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Mining revival: a uranium boom for a wary West
Seven mines are open so far in five Western states, including one in Utah.
from the June 19, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
Some of the older locals who once worked the mines have mixed memories, however. J.R. Richardson of Moab mined uranium from 1956 to 1966, when his health began to decline. He recalls being regularly exposed to 80 parts per million of radon gas while underground, far above the legal limit of 1 ppm.
"The boss always knew a week in advance when the inspectors would come and would clean everything out," says Mr. Richardson, who adds that the industry has cleaned up a lot since then.
Mr. Fisher at Pandora notes the many safety features of modern mining operations, including ventilation fans, long drills that intermittently spray water to control dust, and careful record keeping of each miner's radiation exposure over time in accordance with federal rules. Inspectors from the Mining Safety and Health Administration come by once a quarter, unannounced, to check the records and conduct interviews.
Environmental concerns
The laws have also improved to safeguard the environment. Mine operators must post a bond to pay for cleanups – though bonds used in the past haven't always covered costs.
That's what happened with the former uranium mill in Moab. The company went belly up, but the bond was not nearly enough to deal with the mountain of riverside tailings. The pile, which sits in a floodplain and wasn't properly contained before the Department of Energy intervened, leaked and contaminated the river with uranium and ammonia. Meanwhile, plans to move the pile to a more stable location may drag out to as late as 2028 depending on funding.
While much cleanup work has been completed, dozens of old mines and mills have yet to been fully reclaimed, or adequately cleaned up, and several have been designated federal Superfund cleanup sites, according the World Information Service on Energy website.
The Navajo nation outlawed uranium production on its lands in 2005. The tribe says it suffered a higher rate of disease than in the general population after living in homes built with waste rock and tailings salvaged from unreclaimed mines and mills.
Environmentalists also worry about the impact of prospectors crisscrossing fragile lands. "There's some fantastic, beautiful landscapes down here and they have better uses than new roads for speculative mining," says Liz Thomas, field attorney with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance in Moab.
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