NOTE: Another example of biased reporting by media as indicated between *.......*
Mead Gruver reports that Federal officials withdrew a requirement for companies to clean up groundwater at uranium mines across the U.S. and will reconsider a rule that congressional Republicans criticized based on reports from the uranium industry as too harsh on industry.
The plan that the EPA put on hold Wednesday involves in-situ mining, in which water *containing chemicals* is used to dissolve uranium out of underground sandstone deposits. *Water laden with uranium, a toxic element used for nuclear power and weapons*, is then pumped to the surface. No digging or tunneling takes place.
The metal occurs in the rock naturally but *the process contaminates groundwater with uranium in concentrations much higher than natural levels*. Mining companies take several measures *to prevent tainted water from seeping out of the immediate mining area*.
Even so, *underground leaks sometimes occur*, though most of the mines are not near population centers. No in-situ uranium mine has contaminated a source of drinking water, the industry and its supporters *assert*.
Wyoming Republican U.S. senators, John Barrasso and Mike Enzi, praised the EPA decision to reconsider, saying the rule was unnecessarily burdensome for the uranium industry.
Wyoming has five active in-situ uranium mines and is the top uranium-producing state. Other mines are active in Nebraska and Texas. In-situ uranium recovery has been used in the U.S. for decades, providing valuable jobs to Wyoming and clean energy to the nation, Enzi said in a news release that he rarely says this about the EPA, but the agency made the right decision.
Along with setting new cleanup standards, the rule would have required companies to monitor their former in-situ mines potentially for *3 decades*. The requirement was set for implementation but now will be opened up for a six-month public comment period.
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