DENVER -- Federal judges expressed surprise Monday that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued permits to allow a company to leach uranium out of an aquifer that supplies drinking water to thousands of Navajos in New Mexico.
Local groups are challenging the NRC's approval of permits for Hydro Resources Inc., a New Mexico company, to operate in-situ mines near the Navajo communities of Crownpoint and Church Rock in western New Mexico.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Monday in what lawyers say is the first-ever challenge to the NRC's approval of licenses for an in-situ uranium mining operation.
Opponents said the proposed mining would push radiation levels in the area past federal standards for human exposure, while lawyers for the mine developer and the NRC said the mine would be safe for area residents and wouldn't affect drinking water.
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