Sunday, January 6, 2008

Science Out in Left Field: "In February 2004, 62 leading scientists - including many Nobel laureates and former presidential science advisors dating back fifty years - issued a statement to bring attention to the Bush administration's manipulation, suppression, and distortion of science. In the years since, more than 12,000 scientists from all fifty states have endorsed the statement. A complimentary citizens' call-to-action, which echoes the scientists' concerns, has earned support from tens of thousands of non-scientists. "The misuse of science won't end unless the next administration understands the importance of independent science to informed decisions about our health, safety, and environment. That's why Union of Concerned Scientists is kicking off 2008 by shifting the focus from the misdeeds of this administration to the responsibilities of the next one." Category: 2008 Presidential Election 8:36:58 AM     Basin Roundtable meetings SLV Dweller: "The Rio Grande Interbasin Roundtable will meet from 2 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, January 8th in the Adams State College Student Center, Room A131. The meeting will include a presentation on the Rio Grande from its headwaters to the gulf, a report from statewide committee members and a request for Senate Bill 179 funding by the Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust. For more information, call Mike Gibson at 589-2230." For information on the other roundtable meetings click here for the Interbasin Compact Committee home page. Category: Colorado Water 8:31:02 AM     Snowpack Here's some snowpack news from The Fort Morgan Times. From the article: Recent measurements taken across the Colorado high county show that Colorado's snowpack is tracking along at an above average pace for this time of year. However, the South and North Platte River basins were below average... An average of 92 reporting sites across the Colorado mountains indicated that the state's snowpack was 110 percent of average and was 113 percent of last year's readings on this same date. While slightly above average statewide, the snowpack percentages vary significantly across the state. The highest percent of average figures were consistently measured across the southern mountains, which benefited from a series of heavy winter storms during early December. These storms erased fears of another dry winter across much of the state, as snowpack readings increased from near record lows to near record highs. During this storm cycle nearly seven feet of new snow was measured in just 12 days at the SNOTEL site on Wolf Creek Pass, according to Allen Green, State Conservationist, with the NRCS...Statewide, reservoir storage is 98 percent of average and is 105 percent of last year's storage volumes. More coverage from The Durango Herald. They write: Snowpack in the San Juan, Animas and Dolores river basins Jan. 1 was 129 percent of its 30-year average and 67 percent above the same date last year. Measurements are taken at 16 different points throughout the San Juan Mountains. Gillespie said the latest measurements are unexpected because this was to be a La Niña year, which traditionally means less snow in the southern parts of Colorado and higher accumulations up north. So far, that trend is completely reversed, because the lowest snowpack in Colorado is in the Yampa and White river basins where levels are 85 percent of normal. The only other two areas below average are the North and South Platte river basins, at 93 percent and 90 percent, respectively. Category: Colorado Water 8:08:27 AM     Energy policy: Oil and gas Black Mountain has a plan to clean up the groundwater that one of their holding ponds has polluted, according to The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. From the article: Trees and wells will be at the root of the Black Mountain Disposal cleanup. According to the latest plan submitted by the Black Mountain operators to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, trees will be planted on the north side of Black Mountain's property to absorb contaminated water. Operators also will install two extraction wells that "will begin to draw the plume back into the central portion of the facility for remediation," according to an Oct. 29 letter to the health department. Black Mountain Disposal, a wastewater facility south of De Beque, uses a series of holding ponds to evaporate water used in the extraction of natural gas. The residue is discarded. In 2001, one of the holding ponds leaked. The Department of Public Health and Environment has since requested that Black Mountain's operators indicate what and how much spilled and how it will be cleaned. Black Mountain has yet to say exactly what spilled -- although elevated levels of benzene, a common ingredient in crude-based products, have been discovered in test wells. Donna Stoner, of the Department of Public Health and Environment office in Grand Junction, responded last week to Black Mountain's proposed groundwater remediation plan. "What they have proposed actually is a very good start," she said. "They chose the right location in my mind to put the extraction wells." Using trees to pull up contaminated water that might be migrating off site is not uncommon, she said. The contamination on the downhill edge of Black Mountain is low, Stoner said. In her five-page reply to Black Mountain's proposed groundwater remediation plan, she writes: "The Division approves this plan." Category: 2008 Presidential Election 7:58:59 AM     Recreation in the Arkansas Valley Whitewater sports are big business now in Colorado. The Upper Arkansas Valley has become a mecca of sorts and the economies of Salida, Buena Vista and environs is benefitting mightily from the businesses that have cropped up. Here's an article about the industry from The Pueblo Chieftain, their 15th in the series "Water Logs." They write: The Arkansas River basin's water users have long recognized the importance of recreation flows in the river. In 1990, rafters, fishermen and water