"The jury's decision was wrong," shouted environmental activist Chris Shuey in his cell phone during a chat with StockInterview.com last Friday. "It sets a terrible example for other mining companies." Shuey, the Southwest Research and Information Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, based not clear how the recent decision of the Covenant in favor of the Texas-based Uranium Resources (OTC BB: Urix) subsidiary, Hydro Resources Inc. (HRI). Since nearly two decades, SouthwestResearch and Information Center (SRIC) and Chris Shuey have clung to a fanatical position: uranium mining is bad. Federal and local government regulatory bodies do not agree, having voted in SRIC and Mr. Shuey every step along the path.
A 6 January ruling by a three-judge panel of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board in Rockville, Maryland shot down Shuey challenges of radiological air emissions. "The NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) and the judge continued mining, support"Shuey lectured into his mobile phone. “We continue to legally challenge.” For more than eight years since the NRC granted HRI a materials license to perform ISL mining at four sites in McKinley County, SRIC has engaged in what the licensing board calls “protracted litigation” to stop HRI from supplying much-needed uranium for U.S. utilities. The recent federal ruling stated, “HRI’s operations will not be inimical to public health and safety.”
Other uranium Companies in the ASLB ruling pleased. After a historical geological report is written by the McLemore and Chenoweth in 2003, proposed about 588 million pounds of uranium after the area produced 348 million pounds by the year 2001. An asset valued at more than $ 21 billion and growing every month, worth more, is certainly a cause for celebration. The recent decision can help to expedite the approval process and development of uranium deposits in New Mexico.
"It helps that theCommunity regulatory light on the inaccuracies, and on the disingenuous approach of anti-nuclear contingent brings the argument, "said Juan Velasquez, Vice President of Environmental and Regulatory Affairs for Strathmore Minerals (TSX: STM; Other OTC: STHJF) in a telephone interview to allow Strathmore office in Santa Fe, New Mexico. "Everything is moving, what are these properties closer to production is a good thing for Strathmore, the environment and for the countryas a whole, as we move forward and look towards energy independence. "William Sheriff, Director of Corporate Development for Energy Metals (TSX: EMC), agreed:" I think the decisions of the NRC (via URI and HRI applications, which are very positive. It's just another step towards production. "Dallas resident sheriff is considered one of the leading developers in prospect, the United States. Energy Metals Corp. It plans to homes in New Mexico's Grants Uranium Belt of the development of the nextDecade. Velasquez, who was now more optimistic Strathmore's Church Rock project move forward to the production, added: "The decision has some faith in those of us who covered that the NRC will not use common sense in coming for their decisions."
StockInterview.com requested an opinion from a Santa Fe lawyer not in the most recent case involved, but who was familiar with the verdict. While the claim that he is not in this article, said the lawyer be appointed: "It was a very sensibleDecision, and what might be expected. The decision was scientifically sound. "Chris Pugsley, HRI lawyer in Washington, DC-based law firm Thompson and Simmons, the repeated defended the case that prosecutors feelings, and said:" It was a decision on sound technology and extensive industry experience and. The decision was a confirmation that ISL mining is environmentally friendly and the future of the domestic uranium mining. "Pugsley said:" This was soundScience and the correct interpretation of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and requirements. "John DeJoia, concluded Strathmore's Vice President of Technical Services," It makes me very optimistic about the production of uranium domestically and) particularly in the Gallup (New Mexico area. It is a confirmation of the original provision of the NRC. "
These were not the first legal setbacks for SRIC. In November, New Mexico McKinley County Water BoardSRIC denounced allegations of contamination of groundwater, a cause of environmental protection organization championed for a decade. The Water Board criticized the group, writing, "What we find, however, are untenable statements. The experts from the Southwest Research and Information Center offers a variety of speculations and theories that could never be proved or disproved and headings of the bloody consequences. The is not science. Science requires that we look at the data and come to a conclusion on the basisthe evidence presented. "She concluded:" The mining industry in the proposed by HRI and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved safe and protect our groundwater sources. "
In a ruling 20th July, the ASLB stronger wording, labeling is a lot of arguments SRIC of possible contamination of Crown Point, Fountain of operations HRI as "insignificant" and "dishonest." In a separate 6th Submitted January, described the ASLB as a central demand SRIC"Unfounded allegation." It is run defeat after another for SRIC and her lawyer, Eric Jantz was. His firm, New Mexico Environmental Law Center, had recently hosted "A Special Evening with Ted Turner, the maverick billionaire, as a fundraiser, to stop to uranium mining. On 11 January, five commissioners with the entire Commission, the NRC SRIC appeal is dismissed. They refused to check a SRIC petition to the groundwater case. Velasquez, Strathmore, said therecent legal decisions nullified SRIC challenges: "If you are an environmentalist, it has to make, ask yourself when you go to stop seriously." As the spot price of uranium continues its march to $ 40/pound and higher, which must SRIC voice may find a new audience, or a new cause.
