With sky-high prices spurring a boom in both exploration and extraction of uranium, the federal government is looking for ways to streamline the permitting process for mining companies. The idea got mixed reviews in Gallup earlier this week; Albuquerque residents can weigh in on the issue tonight.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is hosting a series of meetings throughout the West on a proposed Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement meant to quicken the approval process for a type of uranium extraction known as in situ leach milling. Hearings were held in Gallup on Monday and in Grants on Tuesday. Tonight’s meeting is 7-9:30 p.m. at the Hilton Albuquerque, 1901 University Blvd.

In situ leach milling is used in areas where the ore concentration is too low for normal mining operations, according to the NRC. In the type of conventional uranium mining done around New Mexico for decades, the ore is taken out of the ground, and the uranium is leached out with chemicals. In situ leach milling does the reverse — pumping chemicals into the ground, then pumping out the ore-bearing slurry.

Uranium mining has a long and bitter history in western New Mexico. It created jobs and brought cash to the region, but left for many a legacy of death, disease and ill-feeling. Perhaps not surprisingly the Gallup meeting was well-attended and emotional, The Gallup Independent reported Wednesday.

Many people supported the idea of streamlining the permitting process through an environmental impact statement, including the three-member McKinley County Commission. County Commissioner Ernest Becenti Jr. told the gathering, “This region of the state is in dire need of new economic development.” The United States needs domestic energy to break its dependence on foreign fuel, he said. “We have the power in our own backyards to supply the country’s needs for future generations of Americans.”

That prompted Churchrock resident Teddy Nez, who lives near uranium mine waste piles left over from previous activities, to suggest they “store some of these wastes, let’s say, for example, behind the commissioner’s backyard.”

Grants Mayor Joe Murietta, a former uranium company employee, said the Grants City Council supports the proposal and think the draft impact statement is adequate, the newspaper reported. “We are looking forward to that resurgence of the uranium industry in our community and the entire region,” he said.

On the other end of the spectrum was Lynnea Smith of Crownpoint, who lambasted area residents for forgetting the past, according to the paper. “I am sick of this! I am sick of this company coming into our communities and saying, ‘Here — here’s $100,000. Let us mine there,’” she cried. “How can you, as traditional elderly people, encourage this?”

The New Mexico Environmental Law Center says the draft impact statement doesn’t analyze the impacts of permanently contaminated groundwater. In a news release, it quotes an NRC official in Nebraska recently saying that while in situ leach milling permits call for groundwater to be returned to its original condition after mining operations end, that has proven “unachievable for mining companies.”

The center also said the draft impact statement ignores the cumulative impacts of new in situ leach milling combined with pollution from past operations. “The NRC’s analysis of cumulative impacts is totally unacceptable,” said law center staff attorney Eric Jantz.