users reached a voluntary agreement to keep minimum flows in the Upper Arkansas River during the summer months. The trick was to keep them high enough for rafters in the summer months, while lowering them to beneficial levels for fish in late summer. Another component of the agreement helps keep flows in the river for fish during fall and winter. Three communities have obtained RICD [Recreational In-Channel Diversion] rights in the last few years: Pueblo, Buena Vista and Salida. Pueblo maintains flows below Pueblo Dam for fish and for its Whitewater Park Downtown. The flows were included in 2004 intergovernmental agreements. Although Pueblo was successful in obtaining an RICD, the CWCB balked at applying for in-stream flow rights for the reach of the Arkansas River below Pueblo Dam... The agreements have not meant total harmony in the first few years of operation. Local kayakers have learned water is not always available at the times they planned for major events in Pueblo, and are working out their differences with city officials. Improvements to the Whitewater Park have been delayed by a plan to replace the Fourth Street Bridge. In 2005 and 2007, flows for fish were dangerously low in late winter. The Pueblo Board of Water Works stepped in last year and leased some water to the Division of Wildlife. A new plan among Pueblo, Colorado Springs and the Division of Water Resources is expected to keep minimum flows in the river this year on a trial basis. Chaffee County sought recreation flows for kayak parks in Buena Vista and Salida in efforts to protect its growing recreation economy. For years, the county has been the heart of a $12 million rafting industry, highlighted each year by the FIBArk boat races. A state recreation area was created in the 1990s along the Arkansas River between Canon City and Salida... Lake County commissioners want more recreational amenities and access at Turquoise and Twin Lakes. While the mountain lakes usually have sufficient water, their operation has become an issue in negotiations over storage in the valley. Kiowa County commissioners are searching for ways to keep water in the Great Plains Reservoirs in the southern part of the county. The agricultural lakes make for great fishing, but have suffered during five years of drought conditions. The final piece of the recreation puzzle is Fountain Creek, seen for years as nothing more than a polluted drainage channel. The Fountain Creek Vision Task Force, U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, state parks, and a separate joint effort by Colorado Springs Utilities and the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District are all aiming for ways to revive the Fountain as a recreation hot spot. Recreation has become important to the economy and quality of life in the Arkansas Valley. The issue: Water for recreation and wildlife has often been a coincidental impact of how water is moved. Water rights for recreation now are allowed and some water is purchased or leased for the benefit of wildlife. What's at stake: Without flows at certain times of year, there might not be enough water to recreate in. Why it matters: Recreation is an increasingly important economic factor, as well as a way to maintain the quality of life that attracts people to the state. Who's involved: People, critters, birds and fish. Category: Colorado Water 7:45:37 AM     Energy policy: Nuclear Richard Blubaugh, vice president of Environmental Health and Safety Resources at Powertech, has penned this opinion piece, defending the permitting process for his company's proposed uranium mine in Weld County, in today's Greeley Tribune (free registration required). He writes: For Powertech, the key issue is the permitting process -- one that is fair and objective. Powertech currently is in the phase of permitting where it is required to generate exhaustive scientific data and information for federal, state and local analysis. This is not a pro forma review. It is a very thorough analysis, conducted by highly competent regulators with the appropriate credentials and experience. The burden of proof is on Powertech to satisfy the regulators. In turn, Powertech expects that those who are opposed to the project will participate in the science-based review process, rather than prematurely judge the project and misstate facts, as is the current case. It is important to note that groundwater issues concerning the Laramie-Fox Hills aquifer will receive particular attention during the reviews. The evaluation of the aquifer will rely on historic and present-day data, collected and interpreted by a team of independent, professional hydrologists. The common misperception is that an aquifer is an underground lake or river that flows freely throughout the entire Denver Basin. In fact, the Greeley Arch is a significant geologic structure that prevents any hydrologic connection from the Laramie-Fox Hills aquifer in Weld County to aquifers in the counties to the south. At the Centennial Project, the uranium ore is confined above and below by layers of impermeable strata (mudstone/siltstone), through which solution cannot travel during in-situ recovery. Further, advanced and highly regulated well-field engineering during mining prevents any "horizontal movement" of solution. These are the facts. Another oft-stated misunderstanding is the assertion of potential environmental damage caused by ISR. No U.S. ISR operation has ever allowed mining solutions outside the permitted mining area nor contaminated drinking water supplies. In-situ recovery technology has been used safely in various projects in the United States, including Christensen Ranch, Crow Butte and Rosita, for more than 30 years. In-situ recovery was also used in the Weld projects near Keota and Grover without any environmental problems. Both sites were successfully remediated to the state's satisfaction. In keeping with the objective of basing regulatory guidelines on the highest-quality scientific data, the National Mining Association has recently issued an Environmental Report