ISL mining and "pristine" groundwater
According to the World Nuclear Association (WNA), "ISL mining, that distance is of the uranium mineral resources without writtenall major soil disturbance. The WNA says, ISL, or in-situ leaching. as follows, "slightly acidified or alkaline groundwater is injected with a quantity of oxygen in it will be dispatched by holding a closed underground aquifer, the uranium ore in loose sands. The leaching solution with dissolved uranium is then pumped to the surface water treatment plant will be." After The WNA, more than 20 percent of the world's uranium is mined by ISL methods. At least four uranium companies plan toISL develop operations in New Mexico: Uranium Resources (URI), Strathmore Minerals, Energy Metals and Max Resources (TSX: MXR). URI, Strathmore Minerals and Energy Metals specializes in the development of measures in the Church Rock and Crownpoint areas. None of the properties are located on the Navajo reservation is located.
One of the anti-nuclear movement disputes over ISL mining is that the injected water can not be contained. The SRIC house organ, voices from the earth,Mitchell Capitan, a Navajo activist who is top billing in the spring 2005 edition. Inflated as a former Mobil Oil lab SRIC has mysteriously made Capitan an expert in ISL mining. In his interview Capitan said, "Mobil was doing a pilot project with the in situ leach mining west of Crownpoint. I worked in the lab with the engineers. And no matter how hard we tried, we never get all the uranium from the water as mobile abandoned. We completed the project. "
CraigBartels, president of Hydro Resources, whose parent company Uranium Resources helped pioneer ISL mining is different in the United States, the assessment Capitan is the closure of Mobil Oil. "It is wrong to say someone is down for mobile ISL, because she could not contain. It is also wrong to say that Mobil shut down because they said not to restore or clean up the water." Bartels what happened, " They ran a pilot plant, including the restoration, in the early 1980s. WhenPrice (of uranium), they decreased dramatically put, a well and that got out of the business. "Bartels believes mobile" it would be out today if the price stayed up. "
Nevertheless SRIC and keep Capitan's basic argument Navajo group, ENDAUM (Eastern Navajo Dine Against Uranium Mining), that ISL mining would contaminate groundwater and the ISL process is faulty or dangerous. Dr. John Fogarty, chief of staff for the Indian Health Service Hospitalin Crown Point, New Mexico, argued as the ad hoc doctor, "The mining company intends to inject chemicals down into the aquifer, near the town water supply. These chemicals are caustic or strip the uranium off the rock into the aquifer basically creating a toxic soup. "
Unfortunately, Dr. Fogarty on the chemistry is described in the ISL mining. The lixiviant solution frequently used in the United States, sodium bicarbonate, or in the kitchen know, bakingSoda. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) describes this process: "The extraction of uranium mining injection wells is the most common technique for this mineral. An injection of the formation is drilled, the mineral salt." The EPA describes the steps of the ISL Method:
"The process for the extraction of uranium salts include:
• injecting a leaching solution called lixiviant contained in the mineralEducation;
• Allowing an adequate contact of the lixiviant in the mineral zone;
• Extraction of the nearly saturated lixiviant to the surface;
• Separation of uranium salts from the lixiviant. "
In an interview with world-renowned nuclear physicist Dr. Fred Begay, who also described the Navajo, is located in Los Alamos (New Mexico) area, he chemicals in the ISL mining StockInterview.com: "What are you down there in the pump is baking soda . We asked Dr.Begay, "That's it?" He compared them to work in the kitchen and the procedure was as safe as the baking of bread. What about water? Begay said: "The uranium is already there." And because the uranium is already there, has an a priori ground water contamination.
