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Saturday, February 23, 2008
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U.S. Senator Ken Salazar is touring Colorado laying out his views and generating enthusiasm for the farm bill, according to The Fort Morgan Times. From the article:
The two critical issues of the legislation include water use and federal government attention to rural America, he said. Language in the bill would help farmers along the South Platte and Republican rivers who lost water rights, he said. The legislation would allow eligible farmers to enroll some of their land in the Conservation Reserve Program, which would provide financial assistance to those who lost a portion of their income. "It will be a significant amount of payment for farmers who are affected," he said...
Another major plan for the High Plains Region, he said, is to help make the area a hub for the renewable energy revolution. Renewable energy has opened up a new chapter of opportunity for rural America, Salazar said, and the continued development of renewables would benefit the area for an extended period of time. The farm bill would promote the development of wind energy, ethanol and biodiesel by providing various incentives, he said.
"colorado water"
8:01:17 AM 
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Here's an update on HB 08-1161 and uranium mining in Weld county from The Loveland Reporter-Herald. From the article:
Within the next two weeks, a bill to tighten water quality controls around uranium mining could pass its second committee and head to the full Colorado House of Representatives. "I anticipate we'll get good bipartisan support," said Rep. Randy Fischer, one of the Larimer County lawmakers who proposed House Bill 1161. One indicator, he said, is that an amended version of the bill passed the Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee this week by an 11-2 vote. That sent it to the Appropriations Committee. If it passes there -- and Fischer anticipates it will because the proposal would not require money from the general fund -- it would go to the entire House...
Powertech Uranium Corp., the company that proposed the mine, says those fears are unfounded. Officials insist the method of mining the uranium by leaching it from the ground in water is safe. They, along with members of the Colorado Mining Association, met several times with Fischer and Kefalas and testified before the Agriculture Committee. They were upset that no one from the mining industry was asked for input before the bill was drafted, and they suggested several changes. Their input plus testimony from residents led to some changes in wording but did not change the intent of the bill, according to Fischer. If anything, it clarified and further tightened water safety precautions by specifically stating the water will be returned to a quality equal to or better than before, or to Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment standards, he said...The wording also clarified that the rules would apply to in-situ leach mining for uranium and not open-pit mining for other metals that already is occurring in the state.
More coverage from The Associated Press. They write:
Jean Hediger can stand at the edge of her organic wheat farm and look west to the Rockies, east toward this speck-in-the-road town and straight ahead into what she sees as her worst nightmare. A Canadian company's plans to establish a uranium mine just across the two-lane county road from Hediger's farm has triggered a bitter tug-of-war with residents of this fast-growing region about 70 miles north of Denver who fear the risk of contaminated water and other health problems. "How do you farm organically next to a uranium mine?" Hediger asks. "It's pretty darned scary, isn't it?"[...]
Powertech Uranium Corp. Chief Executive Officer Richard Clement insists the firm's closed-system mining process, in which a solution of oxygen and sodium bicarbonate is injected to recover the uranium, is safe. "There's a lot of misinformation out there about nuclear, about uranium, about radiation, about the effects of mining," he said. "This is probably one of the most benign methods of mining that you're ever going to encounter."[...]
Uranium flourished in the 1950s, '60s and '70s for use in atomic weapons and then nuclear reactors. It was a heady time in the West as miners using Geiger counters staked out claims in areas with large uranium reserves such as Uravan, Colo.; Ticaboo, Utah; Grants, N.M. and the Navajo Nation's lands in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. The bottom fell out of the industry when the Cold War ended and uranium from weapons stockpiles flooded the marketplace. Its price plummeted from $40 a pound in the late 1970s to less than $10 a pound in the 1980s, according to the Colorado Geological Survey. The Three Mile Island reactor accident in 1979 and the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine soured the public on the use of nuclear power. Today, as more nations look to nuclear power as an alternative to coal and oil, the world's uranium supplies are dwindling. In the past two years, thousands of mining claims have been staked on federal lands in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. "Everything started picking up like crazy in '04 in those states," said Roger Haskins, a Bureau of Land Management specialist in mining law.
Across most of the West, residents who buy property own the surface rights -- but most do not own the rights to minerals under their land, which can be sold or leased separately from public agencies and private firms and individuals...
Colorado lawmakers are considering legislation to place restrictions on uranium mining and require mining companies to prove they will restore groundwater aquifers to pre-mining quality before they receive permits for in-situ operations. The bill also would require companies to show that technology exists to clean up any pollution that results from mining. Powertech, which has properties in Wyoming and South Dakota, has begun exploratory drilling on the site across from Hediger's farm to gather data for its application for an operating permit. It also will do air, weather, groundwater and engineering tests to submit to Colorado regulators. Clement said the company will continue to communicate with residents in the area.
Horizon Nevada Uranium, Inc. has sent out letters to 400 property owners in South Park notifying them of a proposal to mine uranium in South Park, according to The Fairplay Flume. From the article:
Golden-based Horizon Nevada Uranium Inc. is planning to mine uranium in a 4,000-acre area of southeast Park County in the South Park Ranch area, and it has sent about 400 notices to property owners notifying them of the proposed project. It's still very early in the planning stages for the proposed mines, according to Horizon President Bill Wilson. Staking of property will begin within 30 days but mining probably wouldn't happen for some time, he said. The mining process would involve drilling wells to the uranium deposits and pumping CO2, oxygen and water down, liquefying the uranium, then pumping it back out of the ground, a process called in-situ mining. "There wouldn't be any open pit or underground mine," Wilson said. Instead, the mines would look more like a number of pumps...
After staking is complete, 20 to 25 exploratory holes will be drilled this summer to determine the best places to start mining after surface leases are signed with land owners. Wilson said he would not allow his company to mine any land without the owner's OK...According to Wilson, Horizon puts $3,000 down on each well for a reclamation fund before removing minerals from the ground.
During the mining process, precautions are taken to avoid contaminating the environment. If a possible mine site is near usable water, it is abandoned, Wilson said. But that is very rarely the case. Most uranium mines start between 500 feet and 700 feet below the surface...
Horizon could employ up to 80 people for the mining site. "[This project] certainly would point in the direction of economic development," he said. Similar operations in Glenrock, Wyo., have employed about 90 workers. According to Wilson, the majority of the workers live in the area of the mining. Wilson intends to present information to the county commissioners as soon as April at a public meeting. "I think that's good business. If we're serious about what we're doing, we need to take the time and inform the people," he said.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.
"colorado water"
7:30:15 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 2:09:36 PM.
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