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C.A.R.D. NEWSLETTER - November 21st, 2007

CARD, PO Box 143, Wellington, CO 80549,
970-372-0029 (leave message) http://www.nunnglow.com/

Join Us In The Wellington Parade!
Come join CARD members and friends in the Parade of Lights in Wellington on December 1st at 4:30!  Parade line-up begins at 4:30 at 1st and Cleveland.

Attend Fort Collins City Council Meeting
On Tuesday, December 4, the Fort Collins City Council is expected to consider a resolution about uranium mining. All Fort Collins residents are encouraged to attend! The Council meeting starts at 6 pm. We won't know where the resolution will be on the Agenda until the end of November.

You can check the City's website for this information in the days before the meeting (http://fcgov.com/cityclerk/agendas.php).  The Council meets at 300 LaPorte Avenue. Please pass the word!  And please plan to be there!
 
Next Town Hall Meeting: BRIGGSDALE!
Our town hall meeting will take place in Briggsdale on January 16. Watch for details in future newsletters and alert your friends in the area.

Foothills Unitarian Church Presentation
The Unitarian Church, 1815 Yorktown Avenue (on West Drake) in Fort Collins has invited Lilias Jones Jarding to give a presentation about the proposed uranium mining on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 7 pm. If you have missed our CARD presentations, this gives you another opportunity to get an update on the mining.

Weld County Comprehensive Plan Update
These are the upcoming Weld County Technical Advisory Committee meetings:
December 6 at 6pm at the Greeley Planning Offices
December 13 at 6pm at the Southwest Weld Service Center

The meetings are available for the public to attend, but no public comment is allowed.  Having a couple of "uranium opposers" at each meeting will keep the issue in their minds. They ask for introductions from the audience. Just indicate the interest and enjoy the meeting.

Colorado Medical Society Joins Uranium Mine Opposition
Northern Colorado Business Report, November 19, 2007

The Larimer County Medical Society is receiving support from the Colorado Medical Society board in its opposition to proposed uranium mining in Weld County, near Nunn.

The CMS board of directors unanimously approved an action on Nov. 16 to affirm support for the LCMS's position against the issuance of a mining permit for the Centennial Project. The groups' opposition to the in-situ mining operation is based on "the potential risks it poses to the health of residents," according to the approved action.

The CMS had two committees review the resolution submitted by the LCMS during October and November. The issue was debated for as much as four hours, and testimony was given by members of the Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction, the LCMS, Powertech representatives and the president of the Colorado Mining Association.

"I fully anticipated support and recognize the initial unwillingness to support our resolution since the uranium mining controversy has not been publicized outside of Larimer and Weld counties," said Cory Carroll, M.D., president of the LCMS and the author of the resolution. "We decided to bring this issue to the public's attention because we felt that there was only one true rational conclusion; uranium mining has inherent dangers and those risks are not acceptable for the citizens of Nunn, Fort Collins and countless others communities that use the aquifer."

The LCMS may attempt to gain support for the resolution from the American Medical Association, Carroll added.

Proposed Uranium Mining Concerns Environmentalists
Canadian firm drilling exploratory holes along the Southern Hills
Excerpts from an article by Kayla Gahagan, Rapid City Journal, November 11, 2007

Water quality and the health of thousands of people are at risk if companies are allowed to go ahead with plans to mine uranium in South Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado, according to speakers at a meeting of environmentalists Saturday.

Lilias Jones Jarding, from Coloradans Against Resource Destruction, Shannon Anderson with the Powder River Basin Resource Council in Wyoming, Gary Heckenliable with ACTion for the Environment in Rapid City, and Charmaine White Face with Defenders of the Black Hills in Rapid City met to discuss ways to educate the public and voice concerns about several possible uranium mining projects in the states.

The main concern in South Dakota, White Face said, is exploratory drilling being done by Canadian company Powertech Uranium Corporation, which plans to drill for uranium along the southern Black Hills. Regulations in the state make it easier to obtain permits for exploratory drilling than actual mining, White Face said, which means there is still time to stop it.

The group said uranium mining can release highly radioactive and toxic chemicals into the ground and water, either by in situ leach methods or by open pit mining.

Research offered at the meeting also suggested that some mining also causes chemicals to leach into the ground, where they can be digested by people who use wells for drinking water.

White Face says there are currently 29 open-pit uranium mines that have been abandoned in southwest South Dakota, and she said that uranium mining isn't safe for anyone.

"The radioactive dust is picked up in the wind," she said. "It lands on the surface of water and crops; people breathe it in; animals eat it. It's more dangerous than people think. ... South Dakota is almost in its tenth year of drought," she said. " ... Once an aquifer is contaminated, you can't fix it."

The push to mine uranium is about money, Jones said. "The price of uranium has gone from $20 a pound in January of 2005, to $135 dollars this past summer, and now, it's back down to $80 a pound," she said.

