Navajos fight uranium mining

SANTA FE -- Rita and Mitchell Capitan's long journey to keep uranium mining out of their Navajo community takes them to Denver today, when community and environmental groups will make their case in federal court. After 14 years of battling the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the mining company Hydro Resources Inc., the Capitans hope that 15 minutes before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals will mark at least the beginning of the end of their battle.

"It's been so long, 14 years, and finally there's going to be a (federal court) hearing. We're kind of cautious about the outcome... I hope good things come out of it, but you never know," said Mitchell Capitan, who along with his wife founded the grassroots group Eastern Navajo Dine Against Uranium Mining (ENDAUM) and plans to be at Monday's hearing.

Mining opponents call it an historic one. ENDAUM, with the help of the Albuquerque-based Southwest Research and Information Center and the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, is the first community group to fight the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over a source materials permit for an in-situ leach uranium mine, the groups say. The coalition's lawyers filed suit last year, asking the federal court to overturn the NRC's 2006 decision to grant Hydro Resources a license for mining operations near the communities of Church Rock and Crownpoint in northwestern New Mexico.

In-situ leach mining involves injecting a sodium bicarbonate and oxygen solution into the ground. The solution separates the uranium ore from sand grains, allowing it to be pumped back to the surface and extracted from groundwater. ENDAUM argues that Hydro Resources failed to prove that it will protect groundwater from contamination by uranium and other toxic heavy metals. The suit also alleges that Hydro Resources proposed financial bond is inadequate to ensure that the sites will be properly cleaned-up after the company finishes mining the area.

"They'll be successful taking the uranium out, but at the end, they're going to leave us with all the contamination," Capitan said.

Hydro Resources, a subsidiary of Dallas-based Uranium Resources, Inc., has argued that emotion, not science, drives such concerns. The mining technique they'll be using is a far cry from the primitive methods used in the mid-20th Century and has been heavily scrutinized by government regulators, said Mark Pelizza, Hydro Resource's vice president of health, safety and environmental affairs.

"The provisions of the NRC license and licenses required under the Safe Drinking Water Act, whether by the government or the state of New Mexico, are highly protective of groundwater," Pelizza told the New Mexico Independent, adding that its proposed financial bond is sufficient.

"If the bond is not posted, we will not be able to operate," he said.

The fight for both supporters and opponents is taking on a growing sense of urgency as the price of uranium soars and nuclear power becomes a more popular alternative to greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels. Uranium prices have risen from $7 per pound to more than $60 since 2000. Navajo communities have a history with the boom-and-bust uranium market -- uranium mining flourished in the area in the 1940s and 1950s before leaving behind abandoned mines, contamination and, many Navajos believe, a legacy of cancer.

"They have a long history and a very bad history with the mining industry," said Eric Jantz, a staff attorney with the New Mexico Environmental Law Center. "They're hearing the same song and dance now, the same promises now that they heard 50 years ago."

Hydro Resources first applied for its NRC license 20 years ago, and until last year, the battle over the company's plans has been fought before administrative judges and appeals boards within the NRC. While mining opponents won occasional small victories in the process, the NRC has consistently sided with the mining company, said Chris Shuey of the Southwest Research and Information Center. Only now, after all administrative appeals have been exhausted, are opponents allowed by law to go to federal court, he said.

The length, expense and complexity of the appeals process -- within a federal agency that, according to mining opponents, is biased in favor of the mining industry -- is likely the reason ENDAUM's is the first such case to reach federal court, according to Shuey.

"When you add up all the time and expenses, we probably spent $3 million to protect these communities," he said.

Hydro Resources chief operating officer Rick Van Horn says he's seen no evidence that the NRC is biased towards his company's interests,  and he says that the agency has been evenhanded in approving its license.

"They have no dog in this hunt, other than seeing that the public is protected," he said.

No matter who prevails after Monday's hearing, the process is likely to continue, either through an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court or on another front. In addition to ENDAUM's case, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals is hearing another case Monday over whether the state of New Mexico or the federal Environmental Protection Agency has jurisdiction over environmental permitting in the area. And then there's the Navajo Nation ban on uranium mining and processing, signed by Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. in 2005. Mining opponents say the legislation prohibits Hydro Resources' proposed operations, but the company argues that the NRC has the final say.

"The NRC is the federal authority over uranium development activities in New Mexico, period," Van Horn said.

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