Victory for water and public accountability on mining

[Oscar]

QUOTE: “Canada-based Powertech fought clean water protections as it tries to move forward with a highly controversial Centennial project in Weld County, in the vicinity of more than one hundred active groundwater wells.
“Despite Powertech’s best efforts to cut-out the public and avoid environmental protections, clean water won the day,” said Jackie Adolph, outreach chair of CARD.”

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Victory for water and public accountability on mining

http://www.environmentcolorado.org/news ... servation/
stop-toxic-pollution-news/victory-for-water-and-public-accountability-on-mining

For Immediate Release: 2010-08-12
For More Information: Contact Matt Garrington
(303) 573-3871 ext. 310

Victory for water and public accountability on mining

Colorado mining board votes unanimously to protect health, environment from uranium and hardrock mining impacts

Denver – Today, the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board voted unanimously, 7 to 0, in favor of clean water protections and an open public process regarding mine prospecting decisions.

Jeff Parsons, attorney with the Western Mining Action Project, represented Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction (CARD), Environment Colorado, and others during the rulemaking process before the state mining board.

“We’re pleased with the Board’s decision today in passing rules that protect groundwater and ensure public involvement in uranium mining decisions,” said Parsons.

The decision caps events that started more than two years ago when Environment Colorado and CARD teamed up with support from Parsons to pass some of the nation’s toughest uranium laws as well as mine prospecting legislation. Today’s decision by the board was the final enactment of new protections into Colorado law.

Garrington lauded the closure of the Cotter uranium loophole, an obscure provision in state law where Cotter attempted to avoid environmental regulation at multiple sites, including the Schwartzwalder uranium mine in Jefferson County which was polluting Ralston Reservoir, a drinking water supply for Denver Water and the City of Arvada.

“The state mining board took decisive action to protect our water and land from uranium pollution,” said Matt Garrington, program advocate of Environment Colorado. “Today is a triumph for our land and water.”

Canada-based Powertech fought clean water protections as it tries to move forward with a highly controversial Centennial project in Weld County, in the vicinity of more than one hundred active groundwater wells.

“Despite Powertech’s best efforts to cut-out the public and avoid environmental protections, clean water won the day,” said Jackie Adolph, outreach chair of CARD.

Fremont County-based Tallahassee Area Community had fought to strengthen groundwater protections during the rulemaking in light of a proposed uranium mine by Black Range Minerals in an area riddled with abandoned uranium mines that are already polluting groundwater wells.

“The board has taken steps to protect our water from uranium contamination during prospecting,” said Kay Hawklee of the Tallahassee Area Community. “It’s extremely important to protect water quality when you live out in the country and cannot be hooked up to city water if your well water is ruined.

Specifically, the new mining rules include:

•Ground water protections: requires uranium companies to restore groundwater quality to its pre-mining condition or better through a plan approved by the Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety prior to the start of the mine.

•Closes the Cotter uranium loophole: requires all uranium operations to be considered a “Designated Mining Operation” and subject to the same environmental laws as other mining projects.

•Public appeal of mine prospecting decisions: provides, for the first-time ever, an appeal process of mine prospecting decisions by the public and local government.

•Baseline water quality testing: requires baseline water quality testing in all in-situ uranium projects during the prospecting phase and also affirms the mining division’s ability to determine whether baseline water testing is needed at all hardrock mining projects.

•Lined waste pit consideration: affirms the mining division’s ability to determine whether lined waste pits are needed for all hardrock mining operations.

•Creates sunshine on mine prospecting information: puts Colorado in-line with neighboring states by requiring that mining companies disclose the when, where, and how mining operations will occur to ensure the public is fully informed about potential impacts. Also requires mining companies to notify local government about mine prospecting operations. Truly proprietary information such as size of the ore body would remain confidential. 30 – 30 – 30

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QUOTE: “Today's tightened approach "doesn't affect us at all," said Power tech president Dick Clement.
"We recognize that those rules are stringent," he said. "The restoration standards are extremely high, higher than standards in other states. But if that's what the state wants to have, then we can achieve those things."”

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New Colorado mining rules aimed at protecting groundwater

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_15763565

By Bruce Finley The Denver Post POSTED: 08/13/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT
Colorado mining regulators on Thursday set new rules aimed at protecting groundwater against damage from some uranium mining.
The rules approved by the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board require companies to test groundwater at mining sites before prospecting.
Regulators can use test data to ensure companies don't leave groundwater degraded.
The rules also require companies hunting for minerals to disclose more information about when and how mining would be done. And communities affected by mining now have greater rights to appeal state decisions.
"We've established an appropriate level of oversight" and also "pulled back some of the veil that has led to concern about these activities," said Mike King, director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.
"I don't think we are hostile to mining at all," King said. "What we are expecting is that mining activity that takes place in this state is done under controls that protect our environment."
State laws signed by Gov. Bill Ritter in 2008 were designed in part to prepare Colorado for renewed interest in its large uranium deposits.
Uranium-mining companies have been developing a mining process that injects chemicals and water to leach uranium from underground rock.