on uranium ISR, a collection of data prepared by a highly respected Colorado-based Tetra Tech Inc. This report will be used by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to prepare a Generic Environmental Impact Statement on uranium ISR, which will aid the environmental review of each permit application. This document is readily available on the NMA Web site or at www.powertechuranium.com/s/AboutISR.asp. Meanwhile here's a look at the opposition to Powertech's mine from The Greeley Tribune. From the article: The problem is that deep under [Robin] Davis' property lay many millions of pounds of uranium, and its price is going through the roof. But the fight isn't just about money, it's a fight about public safety and groundwater contamination... Davis isn't so sure her water will be safe. She pulls water from a well for her horse-boarding business and for domestic use in her home. She can't sell her 80 acres, she says, because no one wants to live near a uranium mine, and she has all her savings tied up in her home. If the mine goes in, she won't board other people's horses, and she says she's already lost business because of the mine. "We have absolutely everything to lose," Davis says. "Our entire investment is in our home, and nobody's buying." Davis is part of a movement against the mine, Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction, and started a Web site nunnglow.com, to let people know about the mine's potentially hazardous operation... A similar mine was opened near Keota and Grover in Colorado in the early 1980s, but it was closed because the price of uranium dropped, making mining no longer economically viable. But now that the price of uranium is up to about $90 per pound again from a low of about $7 per pound in 2000, companies are looking to start mining the radioactive material again for use in nuclear power reactors around the United States... At its current price, about $873 million worth of uranium sits at the proposed mine site in northwestern Weld. Pete Webb, a spokesman for Powertech, said the company is going to apply for the permit to mine at the site from Weld County in December 2008. The intricate regulatory and permitting process ensures that the mine will be safe for water and the public, he said. It is Powertech's first foray into uranium mining, but the opposition is fueling public fear about the project, Webb said. "Because of demand, companies are looking for it," said Webb, adding that 30 new nuclear power plants in the United States fuel the demand. "But because it's uranium, people are basically afraid of it." "It's not gonna happen, I've seen it stopped before," said Lilias Jones Jarding, an anti-mining activist and Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction member. She worked against a mine in South Dakota that was successfully stopped by opponents, and is running for the state legislature in House District 49, partly because of her frustrations about the uranium mine issue. Jarding said so many people were against that mine that 12,000 people came to a rally against the mine, which would have been located near the Black Hills. Further, Jarding said, mines cannot guarantee that they can clean the groundwater to pre-mining levels after the mine is closed. There are 32 sites in Texas where officials found the water was not returned to pre-mining levels, she said... Rick Lowerre is an attorney representing Kleberg County, Texas, in a lawsuit against uranium miner Uranium Resources Inc. The mine, like all others in Texas, Lowerre said, can't clean the water it pumped into the ground to extract the uranium 20 years ago. "No uranium mining company in Texas has ever restored groundwater in Texas to levels they promised," he said. "Mining companies knew all along (they couldn't clean the water). Everybody just lied to the public." Water that is pumped out of the ground contains lead and mercury in addition to uranium, which are then pumped back into the ground to be cleaned later, Lowerre said. Residents near proposed mines shouldn't let mining companies get away with saying they're going to restore the water, he added. In addition, many large corporations such as Exxon Mobil have abandoned uranium mining and smaller companies are taking their place, said Lowerre. He added that many smaller companies don't have the capital to absorb price fluctuations in the uranium market and could go bankrupt, leaving state or federal authorities the task of cleaning up. Powertech will be required to have bonds ensuring that such a cleanup will be funded if it abandons the mine, but Texas doesn't have a bond requirement, Lowerre said. "If the price goes down, they'll go belly up," he said. "And then you're left with it." Meanwhile, communities should take steps to ensure that powerful lobbying by uranium mining companies doesn't overshadow safety concerns of the public, Lowerre said... Though Powertech is in the beginning of its process to get the mine started, Weld planning officials have already begun studying the site, and will probably make a determination about the mine in 2009. The Board of Weld County Commissioners will approve or deny the site sometime after the planning commission makes its determination, and then there's always the chance of appeal to Weld District Court and higher. "I don't know if there's a way to stop it from coming through the permit process," said Tom Honn, Weld director of planning. The planning department will examine if the use of the site as a mine is compatible with neighboring properties around it, and will make its determination that way, Honn said... Representatives from Powertech Uranium Corp. and Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction will attend a public hearing about the proposed uranium mine near Nunn at 6 p.m. Jan. 14 at the Harmony Library, at the corner of Shields Street and Harmony Road in Fort Collins. More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here. Category: 2008 Presidential Election 7:21:55 AM

© Copyright 2008 John Orr. Last update: 1/31/08; 9:11:33 AM.