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Legal action to stop Colorado uranium mill

Energy Fuels will be required provide $11 million in sureties to cover future cleanup costs, although cleanup costs for other mills in the past have ranged between $50 million and $500 million, the group said in a statement.

Suit filed against planned Western Slope uranium mill, Denver Business Journal – by Cathy Proctor, February 8, 2011 A Western Slope group fighting a plan to open a new uranium mill in Colorado — the first new U.S. uranium mill in a quarter-century — has filed a lawsuit in Denver District Court alleging state regulators haven’t follow state and federal law regarding the project.

The suit, filed on Feb. 4, claims state regulators didn’t allow the public to ask technical questions about the mill — “an apparent violation of the federal Atomic Energy Act,” the Sheep Mountain Alliance, which filed the lawsuit, said in a statement Tuesday. The suit also said state regulators did not follow the Colorado Radiation Control Act when they issued a radioactive materials license on Jan. 5 to Toronto-based Energy Fuels Inc. (TSX: EFR), which wants to reopen the Pinon Ridge Uranium Mill in Montrose County. The suit asks that the license — the primary permit needed to operate a uranium mill in Colorado — be revoked.

The suit alleged the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) didn’t follow state statutes intended to ensure the companies set aside enough money to clean up environmental damage caused by uranium mills.

Energy Fuels will be required provide $11 million in sureties to cover future cleanup costs, although cleanup costs for other mills in the past have ranged between $50 million and $500 million, the group said in a statement.

“Sheep Mountain Alliance exhausted all remedies before we decided to file this lawsuit,” said Linda Miller, a member of Sheep Mountain Alliance’s board of directors, in a statement. “We participated in the approval process but our concerns were not addressed. We’re disappointed that the state did not issue a decision that would have protected the public interest and we must now rely on the district court to uphold the law.”….

Suit filed against planned Western Slope uranium mill | Denver Business Journal

February 10, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, Uranium, USA