Approval for the Pinon Ridge Uranium Mill:Montrose County Planning Commission votes:Yes

MONTROSE — It's a go for the Piñon Ridge uranium mill's special use permit.

The Montrose County Planning Commission unanimously approved the permit application for Energy Fuels Wednesday, after dozens of questions during a reopened public hearing.

If county commissioners go on to approve the permit, EF can site a uranium and vanadium mill about 12 miles from Paradox. The area is zoned for agriculture and the special use permit is required to allow the milling activity.

Energy Fuels must also seek state approval for its operations, which is expected to be a lengthy process.

Opponents, which on Wednesday included actress Darryl Hannah, are fearful of the health risks they say are posed by uranium ore. Some also question whether a special use permit can be granted under an exemption for mining, which, they say, does not specify milling.

"I'm pretty concerned about short-term thinking leading to a disaster," said Hannah, who grew up in the area and maintains a home in San Miguel County, as she stood with other mill protesters prior to the meeting. "It's a regional issue, not just a county issue."

But others, including hundreds of West End residents, support the mill because it will create jobs.

Because Wednesday's hearing addressed changes to permit conditions, further public comment was allowed. (The Daily Press was not able to attend all portions of the hearing, due to deadline). Although it was limited strictly to the proposed changes, planning chair Dave Laursen had to repeatedly remind people to stay on topic.

Audience members Ron Houston, who lives close by the mill site, and Chris Myers of Telluride immediately raised concerns that some of the changes were apparently received as late as Wednesday afternoon.

Laursen said each change to the application — eight in all, some of which were semantic — would be individually addressed and public comment accepted on them.

A good deal of discussion centered on condition 10. Energy Fuels issued a letter Wednesday over 10's language: "only raw ore processed onsite may be stored in the tailing cells."

The company said the mill was designed to extract both uranium and vanadium from ore mined on the Colorado Plateau, and that would constitute primary feed.

"However...we would like to be able to process the residuals from water treatment plants located at our mines and other mines that feed ore to the Piñon Ridge Mill," the letter said.

According to EF, if water treatment residuals exceed 0.05 percent uranium by weight, it is essentially uranium ore.

EF's environmental manager Frank Filas told commissioners the permit language needed to also specify vanadium and that the use of the word "raw" would exclude the water from treatment plants. But EF would have to remove uranium waste from mine waters. The company had not specified that in its application because it makes no distinction between uranium ore from rock and uranium from water.

Filas said the company anticipates fewer than seven truckloads of residuals per year.

The commission, he said, could reject the amended language and then EF would submit an amended application later.

"We would like to put an end to conjecture about alternate feeds," he said, adding that EF was not applying to process alternate feeds.

Mill opponents streamed back and forth to the microphone. Jerry Phelps of Placerville called the language "obviously open-ended."

"It does not restrict uranium to what's mined here. I don't want a dump in my back yard," he said, while Durango attorney Travis Stills, who spoke frequently during the hearing, said it smacked of sham processing.

Stills represents the Paradox Valley Sustainability Association, which opposes the mill. He wanted to know why the county wasn't waiting for EF to go through the state's process.

"It's premature to let any of this go forward," he said, identifying as critical the feeds coming in and the possibility of direct disposal.

Energy Fuels CEO George Glasier later took the mic to say the mill could take in more ore from other areas, if the price rises. "We never said it was from Montrose County," he said.

The Colorado Plateau covers parts of western Colorado and eastern Utah. Ore from New Mexico is a slight possibility, but EF did not anticipate ore from distances much greater than 100 miles.

It was later suggested condition 10 be changed to read that only raw, unprocessed uranium and or vanadium ore or feed stock at the mill would be allowed on the site. Planning Commissioner Lynn Vogel suggested EF, the county attorney and Stills discuss the new wording, which was done during a break.

Earlier during the hearing, the commission also said a condition that would have nullified the permit if operations don't begin within five years had been changed to seven years.

Planning director Steve White said the seven-year clock would begin ticking upon approval by the county commissioners.

The planning commission also addressed language changes concerning the mill's water supply and verification of all sources of water; that the permit would not preclude the county from taking legal or administrative action to enforce permit conditions; mill operator responsibilities for monitoring; mitigation of impact on water; provision of truck haulage records and compliance with all applicable laws.

Members of the public wanted to be sure they could access the haulage records in order to know what was going into the mill. Upon a Bedrock resident's suggestion, the condition was modified to require haulage records, to the county, for all material going into the mill instead of just “mill feed."

Glasier said he would happily "bury (the county) in paper," if that's what was wanted. But he didn't see what purpose providing records directly to the public would serve, because the public isn't responsible for running the mill.

"If they have a problem, they should contact the appropriate agencies," who could then provide the requested records, Glasier said.

"You are public servants," Hannah said. "It is in the public's interest to know what toxic chemicals are going through a community." She said the records should be provided to the public on at least a quarterly basis.

David Glenn of Ophir suggested requiring the information to be posted regularly on the county's Web site. "This is my official request for that information," he said.

Laursen said people wanting specific information on haulage could arrange to receive it through the county.

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