Bartels also rejected accusations Dr. Fogarty's. "We hear all the time:" The water is pristine drinking water. "That is not correct. The water is already toxic." Bartelsexplained exactly why the water in question is already damaged, "Any place where there is a commercial ore body that would be no water fit to drink. The groundwater is already contaminated." He pointed out: "There is A huge amount of uranium was mainly through this area not only in this aquifer, but in the overlying aquifer, that they call themselves the Dakota sandstone. "Overall, about one billion pounds of uranium may be dispersed throughout the region against uranium mining beganin the 1950s. In comments he 11th January during the Gallup Independent HRI's Pelizza noted SRIC hypocritical attitude: "It seems that fundraising is a driving force behind their rhetoric ... they completely ignore the health effects of the same radon from the uranium ore body where they are directly produced as drinking water - instead, they call this water "untouched, not 'and not the people, their invitation to danger. Why is this so? "
Radon gas and ISLMining
What is the radon released during the extraction of uranium? "If you have any commercial quantity of uranium, radon is already there," said Bartels. "But we did not do anything to it. We did not mobilize. We have no influence on them, unlike us are not allowed, and we will not free it into the atmosphere."
Why did the NRC rule in favor of HRI that would ISL mining is not a threat to public health? Bartels described the process, "We useVessels under pressure. It is part of the solution, which goes around and around. Everything comes to the surface, but do not enter the atmosphere. It is a model that simulates and estimates of how much radiation dose to ensure that you post to ensure that the health of people in the area is not compromised. "
Velasquez was adamant about SRIC air emission requirements, "the ideas that they are related to radon simply intolerable and wrong." Fewhow to detect radon gas found common on Earth. Velasquez added, "You and I, radon every time we are over a spade of dirt in our garden. The biggest emitters of radon gas in this country is agriculture, since it reaches the ground. No one is angry." Scott Heaberlin writes in his widely read treatise, A case for nuclear generated electricity (Battelle Press, 2004), "Because uranium is basically everywhere in the world soRadon. "
Highly respected Strathmore Minerals President David Miller, who has served as an ISL geological consultant to the International Atomic Energy Agency, and is a three-term Wyoming legislator considers ISL mining actually reduce the radon problem for the Navajos, "Removal of uranium today and reduce movement of the uranium from the project future radon gas generation in the environment. "He appealed on the basis of common sense that the Navajos were doing a disservice to their ownHealth: "If the Navajo uranium mining permit on the reservation, then trillions Future radon atoms are not on the reservation is made."
The SRIC panic about the background radiation can be for naught. In a General Accounting Office report entitled, Radiation placed Standards (June 2000) noted: "... we examined 82 studies that were generally little or no evidence of increased cancer risk from high natural background radiation levels ... Total the studies' results arenot conclusive, but they show that an exposure of a few hundred millirem a year, and below the cancer risk of radiation can be either very small or nonexistent. "To put this into perspective by taking a chest x-ray of your doctor, you are exposed to 20 to 40 millirem (mrem) of radiation. They live in Gallup, New Mexico, the largest city near the Church Rock Uranium projects that would be an annual dose of about 60 mrem. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission'sallowable annual radiation exposure is 5,000 mrem. After which they live, some survive on this planet, despite continuing very strong terrestrial sources of very high radon concentrations. Give a few places in Europe can mrem 5000 inhabitants per year. In Iran, Sudan and Brazil, could be up to 3800 mrem per year. Some places in India, the dose with the locals to 1500 mrem per year.
Radon studies have been conducted. The prestigious New England Journal ofMedicine published a study titled "Residential radon and lung cancer in Sweden" (January 20, 1994). The scientific team examined residential radon as the main source of exposure to ionizing radiation. The study concluded, "In general, the radon concentration increases when a window is kept open. A window ajar is an exchange of 10 to 30 cubic meters of air per hour at a wind speed of 3 meters per second. This can be two to three times the normal airExchange and thus radon concentrations can be reduced from 50 to 70 percent. "
The same principle applies to the uranium mining. The industry has increased with fans for several decades, radon gas vent and the safety of their workers.
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