By APRIL REESE of Greenwire
GRANTS, N.M. — With Mount Taylor looming in the distance, western New Mexico citizens, elected leaders, environmental groups and tribal members clashed at a hearing before state regulators last night about whether a mining company should be allowed to further delay cleaning up a dormant mine on the mountain that may or may not reopen in the next few years.
The mountain, located about 15 miles northeast of here, is held sacred by many tribes and pueblos in the Southwest, including the Navajo Nation, the Hopi tribe, and Acoma, Laguna and Zuni pueblos. It also holds the nation’s largest uranium deposit.
Rio Grande Resources Corp., a subsidiary of San Diego-based General Atomics, applied last year for renewal of its 2005 standby permit for the Mount Taylor mine, which has remained shuttered since 1990. The new application (pdf) marks the second time the company has sought to renew the permit, which allows it to put off remediating the site with the understanding that the mine will reopen at some point. Under New Mexico’s mining laws, standby permits must be renewed every five years, for a maximum of 25 years.
More than 8 million pounds of “yellow cake” were produced from the mine before it was closed more than two decades ago due to plummeting uranium prices. Rio Grande Resources, which acquired the mine from Chevron in 1991, estimates that more than 100 million pounds of uranium remain unplumbed.
At the hearing, held by the New Mexico Mining and Minerals Division, testimony was divided roughly equally between those who support the renewal of the company’s five-year standby permit, with an eye toward the local economic benefits that could come from reopening the mine, and those who oppose it out of concerns that contamination could worsen if the site remains un-remediated for another five years.
Joe Lister, who manages the Mount Taylor mine site for the company, said there is a high likelihood that the mine will reopen within the next few years, and therefore it makes sense to receive an extension of standby status. State law requires mining companies seeking standby permits to show they are likely to resume mining operations.
But Eric Jantz, an attorney with the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, which requested the hearing, noted that the New Mexico Environment Department has found elevated levels of nitrates and uranium in an old underground waste lagoon at the mine site, and expressed concern that delaying a comprehensive cleanup could put the environment further at risk.
‘Everybody’s fighting for survival’
Others warned that jobs and financial gains should not come at the expense of ecological health.
“Everybody’s fighting for survival — we need that economic viability,” Steve Juanico of Acoma Pueblo told the hearing officer. “But it’s short lived. … We really need to protect our water resources. Are we doing the right thing?”
Lister said the company has worked with the New Mexico Environment Department to develop an abatement plan to address contamination in the lagoon, which involves planting salt cedar trees to soak up contaminated water. The trees will then be uprooted and destroyed. But Lister also acknowledged that salt cedar, while efficient at absorbing nitrates, is unproven as an absorber of water-borne uranium.
The mine site is being closely monitored, and no problems have been found beyond the contaminated water in the underground lagoon, Lister noted.
State Sen. David Ulibarri (D), who represents the city of Grants in the state legislature, testified in favor of the standby permit renewal, which would allow the company to bring the mine back online quickly. “The mine has proved to be a safe site for many years,” he said, adding that reopening the mine has “tremendous potential for bringing economic viability back” to western New Mexico.
Cibola County Commissioner Pat Simpson, speaking as a resident, said he also believes the company should receive a new standby permit, and hopes the mine will resume operations soon.
But to some area residents, the cultural significance of the site outweighs any economic benefits the mine could bring.
Nadine Padilla of the Multi-Cultural Alliance for a Safe Environment urged regulators to deny the permit on both environmental and cultural grounds. “We’re not only concerned about the quality of the environment and possible contamination of the site; we’re also concerned because it’s a sacred place, a place that tribes regard as holy,” said Padilla, who is of Navajo and Pueblo ancestry and grew up nearby.
For more news on energy and the environment, visit www.greenwire.com.
Greenwire is published by Environment & Energy Publishing.
(Source: www.feeds.nytimes.com )