>Posted by ishgooda@tdi.net :
>
>http://www.hcn.org/1999/dec06/dir/Western_Uranium_ha.html
>High Country News
>Vol. 31 No. 23
>December 6, 1999
>
> You Can Contact
> Mitchell Capitan, ENDAUM, 505/786-5341;
> Chris Shuey, Southwest Research and Information Center,
505/262-1862;
>
> Hydro Resources Inc., 505/833-1777.
>
>High Country News
>Box 1090
>Paonia, CO 81428
>1-800-905-1155
>
>Uranium haunts the Colorado Plateau
>
>A mining company promises to do it right this time
>
>by Andy Lenderman
>
>CROWNPOINT, N.M. - As a trademark New Mexico sunset paints
pastels over
>this high desert town, it's hard to imagine that the poisonous
legacy of
>uranium mining could be repeated here.
>
>During the 1950s and '60s, this town of about 2,000 near the
Navajo
>Reservation was hit by a uranium mining boom. It left Navajos
with
>polluted groundwater and high rates of birth defects and cancer,
and
>miners and their families are still battling for federal compensation.
>
>"What uranium left is mainly heartbreak," says Mitchell
Capitan, a board
>member of the nonprofit Eastern Diné Against Uranium
Mining (ENDAUM), a
>group of area residents.
>
>In late August, a proposal by Hydro Resources Inc. for three
new uranium
>mines in the area gained partial approval from the federal
Nuclear
>Regulatory Commission. It's the latest development in a decade-long
>fight over the company's plan (HCN, 9/30/96).
>
>The Navajo Nation's position on the mines has wavered, but
opponents on
>and off the reservation say the mines threaten groundwater
and the
>health of the 10,000 people, mostly Navajos, who live in the
area.
>
>"Uranium has been a disaster," says Chris Shuey
of the Southwest
>Research and Information Center, an environmental group based
in
>Albuquerque. "It's hard to point to Navajos who have
gotten wealthy off
>uranium."
>
>A new legacy?
>Yet Hydro Resources says the industry has cleaned up its act.
>"There is no opportunity for the legacy (of uranium)
to be repeated,"
>says former company president Dick Clement.
>
>The Albuquerque-based company uses a method called in situ
leach mining,
>which Clement says reduces the spread of radioactive dust
and
>contamination. After drilling underground wells, technicians
inject a
>chemical solution into the aquifer. This removes uranium ore
from
>surrounding rock and sucks it into a treatment plant for removal.
>
>"We've had a perfect record in terms of restoring conditions
to what
>they were before we began operations," Clement says.
Hydro Resources'
>parent company, Uranium Resources Inc. operates two similar
mines in
>south Texas.
>
>Clement says the company will spend between $30-40 million
if the
>project gets approval and reaches its full production level
of 3 million
>pounds of uranium each year. At full capacity, the mine could
employ 300
>people in an area where unemployment levels can reach 50 percent.
>
>"We're one of the few companies actually interested in
bringing economic
>development anywhere near the Navajo Nation," Clement
says.
>
>For now, the courts seem to be favoring Hydro Resources. On
Aug. 20, a
>judge for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the first
of the
>mines, located near the tiny village of Church Rock. Larry
King, another
>ENDAUM board member, says the judge's decision did not consider
the
>livestock and people that draw water from the area.
>
>"I'm personally angry and upset," he says. "How
could the judge refer to
>Church Rock as a vast desert, despite the fact that there
are hundreds
>of families living within a two-mile radius of the Church
Rock site?"
>
>ENDAUM and Southwest Research have appealed the ruling.
>
>An old battle
>
>Hydro Resources got another break on Oct. 27, when the New
Mexico state
>water engineer's office granted the company's water-rights
request. The
>tribe had vehemently opposed the move, since it will take
water from
>ranchers and tribal members in one of the poorest and driest
regions in
>the country.
>
>And a legal battle is pending over who can issue water discharge
permits
>to the company.
>
>The federal Environmental Protection Agency has yet to grant
a permit to
>Hydro Resources, and the company and the New Mexico State
Environmental
>Department have sued the agency, claiming the state has authority
to
>issue the permit.
>
>The long battle is getting old for Hydro Resources, and low
uranium
>prices add to the frustration. Uranium goes for about $9.70
a pound now,
>but company officials say they need a $15 per pound price
to make money.
>
>
>"There's always a limitation on what any company will
do," says Clement.
>Mark Pelizza, who succeeded Clement as company president in
October,
>says that if the price jumps and the water discharge permit
fight is
>still held up in appeals court, the company may consider opening
the
>mine anyway.
>
>The battle is getting old for ENDAUM, too. While cowboy tunes
twang on
>his pickup radio, Capitan says he made his decision about
the company a
>long time ago. "They're just like cancer. Once they get
established,
>it's just going to spread."
>
>Says Capitan, "I'll never trust them. We're just not
going to be pushed
>around anymore."
>
>Andy Lenderman reports for the Albuquerque Tribune. He is
a former HCN
>intern. HCN intern Ali Macalady contributed to this report.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>© copyright 1999 High Country News and Andy Lenderman
>
>
>Reprinted under the Fair Use
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international
copyright law.
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