Reuters reports that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it has withdrawn a regulation proposed in the last days of the Obama administration that aimed to tighten health and safety compliance rules for uranium miners. The EPA had proposed standards to regulate post-mining groundwater modeling for 30-years after uranium in-situ recovery (ISR) activities, with a primary focus on groundwater protection and restoration. EPA rightly concluded that existing rules were enough for the protection of public health and safety from radiological and non-radiological hazards associated with uranium and thorium (? no thorium involved) ore processing.
EPA's acting administrator Andrew Wheeler cast the proposed rule change as "unnecessary and punishing" on uranium producers, politics notwithstanding. "The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has regulated in situ uranium recovery for nearly 40 years. The agency has never found an instance of ground water contamination that would be addressed by this rule," Wheeler said in a statement.
The National Mining Association (NMA) hailed the decision. The rule "failed to articulate a risk that justified the rulemaking, ignored the need for a realistic cost-benefit analysis, and underestimated compliance costs and impacts to small businesses," NMA President Hall Quinnsaid.
For the details, also see Review #28 (on page 3) on how this subject developed: http://i2mconsultants.com/downloads/corp/ConfrontingBias.pdf
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