Here’s the release from the Colorado Division of Reclamation Mining & Safety:
The Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board will consider new rules and amendments proposed by the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety regarding uranium mining, permit fees and the disclosure of prospecting information this spring. The Division submitted the necessary paperwork for the rulemaking with the Secretary of State’s Office on January 26.
The rulemaking is primarily being conducted to implement three bills the General Assembly passed in 2008. House Bill 08-1161 concerns reclamation standards for in-situ uranium mining. Senate Bill 08-228 establishes provisions regarding information about prospecting operations. Senate Bill 08-169 concerns fees for certain hardrock mining operations. In addition, the proposed rules implement fees the General Assembly passed in 2007 in Senate Bill 07-185. The Board may accept, reject or modify any or all of the Division’s proposed rules and amendments, or may propose its own rules and amendments.
A draft of the proposed rules, along with a Statement of Basis, Specific Authority and Purpose, may be found at the DRMS web site at: http://mining.state.co.us/Rulemaking.htm.
More coverage from The Denver Post (Monte Whaley). From the article:
Among the things that the proposed regulations would require are:
• A baseline study to show the quality of the groundwater in an area a company wants to operate.
• Proof that the company is using the best available technology.
• Notification to all landowners within 3 miles of the proposed mining project.
• Reclamation of the site to the standards in the baseline study after mining is completed.After a period for public comment testimony and rebuttal, an eight-hour public hearing has been set for April 15 at Loveland’s Embassy Suites Hotel, 4706 Clydesdale Parkway. A second public hearing is likely, said Mined Land Reclamation Office Director David Berry. “There will be another one, but we don’t know exactly when,” he said. There also is no timetable for a final decision by the state Mined Land Reclamation Board, which must vote on the rules, Berry said.
Meanwhile, here’s a look at the mill tailings problem in the west, from Sharon Sullivan writing for the Grand Junction Free Press. From the article:
The sand-like mill tailings were widely used in the Grand Valley during the 1950s and 1960s as fill dirt until federal officials halted the practice, citing health risks from exposure to gamma radiation and radon gas. [FCI Constructors Inc] employees have hauled nearly 500 cubic yards of tailings to the temporary storage facility at the city yard along West Avenue, where the material awaits permanent disposal at the Cheney disposal cell, south of Grand Junction.
“There are other tailings that are just as high or higher (in gamma radiation readings),” that are being left in place, said Mike Cosby, Uranium Mill Tailings Remediation Manager for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. “On private property that would not be allowed,” Cosby said…
“The state (health department) would prefer to pull all (the tailings) out right now, but that’s not our call,” Cosby said. “The city’s paying for it.” Expense was one factor in deciding to leave some of the tailings in place, said city engineering manager Trent Prall. The disruption and time it would take to haul all of it away was another factor in not removing all of the radioactive material, Prall said. The federal government determined three decades ago that it didn’t make economic sense to remove all the tailings underneath a public right-of-way, Prall said.
The sandy tailings were widely used across the valley in cement for foundations, in stucco and bricks, and in sidewalks and streets. It was also added as a soil amendment to yards and gardens. State and federal clean-up programs that lasted more than 25 years removed tailings from underneath thousands of homes and in yards across the valley. Tailings underneath roadways however, were typically left in place.