Regional groups unite to oppose uranium mining
By GEORGE LEDBETTER, Record Editor Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Environmental activists from a four-state area met near Chadron last weekend to discuss their objections to the rapid expansion of uranium mining in the region, and to plan strategies to advance their cause.
The meeting, hosted by the Western Nebraska Resources Council (WNRC), was held in Chadron because of its proximity to the Crow Butte Resources in-situ leach (ISL) uranium mine, which is already in the process of permitting one major expansion and has two more in planning stages.
Participanting groups included the Powder River Basin Resource Council, from Wyoming, ACTion for the Environment from South Dakota’s Black Hills, the Black Hills chapter of the Sierra Club, Defenders of the Black Hills, Owe Aku/Bring Back the Way, a Lakota cultural group, and Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction.
“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,” said Tom Cook of WNRC, reading a jointly prepared statement. “Past uranium sites continue to contaminate the air, land and water: Any bonds designed for clean up of former mining areas have not been sufficient and taxpayers have been forced to pay the bill. These problems continue at modern uranium mines.”
The safety of ISL mining is of particular concern to members of the Powder River Resource Council (PRRC) from the Douglas, Wyo, area, because Cameco Corp. owner of the Crow Butte mine, has a mine there and other companies are seeking to open ISL mines as well, said Shannon Anderson, executive director of the organization. “The track record (of Cameco’s Smith Ranch Highland mine) is not so good,” she said. “Our state Department of Environmental Quality issued them a $1.4 million fine in July. The fine stems from a decade worth of problems: delayed water restoration, spills from production injection fluids, above ground spills.”
ISL mining involves injecting water and a solvent into an underground ore body, then pumping it out and removing the dissolved uranium. In the Cameco operations, the solvent is bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), but acids can also be used in the process.
The impact of ISL mining on water quality is a major concern, said Anderson. “It’s baking soda, but it changes the ph level of the aquifer, and the amount of total dissolved solids. It changes the chemistry of the water and that can have dramatic impacts.”
While the water used for mining by Cameco isn’t doesn’t from a drinking water source, the impact is still a concern, she said. “Water is a precious resource. We question whether its worth contaminating any water supply. With the water issues we have, it could be needed in the future.”
Anderson also questioned the ability of ISL mines to clean up the water when mining ends. “No mine to date has ever restored the aquifer to what is called baseline-to the way it was before mining,” she said. “They have been able to restore it to ‘class of use’ conditions..They can classify it as industrial, which is a pretty low standard,” but not returning the water to the same condition means it is contaminated.
The potential for contamination from mining to reach aquifers that are used for drinking, irrigation and stock watering, because of fractures in the underground rock layers, is one of the major contentions WNRC has used in its challenge of the Crow Butte mine expansion. The issue has been raised before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which has held hearings in Chadron on the mine’s expansion permit and license renewal, and should be addressed, said WNRC member Buffalo Bruce. “There are a lot more faults and fractures known now than when they did the (mine’s) pilot project 30 years ago,” he said.
And it is not just contamination from radiation that poses a threat, the activists said. Heavy metals and toxic substances such as arsenic are freed by the mining process and constitute another danger, said Buffalo Bruce. A new report on a different uranium processing facility also points up the danger of radon releases, particularly for those involved in mining, he said.
Testing in advance of planned ISL mining is also going on in the southern Black HIlls, and has been actively opposed by Defenders of the Black Hills and ACTion for the Environment, said Charmaine White Face, coordinator of Defenders of the Black Hills. “We have been working on the issue for three or four years,” she said. The text holes drilled for current uranium exploration just add to the problems caused by mining in the 1950s, which left hundreds of contaminated surface operations and test pits in the area, White Face said. Wind blowing across those sites can carry contaminated dust particles for miles and affect the entire region, she said.
And it’s important to recognize the potential for widespread and long lasting environmental damage from multiple uranium mines in the region, said Anderson. “It’s the cumulative impact that comes from uranium mining and existing sites and foreseeable impacts to the land.”
A regional approach to stopping further uranium mining makes sense because of the shared issues, said Shirley Fredrick of the Sierra Club. “Everyone at this event has similar concerns, starting with the need to keep our water clean and protect millions of gallons for future use. Our local economies, our health and our ways of life depend on this,” she said.
del.icio.us
Digg
NewsVine
Fark
The opinions above are from readers of lawrencecountyjournal.com and in no way represent the views of the Rapid City Journal or Lee Enterprises.
Lawrencecountyjournal.com encourages readers to offer their opinions on our local stories. We will never edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to not post or to remove comments that violate our code of conduct. For this reason, comments are first reviewed and may not post immediately, especially during overnight/weekend hours. No comment may contain:
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy