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‘It’s really tearing our community apart,’ one landowner says
It has become his nightmare.
Last summer, about the time he was finishing a $1 million home in this rugged area 15 miles northwest of Cañon City, an Australian company was staking claims and drilling holes in these hills, looking for the nuclear fuel uranium.
Hawklee and his neighbors in the Tallahassee Creek area learned they live above one of the richest uranium stashes in Colorado, one that was drilled extensively in the 1970s.
Black Range Minerals wants to drill 75 test holes. It estimates it could extract 46 million pounds of uranium and has suggested it could set up a milling operation there.
Hawklee and some of his neighbors fear the impact on water, traffic, noise and quality of life. He is president of a group, Tallahassee Area Community Inc., formed to stop it. There are 44 properties within 500 feet, and 570 homes within a few miles, the group claims.
It's a story being repeated throughout Colorado, which has the third-greatest uranium deposits in the nation. Expansion of nuclear power abroad has spiked uranium prices tenfold since 2003.
It's an old story in many ways, the clash between landowners and miners and prospectors. And some landowners are learning harsh lessons about laws that give mining companies access to their land, and that, when they bought their property, they weren't buying what lies beneath.
"Most of the uranium interest has taken off in the past two years, and it's really something that is catching a lot of people offguard," said Dan Grenard, minerals expert with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Cañon City, which oversees mineral development. "We haven't had any interest in uranium since the late 1970s."
Said Hawklee: "There was no information given to us, as purchasers of property when we bought it, that there were abandoned uranium mines in our area.
"It's really tearing our community apart. We bought up here to retire and build homes."
Lee Alter thought the pond across the street from his horse ranch was an old fishing hole.
He recently found out it is one of 79 abandoned uranium mines in Fremont County, most of which dot the hills of his neighborhood.
"When we bought in 1995, the Cold War was over. The nuclear power industry was at a standstill. There was no reason to believe there would ever be a demand for uranium," said Alter, who knew only that there had been some exploration in the area.
A global crash in uranium prices, spurred by post-Three Mile Island skepticism about nuclear power, brought exploration to a halt.
The drill holes were plugged and abandoned, and weeds and bushes sprouted from the piles of dirt, which became just another part of the landscape. The large ranches were sold off as 40-acre plots for people building vacation lodges and retirement homes.
"People said, ‘It's gone away, so why worry about it?'" Hawklee said. "The history of what's happened under your land kind of gets lost."
In most cases, residents said they weren't told by the sellers or real estate agents about the mining past. Residents thought neighborhood covenants barring mining provided enough protection.
According to the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety, there are 76 uranium exploration projects in eight of the state's counties, including Fremont County. Uranium is selling for $70 a pound - about what it was in the late 1970s, when adjusted for inflation - up from $7 a pound five years ago.
In a belt from Cañon City northwest through Teller and Park counties, several companies - most foreign-owned - have bought mineral rights for tens of thousands of acres. Among those staking claims in the area are Royal Resources, also of Australia, Vancouver-based Buckingham Exploration and another Canadian firm, Energy Metals Corp.
Another company, Golden-based Horizon Nevada Uranium, Inc., is notifying property owners near Hartsel in Park County that it plans exploration on up to 3,000 acres.
"The good thing about the U.S is it's been heavily explored and very well-documented," said Robin Relph, CEO of Buckingham Exploration, which is exploring for uranium on private land on High Park Road in southern Teller County. "You can usually find where you want to be."
But there is another factor spurring the exploration: a mill in Cañon City that could process the uranium - the same mill that was behind one of the worst pollution episodes in the region.
"The water is not suitable for drinking, but it's suitable for gardening."
John Hamrick, vice president of milling at the Cotter uranium mill in Cañon City, is talking about the groundwater downhill from the plant.
And the fact that you can garden with it is an improvement.
The plant, built in 1958, is one of four uranium mills in the U.S. where uranium can be manufactured into yellowcake, the raw material for nuclear power plant fuel rods.
After sputtering along for years, it shut down in 2006. At its peak in the late 1970s, it employed 121 people. Today, it has a skeleton crew of 31, most of whom are involved in environmental monitoring.
The mill is a Superfund site, a federal designation reserved for the most serious environmental hazards. Decades of improper storage of uranium tailings - they were thrown into an unlined pit - contaminated the water for an entire subdivision in Cañon City. The company paid to hook residents up to city water.
The mill continues to rile neighbors, despite being closed. This month, a federal judge fined the company for a 2005 spill of solvent that killed 40 geese and ducks. The company this month also dropped a plan to import radioactive waste from New Jersey, after losing an appeal of a state health department denial.
Critics of uranium exploration point to the Cotter pollution as evidence of the industry's impact on neighbors.
Despite its rocky history, Cotter is considering reopening because of high uranium prices and the possibility of fresh ore being pulled from the ground in Fremont County.
The company expects to finish a feasibility study this year on whether to launch a $100 to $200 million rebuilding of the plant.
The uranium exploration companies are counting on it, since having a mill nearby would cut transportation costs. It is a key point in companies' rush to find investors.
Cotter officials said if they reopen, the mill would be completely rebuilt, with modern safeguards to prevent contamination. The raw uranium would not be left outside, as it once was, and the tailings would be dumped in lined pits, as they have been since the early 1980s.
"You're never going to make everyone happy," Hamrick said. "You have to be able to at least show people that you are concerned about the effect of the operation on your environment.
"When we build a new mill, we'll get to build one the right way," Hamrick said.
A Cañon City residents group, Colorado Citizens Against Toxic Waste, has vowed to fight the plan. Its argument is much the same as that of the Tallahassee Creek group: It is too close to where people live.
"It's like Pandora's Box. You put a mine in the wrong place or a mill in the wrong place, and contamination gets out into that groundwater, and it's over," said group co-chairwoman Sharyn Cunningham.
Steve Tarlton, of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment's radiation management unit, said the mill's license is active. But the mill needs agency approval to resume operations, which would involve public comments, he said.
"Our job is to make sure that, if they do move out of the stand-down phase, that it is done properly, with all the appropriate protections in place," Tarlton said.
There isn't much that would satisfy Cunningham.
"We drank this damned water for eight years, and for the rest of my life, every time I get some illness, I'm going to wonder, ‘Is it from that water I drank?'" she said.
Black Range Minerals had a public meeting March 13, a chance to "meet, learn and share" with residents of the Tallahassee Creek area, according to a flier.
The company got a mixed reception.
"I have friends who will benefit from it and I have friends who will not benefit from it," said resident Dan Ainsworth, who is guardedly neutral.
I think it's a wonderful idea," said property owner Richard Boyer. "It's time this country wakes up and
realizes windmills aren't going to get (energy independence) and solar panels aren't going to get it."
But he has his own motivation. He owns one of the large ranches Black Range would explore - and he hopes it can someday be mined, with royalty payments to benefit his grandchildren.
In southern Teller County, Buckingham Exploration has an agreement with a landowner and an option to buy the land if uranium is found, said CEO Relph. The company doesn't plan to drill in residential areas.
"What's the point? We don't want to start World War III in Colorado," Relph said. "We'd rather just find areas where there is nothing, or big ranches, or government land."
Modern mining techniques and regulations ensure it is safer, he said, and companies can't just leave open scars on the landscape anymore, like the "fishing hole" across from Alter's ranch.
Many Tallahassee Creek residents say the presence of so much uranium drilling so close to their homes is bound to have an impact, the most serious concern being uranium-contaminated runoff washing into their wells.
Though Black Range Minerals began exploration last year, the company halted the drilling because it had not gotten a required permit from Fremont County. For now, all the company's exploration is planned with willing property owners or on federal land, though it and other companies own extensive mineral rights under private land in the area.
It has submitted an application for a conditional use permit, which the county Planning Commission will review at a public hearing Tuesday. The county commissioners will vote on it in May.
If the company finds uranium and wants to mine it, there would be a new permit process.
Across the country, some areas have banned uranium mining outright, including the state of Virginia and the Navajo Nation. In Colorado, legislation is pending to put greater restrictions on uranium mining, which would cover former mines and new operations.
Meanwhile, some property owners in Tallahassee Creek feel their lives are on hold.
Pat and Fred Espenak of Maryland looked all over the West for a retirement spot - somewhere Fred, a NASA astronomer, could build an observatory.
Now they worry that lights from drilling rigs will brighten the dark skies he hoped to find and the mining will destroy the aquifer. They have put off their plans to start building a home next year.
"I don't know. We're not going to do anything until there's some kind of resolution," said Pat Espenak. "Why put more money into it when we could end up with something we can't sell at all?"
Hawklee, the association president, said he doesn't have that option.
"We can't do anything with it because all our life savings are tied up in here," Hawklee said. A contractor, he hoped to build many of the new homes expected in Tallahassee Creek.
At the March 13 meeting, he confronted Mike Haynes, managing director of Black Range Minerals, about the potential environmental impact of the drilling.
The company's financial statements indicate that if uranium is found, it would do underground mining for three to five years, then could move to open-pit mining.
"So, you personally wouldn't mind having a residence right on top of where they're doing mine operations?" Hawklee said.
"No, I wouldn't," said Haynes. "Government regulations are so stringent there would be negligible impact."
Hawklee looked incredulous.
"When you moved out there, did you realize there were uranium mines in that district?" Haynes said."The reality is you can explore projects and never come to production."
"Thank you for your time, sir," Hawklee said. They shook hands - but not warmly.
http://www.gazette.com/articles/fremont_34747___article.html/county_miles.html
1 comment:
I am a member of the Tallahassee Area Community (TAC). As you can see from this article, we are actively fighting uranium mining in our area. Please visit our web site at
http://www.taccolorado.com
Like your alliance, we feel that uranium mining in close proximity to residential areas is a health hazard.
I also happen to be a Virginia resident (I live in Alexandria) and run the web site for TAC. We had planned to retire on our beautiful 70 acre property in Colorado in 4-5 years, but are unsure what we will do now since we are only about 5 miles from "ground zero".
We wish you luck in your fight and thank you for informing the public about our fight.
Kevin Mendenhall
Alexandria, VA
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