Tag: Uranium Mining

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday issued the first federal approval for a controversial uranium mill in western Colorado that would be the first such processing facility in the United States in decades.

In the fall of 2009, a Cotter Corp. representative attended a Montrose County hearing on the proposed Piñon Ridge uranium mill in the Paradox Valley, asking officials to approve the facility so that mines his company still owns and operates in western Colorado will have a much closer processing facility.

Water issues continue to dog uranium mining and milling operations around the state, with regulators losing patience with one company on Colorado’s Front Range and Colorado River officials still raising objections to a proposed mill in Montrose County.

Depends where you were last week when the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) took feedback on its uranium mine leasing program in southwest Colorado. In some places like Telluride, according to media reports, the feds met with stiff resistance. Others, like Montrose, the reaction was more mixed.

Water activists around the region – from Southwest Colorado to Southwest Wyoming to downtown Denver – continued to apply pressure on regulators this week on a variety of critical issues such as opposing the proposed Flaming Gorge Pipeline, backing the Clean Water Act and forcing more scrutiny of uranium mining near the Dolores and San Miguel Rivers.

A Canadian company hoping to revive the long-dormant uranium mining hotbed of southwestern Colorado is touting an economic report prepared for Montrose County showing world uranium demand is expected to double in coming year, according to the Telluride Daily Planet.

Speaking at Grand Canyon National Park today, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced a 20-year ban on new uranium mining claims as the “preferred alternative” in an ongoing federal review of hardrock mining on the 1 million acres of public lands surrounding the Grand Canyon.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s teaser on Friday that he will “make a major announcement regarding Grand Canyon National Park” today has prompted speculation he’ll address the expiration of a two-year ban on new uranium mining claims that he imposed in 2009.

A new ad from the Pew Environment Group taglined “Don’t Undermine the Grand Canyon” calls on President Barack Obama to extend a one-million-acre mining ban around Grand Canyon National Park for the next 20 years.

Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet on Friday sent a letter to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 8 administrator Jim Martin reminding him that the “EPA needs to be especially mindful of the adverse health effects that past uranium booms have had on workers.”