MORE: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_15763565

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QUOTE: “Powertech USA President Richard Clement said in an Aug. 6 letter to state mining officials that the rules would be “fatal” to any in situ uranium mining in Colorado. “

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Board OKs oversight of in situ mining

http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20100 ... 01/8130338

Rules require 'baseline' water quality tests and allow appeals
BY BOBBY MAGILL BobbyMagill@coloradoan.com
Residents who worry about uranium mining near their land in Northern Colorado will now be able to appeal to the state if a mining company is allowed to prospect in the area.
The Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board on Thursday put its final stamp of approval on a set of rules that will govern how British Columbia-based Powertech Uranium Corp. will be allowed to mine using an in situ leaching process and provide the public with a way to appeal state decisions on uranium prospecting.
"It's been what we've been effectively fighting for, for over three years now," said Jay Davis, whose property is adjacent to the Centennial Project uranium mining site northeast of Fort Collins in Weld County.
Powertech proposes to mine for uranium at the Centennial Project using in situ leaching. The company will inject a baking soda-like solution into the ground to dissolve the uranium, then pump it to the surface for processing.

MORE: http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20100 ... 01/8130338

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King said the rules take effect Sept. 15.
Additional Facts On the Internet
http://mining.state.co.us/Rulemaking.htm

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State board unanimously adopts uranium mining reforms

http://coloradoindependent.com/59659/
state-board-unanimously-adopts-uranium-mining-reforms

By DAVID O. WILLIAMS 8/13/10 11:36 AM
Colorado’s Mined Land Reclamation Board (MLRB) Thursday established new rules to protect Colorado’s groundwater during in-situ uranium mining, drawing quick and effusive praise from members of the state’s conservation community who have been working on uranium mining issues for years.
The MLRB also voted unanimously to revise existing rules regarding the disclosure of additional information during prospecting activities and to update hard rock mining fees.
“These rules will protect our groundwater resources by requiring baseline characterization and grant much greater transparency to the impacted communities regarding the proposed mining activities,” MLRB board member Mike King, the executive director of the Department of Natural Resources, said in a release. “DRMS [Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety] did a remarkable job in framing the issues, incorporating public concerns and developing a truly balanced set of regulations.”
According to a press release from the state, “the rule making implements a trio of laws passed during the 2008 legislative session that were driven in part by concerns over the potential impact on groundwater from in-situ uranium mining, a developing technology that uses chemical solutions to leach uranium from underground rock formations.”

MORE: http://coloradoindependent.com/59659/
state-board-unanimously-adopts-uranium-mining-reforms

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Colo. agency approves new rules for uranium mining

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financia ... IL5H80.htm

DENVER The Associated Press August 13, 2010, 10:12AM ET
State officials have approved new rules intended to protect Colorado's groundwater during a type of uranium mining that extracts the mineral by injecting a solution underground.
The requirements approved Thursday by the Mined Land Reclamation Board include detailed environmental protection plans for uranium mines and maintaining existing groundwater quality or at state standards.
Mine applications must include detailed information on the pre-mining water quality. Public input will be allowed.
The rules carry out three laws passed by the Legislature in 2008 out of concern about in-situ, or "in place," mining, which injects a solution underground to dissolve and extract the mineral.
An in-situ uranium mine has been proposed about 70 miles north of Denver.

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QUOTE: “In an Aug. 6 filing to the reclamation board, Powertech said requiring pre-prospecting groundwater studies "economically and technically impracticable at best -- impossible at worst" because the prospecting has to happen in order to study the groundwater."This results in an obvious Catch 22 which would be fatal to any serious potential in-situ recovery project," said the filing by Powertech President Richard Clement and attorney John Fognani with Denver's Fognani & Faught PLLC.”

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Colorado tightens uranium mining

ruleshttp://denver.bizjournals.com/denv ... 010/08/09/
daily68.html

Thursday, August 12, 2010, 7:10pm MDT | Modified: Friday, August 13, 2010, 8:52am
Denver Business Journal - by Cathy Proctor
The Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board on Thursday tightened rules for mining operations in the state, including a requirement that a Canadian uranium miner Powertech Uranium Corp. had said will be a "fatal" blow to uranium mining in northern Colorado.
The board ruled 7-0 in favor of the new rules.
The new rules require uranium companies planning an "in-situ leach" operation -- a process that injects chemicals to leach the uranium from the ground without resorting to strip mining -- to protect groundwater.
Powertech proposed using such an in-situ mining technique on its Centennial project in Weld County, believed to hold 12.8 million pounds of uranium.
The new rules also requires applicants for in-situ uranium mining to get information on groundwater quality prior to prospecting for uranium.
In an Aug. 6 filing to the reclamation board, Powertech said requiring pre-prospecting groundwater studies "economically and technically impracticable at best -- impossible at worst" because the prospecting has to happen in order to study the groundwater.
"This results in an obvious Catch 22 which would be fatal to any serious potential in-situ recovery project," said the filing by Powertech President Richard Clement and attorney John Fognani with Denver's Fognani & Faught PLLC.
Representatives of Powertech could not be reached after the board issued its rules Thursday.

MORE: http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/st ... ily68.html
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