits in the state. Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction (C.A.R.D.) brought concerns over the uranium mining proposed near Fort Collins. Western Nebraska Resources Council, Nebraskans for Peace, and Nebraska Sierra Club traveled from northwest Nebraska, where Crow Butte Resources is seeking to expand their uranium mining operations. Members of Dakota Resource Council from northwestern North Dakota are concerned over plans to mine uranium in that state. Recent increases in the price of uranium have prompted uranium mining exploration by numerous companies. In all five states, companies plan to use in-situ leach mining (ISL) to extract uranium from aquifers. This method injects treated water into underground aquifers to dissolve uranium deposits. The process also mobilizes elements such as arsenic, selenium, molybdenum, vanadium and radium-226. This radioactive solution is pumped to the surface. The uranium is removed and shipped to a mill for concentration into “yellowcake.” The water is re-treated and then injected back underground in a cycle that continues until all the uranium has been extracted. Reverse osmosis is often used to treat the remaining water, which is then injected underground or retained in shallow ponds. “In Wyoming, there are significant questions about regulation and oversight of uranium operations,” according to Wilma Tope, Powder River Basin Resource Council Board Member. “Citizens need to have a stronger voice in uranium activities.” Wilma’s family owns a ranch in Crook County and has joined other local residents to pressure regulators to ensure adequate protection of local water supplies – in terms of both quality and quantity. In South Dakota’s Black Hills, Powertech Uranium Corporation has started drilling uranium exploratory wells in the southwestern Black Hills, where they already have 4,000 wells. “It’s already been proven world-wide that ISL mining contaminates aquifers and then those aquifers cannot be restored to their previous state,” said Charmaine White Face, Coordinator for Defenders of the Black Hills. “South Dakota relies very heavily on aquifers for drinking water and livestock use. We’ve been in a drought for the last ten years and the last thing we need to do is poison our water,” she said. ACTion for the Environment is concerned South Dakota taxpayers will be forced to clean up the toxic messes left when a mining company leaves an area, as has happened previously with Canadian companies. Powertech Uranium Corporation, one of the most active companies in the region, is a Canadian company. “The Board of Minerals and Environment should remember what happened when they gave approval for the Brohm gold mine. Now South Dakotans are paying for that mess. Are we going to have to pay for a radioactive mess left by another Canadian company?” said Gary Heckenliable of ACTion for the Environment. “Not only South Dakota residents but all the taxpayers of the United States are going to have to pay for this for many, many years to come,” he said. Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction, C.A.R.D., formed last year in response to Powertech Uranium Corporation’s proposal to mine in the rapidly-developing area near Fort Collins and 250,000 people. “Of course uranium mining always causes some form of contamination. Water at in situ leach mining sites is not returned to its original condition,” said Jackie Adolph, Outreach Chair of C.A.R.D. “Most people don’t know that federal policies that subsidize the nuclear industry aren’t just about power plants. The nuclear industry’s largest negative impacts have always been in uranium mining and milling processes.” In Nebraska, Crow Butte Resources (a subsidiary of the Canadian company, Cameco Corp.) is seeking to expand one of the oldest and largest ISL mines in the country. Organizations have intervened in the NRC’s licensing procedures. “We are particularly concerned about protection of local water supplies and cultural resources,” said Buffalo Bruce, Vice Chair of the Western Nebraska Resources Council. “The NRC has failed to fulfill its duties under the Trust Doctrine, which protects indigenous rights granted to Native American populations under U.S. treaties.” North Dakota just recently started public hearings to accept comments on ISL mining in that state. Ken Kudrna of the Dakota Resource Council lives only a few miles from where uranium mining is planned to begin. The ten groups have issued the following joint statement: “We want the uranium industry to know that we stand together on this issue. Whether in a rural setting or a populated area, uranium mining causes radioactive contamination. Past uranium sites continue to contaminate the air, land, and water. Any bonds designed to pay for clean-up of former mining areas have not been sufficient, and taxpayers have been forced to pay the bill. We call on the public and all elected officials to do everything possible to protect the water, land, and local economies from proposed uranium activities.” More information can be found at: Also, see With Hot Uranium Prices, SD Groups Join 5-State Effort to Highlight Dangers. |
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