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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />adjacent to the Colorado River near Moab, Utah, Included in the Board folder is a copy of a <br />resolution for the Forum's consideration, prepared and introduced by California, requesting the <br />Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to take the following actions related to the mill tailings: <br /> <br />. Removal of the uranium rnill tailings pile to a better suited location or implementation of <br />an alternative equivalent to moving the pile, <br /> <br />. Remediation of the tailings pile's impacts, and <br /> <br />. Authorization and appropriation of matching federal and state funding for its removal or <br />the implementation of an equivalent alternative and the remediation of its impact. <br /> <br />Utah's representative indicated that the Utah lJepBrtment of Enviromnental Quality has issued <br />a ground water correction notice to the Atlas Corporation. He indicated that Utah would like to see <br />the pile removed, but would be amendable to having it capped if it could be done in an <br />enviromnental manner. The proposed resolution was not adopted by the Forum due to the lack of <br />sufficient information on the part of the Forum members and inadequate time to study the resolution; <br />however, the Executive Director of the Forum was directed to write a letter to various federal <br />agencies expressing the Basin states concerns and requesting a solution that would protect the water <br />quality of the River. <br /> <br />I have also included in the Board members' folders a copy of a news article that appeared in a <br />recent Utah newspaper, The Grand County Commissioners, within whose boundaries the mine <br />tailings reside, have filed a fonnal notice of its intent to sue the NRC over its plan to cap the mill <br />tailings. They join the Grand Canyon Trust and the Sierra Club who have also filed notices of intent <br />to sue on the basis the NRC violated the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act. <br /> <br />With regards to federal funding for the EQIP program, Congress in approving the budget for <br />FY 1999 reduced the funding level for EQIP to $174 million from its prior year level of $200 <br />million. Unfortunately, at this reduced funding level, the Forum was unable to secure a National <br />Priority Area designation for the Colorado River Basin. <br /> <br />Rel!:ional Board's Public Notice to Review Basin Plan <br /> <br />The California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Colorado River Basin Region (Regional <br />Board), recently published a Public Notice of its intent to have a triennial review of its water quality <br />control plan (Basin Plan) in 1999, The objective of this review is to determine whether the Basin <br />Plan, which covers Region 7 within California, should be updated or amended. A public <br />workshop/scoping meeting has tentatively been scheduled for January 1999 to receive comment on <br />and solicit contribution on the basin planning issues that deserve review. The following preliminary <br />issues were listed by the Regional Board to be discussed at the workshop: guidelines for sewage <br />disposal (septic tank!1eaching system) from land development; water quality objectives for nitrates <br />and total dissolved solid (IDS) to protect groundwater; water recycling (i.e. wastewater <br />reclamation); beneficial use designation of aquifers; and the impact of geothermal fluids on surface <br />and ground water quality. In preparation for the workshop, the Regional Board will receive written <br />comments on the basin planning issues the Regional Board should consider in its review. These <br /> <br />8 <br />