Laserfiche WebLink
This increase in mining and the vast network of haulage routes raises concerns for: <br />• public health <br />o Uranium dust from mine sites and milling facilities has been cited as one <br />of the lazgest human health concems associated with uranium mining. <br />Cancer causing uranium dust, known as "radioparticulates," can enter the <br />lungs of mine/mill workers and citizens living nearby mine/mill <br />operations. The lazgest potential for inhalation of radiation comes from <br />radon, also associated with uranium mining. <br />• water quality (including where trucks use routes along Colorado rivers and <br />streams) <br />• safety of truck drivers and the potential for accidents and overturns <br />o Published news reports state that on February 1 S, 2006, a truck loaded <br />with uranium ore and operated by Cotter Corporation, overturned near <br />Wellsville, east of Salida, en route to the Canon City mill. A hazazdous <br />materials crew was called to the scene where they sprayed the spill fearing <br />that the dust might be inhaled. This incident resulted in a highway closure <br />for S hours. News reports suggest that the cause of the accident was <br />driving attack-fall of uranium at speeds too high for conditions. <br />• noise levels <br />• visual aesthetics <br />• downwind contamination due to dust created at the uranium mine and during <br />transportation <br />• tmck/animal accidents <br />Cumulative Impacts: <br />Analysis of the Whirlwind mining operation requires consideration of all regional <br />uranium mining in the Beaver Mesa Mining District, the greater Uravan Mineral Belt and <br />Westem Colorado, including the abandoned and un-reclaimed mines and mining claims <br />and mineral leases on Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, Department of <br />Energy, and Colorado State Land Boazd managed lands. Whether or not these ores may <br />actually be milled at the Denison Mill (semi-active) neaz White Mesa, Utah or the Cotter <br />Mill (inactive) near Cation City must also betaken into account. At this time, there is no <br />active convention milling of uranium ores in the United States, raising the question of <br />whether or not conventional mining at Uravan Belt uranium mines, including the <br />Whirlwind mine, aze economically viable. <br />We request that before the Division grants any permit or approves any POO on this or <br />any other uranium mine in Westem Colorado, the Division and the Department of Public <br />Health and Enviromnent should ensure that a lawful Environmental Impact Statement <br />("EIS"} has been completed that includes the an interdisciplinary and cumulative impacts <br />analysis that is required by the National Environmental Policy Act. 42 USC § 4332(2). <br />No EIS exists to address the current uranium boom. Colorado's regulatory agencies, <br />local governments, and citizens would benefit greatly from an EIS that includes the <br />6 <br />