craigdailypress.com

A local real estate agent has proposed to retool a defunct uranium mine near Maybell to accept uranium tailings.

Uranium tailings are generally crushed rock that contain uranium in quantities too small for use. The tailings, which contain low levels of radiation, are not to be confused with nuclear waste.

Jim Ross, of Intermountain Real Estate, received a $6,500 grant from the Craig/Moffat County Economic Development Partnership to compile more than 25,000 pages of documentation he needs to get a permit to operate a uranium dump on his property.

The project is in the conceptual phase, but Ross has said a Utah-based pit on which he plans to model his operation contributes $7 million a year in tipping fees to county coffers.

That's a significant sum of money, but it needs to be weighed against the health risks associated with radioactive material.

Ross, to his credit, has been up front about the project and tried to answer questions residents may have about potential health risks.

But an opposition group, led by Terrie Barrie, already has formed. Barrie has been involved in getting Congress to live up to a promised health benefits for nuclear workers who got sick from radiation exposure while making weapons during the Cold War. Her husband is one of the workers who fell ill.

The group hopes to create a groundswell of opposition before Ross gets so far along in the process that it becomes economically unfeasible to let the project die. Part of their strategy is educating the public on what low-level radiation can do to people and the environment. The group is concerned with not only putting the tailings back in the ground, but also how they'll be shipped and whether they could threaten other communities should the cargo overturn on its way to the uranium dump.

The group has raised some valid questions, and Moffat County commissioners seem to be listening. Two weeks ago, they met with the county's chief medical officer, Dr. Thomas Told, to begin developing criteria for a conditional-use permit.

Several agencies would have oversight on the project, including the county, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the U.S. Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. But commissioners will need to approve a conditional-use permit for the dump, which gives them the ultimate say on how and if it will go forward.

Although Ross has said it could take up to six years to push through all the bureaucratic red tape to get permitted, commissioners aren't waiting to deal with the issue. They instructed Told to begin researching hazardous waste disposal regulations.

We think that's the right approach. The more information they can gather between now and then will ensure that they make the right decision when the time comes.

We think it's too early to say definitively that the dump is a horrible idea. Ross has brought in an expert the radiation health safety field who said that most of the radiation exposure occurred when high-level radiation was pulled from the ground back in the 1950s and 1960s. Putting low-level radiation back in the ground actually results in a net loss of radiation levels compared with 50 years ago, he said.

But if the majority of Moffat County resident oppose the dump, they better speak up. Moffat County Planning Director Sue Graler said the public would have multiple opportunities to provide comments about the dump before commissioners vote on the conditional use permit.

Until then, we leave readers with this final though: Local leaders have worked hard to make Craig a tourism destination. They've also brainstormed ways to attract new business and diversify our local economy. This is a new business that has the potential to unravel some of those gains. No matter how safe the dump is considered, local residents will have to weigh whether it could have a stigmatizing effect on people and businesses who are considering moving here.