It's at the cost of disturbing the soil and contaminating the water, Heckenliable said, noting that the South Dakota Board of Minerals and Environment made a mistake when it gave approval for the Brohm mine, which is now a superfund site.

"Now, South Dakota is paying for that mess," he said.

Nunn Town Hall Meeting, November 29 

Stewards of the Land, a landowners group in the proposed Weld County uranium mining site, will host a meeting on Thursday, November 29, at 7PM, at the Nunn Town Hall in Nunn, CO. The meeting will be attended by several area state legislators. Two are from Weld County, Sen. Scott Renfroe and Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg. The third is Rep. Kevin Lundberg from House District 49, which includes all of Larimer County outside of Fort Collins and Loveland. 

Weld County residents and residents of HD 49 are encouraged to attend. For more information call 970-897-3195.

Salazar Asks for Broad Review of Uranium Mine Proposal  
Excerpts from an article by Rebecca Boyle, The Greeley Tribune, November 14, 2007
Another Colorado lawmaker is voicing concern about the proposed uranium mine located north of Nunn.

U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., said Tuesday he was asking the Environmental Protection Agency to keep northern Colorado's water in mind when the agency reviews the project for a permit.

Salazar wrote to Robert Roberts, regional administrator for the EPA, urging him to address several concerns about possible environmental impacts, such as groundwater contamination as a result of the extraction process employed at uranium mines. Salazar asked that those concerns be addressed and analyzed as thoroughly as possible when the project's application for an Underground Injection Control Program Class III permit is reviewed by the EPA.

Salazar said he was concerned that the EPA's review process will only take into account the Laramie-Fox Hills aquifer, which is in the immediate vicinity of the proposed mine. He wants the EPA to also consider any potential impact on the larger Denver Basin aquifer system.

Salazar also requested a summary of the known history of environmental impacts of in-situ mining under EPA's Underground Injection Control Program, in the local area and throughout the United States. He also wants the EPA to provide a summary of its experience with the contamination remediation at in-situ leaching mines.

Salazar said water was the lifeblood of Colorado.

Northern Colorado Makes The New York Times

Here are excerpts from the New York Times article, published on November 19, 2007.

The only thing the reporter got wrong (that we know of) is saying that nuclear power has zero carbon emissions. It actually does emit carbon at every stage of the nuclear process EXCEPT the actual fission in the nuclear power plant.

Fossil fuel is used and carbon is emitted during exploration, mining, milling, transportation, enrichment, construction, decommissioning, and waste storage. Unfortunately, the nuclear industry just talks about carbon-free nuclear power plants, and most people buy it.

A Deeply Green City Confronts Its Energy Needs and Nuclear Worries
By Kirk Johnson

FORT COLLINS, Colo.  This city takes pride in being green, from its official motto, Where renewal is a way of life, to its Climate Wise energy program, which helps local businesses reduce the carbon emissions that scientists say can contribute to global warming.
But now two proposed energy projects are exposing the hard place that communities like this across the country are likely to confront in years to come as the tangled nuances of thinking globally come back to bite.
Both projects would do exactly what the city proclaims it wants, helping to produce zero-carbon energy. But one involves crowd-pleasing, feel-good solar power, and the other is a uranium mine, which has a base of support here about as big as a pinkie. Environmentalism and local politics have collided with a broader ethical and moral debate about the good of the planet, and whether some places could or should be called upon to sacrifice for their high-minded goals.
The solar project, called AVA Solar, plans to use a new manufacturing process developed at Colorado State University here to make panels for electricity generation, and will use cadmium, a hazardous metal linked to cancer, as part of the industrial process.
The company that would run the proposed uranium mine, Powertech Uranium, would like to drill down through part of an aquifer about 10 miles northeast of town using what the company says would be state-of-the-art drilling technology to extract fuel for nuclear-generated electricity.
Some politicians who agree on almost nothing else have united in expressing concerns about the mine, especially its possible effect on water quality  including Representative Marilyn Musgrave, a Republican who represents the area, and Senator Ken Salazar, a Democrat.
Local environmentalists like Dan Bihn, an electrical engineer and environmental consultant who sits on the Fort Collins Electric Utilities Board, are caught in the middle.  "I think nuclear needs to be on the table, and we need to work through this thing and we cant just emotionally react to it," Mr. Bihn said in an interview at Mugs Coffee Lounge, an environmentally correct cafe near the university, where the take-out forks are biodegradable.

Asked about his own emotional reaction to the mining plan, Mr. Bihn paused. "Deep down inside, my emotional reaction is that we should never do this," he said.

