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Uranium company seeks legal right to pollute groundwater

Powertech Uranium Corp sues Colorado over northwestern Weld County site | Greeley Tribune, 14 Nov 10, A Canadian company seeking to mine uranium in northwestern Weld County has filed suit against the state of Colorado, claiming that recently adopted rules for keeping groundwater clean are unreasonable.

Powertech Uranium Corp., through its South Dakota subsidiary Powertech (USA) Inc., filed the action Nov. 1 in Denver District Court.The suit challenges various specific rules, adopted in August, designed to require companies such as Powertech to return the groundwater to its original purity when the process is complete.
The suit names as defendants the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board and Mike King, executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.

King could not be reached for comment Friday, but Todd Hartman, natural resources spokesman, said, “We’re still examining the lawsuit, but our initial response would be to emphasize that we have an extensive stakeholder process and rule-making process that’s behind those uranium-mining regulations. We feel that it’s a strong process and, of course, we think it’s critically important to be protecting the state’s water supplies.”….
The Mined Land Reclamation Board adopted two changes to revised draft rules posted to the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety website in Jan. 2010. The first requires in-situ uranium mining applicants to conduct baseline groundwater characterization studies prior to starting prospecting. The draft rules only required that groundwater studies be completed prior to mining. The second change gives third parties that can demonstrate legal standing the opportunity to appeal prospecting decisions.

Powertech seeks to overturn the rules, calling them burdensome and capricious….

Powertech Uranium Corp sues Colorado over northwestern Weld County site | Greeley Tribune

November 15, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, Uranium, USA | AUSTRALIA, nuclear, radiation, radioactive, uranium