What green energy even means these days is probably the next question to ask.
Gov. Bill Ritter Jr., a Democrat who was elected last year and who has made what he calls the new energy economy a centerpiece of his administration, does not include uranium mining in the green portfolio, said Tom Plant, the director of the governor's energy office. Mine regulators still handle questions about uranium, Mr. Plant said.
Ron Cattany, the director of the division of reclamation, mining and safety at the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, said that Powertech had not yet filed a formal application, but that the hurdles to opening any kind of new mine in Colorado, regardless of the location, were high.
Mr. Cattany said that 10 other uranium projects, all involving the possible reopening of mothballed mines that use traditional open cut or underground methods, and all on the state's less-populated western side, had come into a formal review or staff consideration over the last year as uranium prices shot up.
Powertech has proposed using what is called in-situ mining.  Chemicals are injected into the ground, releasing the uranium, which is then pumped to the surface. The process was developed in the 1950s and 1960s, but has never been used in Colorado for commercial mining, state officials said.
At least $250 million, meanwhile, has flowed into solar, wind and ethanol projects in Colorado over the last few years as well, according to state figures, and officials at the new solar company said they were seeing their share of the tide.

Wanted: Hydrologist  
  
CARD needs the services of a hydrologist who can help research the water issues that are so critical to our area. Please let us know if you have a contact.

Wanted: Your Donations 
CARD can't stop uranium mining without your donations.  We are a citizens' group, and we always need financial support.  Please give generously by mailing your donation to P.O. Box 143, Wellington, CO 80549 or through our website at http://www.nunnglow.com/.  Look for the link at the bottom of any page.

Western Slope Uranium Boom Update
Excerpts from an article by Amy Levek in The Watch, serving the communities of the Western San Juans, published on November 16, 2007.
Near the Utah/Colorado border, above the town of Gateway and the Uncompahgre Plateau, the proposed Whirlwind Mine is set to produce up to 200 tons of uranium ore per day when fully operational.
If the proposal from Energy Fuels Resources Corporation is successful, the back road to the mine will soon be the route of semi trucks hauling uranium ore to the mill, up to 40 roundtrips per week. The trucks will file through the Dolores Canyon along the Uncompahgre-Uniweep Scenic Byway, either to the proposed site of the Piñon Ridge Mill development outside of Naturita or to the only uranium mill currently operating in the U.S., the White Mesa Mill near Blanding, Utah.
Energy Fuels Resources Corporation, a Canadian company with offices in Lakewood, Colorado, pulled together a number of mining claims and an existing underground mine to create the Whirlwind Mine. The company also intends to build a new mill in the Paradox Valley, some 40 miles away as the crow flies. The Piñon Ridge Mill would be the first new uranium mill to be constructed in the U.S. in 25 years.
The Colorado Environmental Coalition (CEC) and a lot of citizens are worried. CEC is actively involved in both county and BLM review of the Whirlwind Mine. "No federal agencies are looking at the cumulative impacts on recreation, water and the aquifer at the Whirlwind. How will it affect the communities around it, and the community at large?" said Chad Kennard of CEC. "We're still cleaning up uranium tailings from the last time around where the taxpayers had to pick up the tab."

Down the road from the Whirlwind project, Bluerock Resources of Vancouver, British Columbia, intends to develop the Cone Mountain Uranium project. Just last week, Bluerock announced that it also plans to begin drilling at the J-Bird Uranium Mine in Montrose County, starting in mid-November.
Bluerock is capitalizing on rising uranium prices and stocks by casting its net wide. The company continues to work to return the Tramp Uranium Mine to production and to permit the Sunbeam and Cone Mountain Uranium projects towards production."
In San Miguel County, too, uranium mines are being reactivated. The Sunday Mine Complex in sparsely populated Big Gypsum Valley is producing ore. Owned and operated by Denison Mines of Canada, the complex includes a group of 168 unpatented lode mining claims on BLM land. Denison Mines also owns the White Mesa Mill in Blanding, Utah. Several General Atomics-owned Cotter Corporation mines have been permitted, but are not yet operating.
Past uranium booms left a trail of damaged lives and decimated land in their wakes. Miners working underground suffered a plethora of lung ailments so damaging that the federal government finally established the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in the early 1990s to compensate workers and their families for their suffering.
Much of the evidence that convinced Congress to pass the act came from Grand Junction, where hospitals were seeing a slew of lung cancers, emphysema and other illnesses afflicting uranium miners.

The environmental legacy of the town of Uravan, site of Union Carbide's uranium mill, demonstrates how mismanaged boom and bust can leave a place with no viable future. Declared a superfund site by the federal government in 1986, no trace of the once bustling community remains.
People in the area are well aware of the massive cleanup efforts just down the San Miguel River from Naturita, a process that took 15 years and $70 million in federal government money and left nothing to suggest there even was once a town of 800 people there.

Who Are We?
CARD (Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction) is a diverse collection of citizens concerned about the potential health, environmental and economic impacts of uranium-related activity. We are convinced that this activity would have dire consequences for northern Colorado and set a dangerous precedent. Our goal is to prevent uranium mining in Colorado and protect our valuable resources, especially our water, for future generations.

The CARD website, http://www.nunnglow.com/, has a wealth of information about proposed mining, mining processes, and the potential impacts on our air and water. On our website you can learn what you can do to stop the proposed uranium mining, sign an online petition and make a donation.

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