Weld County Commission Chair David Long repudiates citizens' concerns
Commissioner disregards county attorney's advice to refrain from discussing uranium mining proposal
October 15, 2007, Updated November 4, 2007
NOTE: This page has been modified in response to the written threat of a defamation lawsuit from Powertech Uranium Corporation. JW
Commissioner David Long (center, seated)
In an October 12, 2007 story in the Northern Colorado Business Report by Steve Porter, Weld County commission chairman David Long seems to dismiss landowner opposition to Powertech's uranium mining proposal. While paying lip service to the 'health, safety, and welfare of the county", he strongly implies that the Canadian company's "development rights" should trump local concerns over the project. Weld County landowners and residents have strenuously objected to the mining proposal, citing potential groundwater contamination, infringement on landowners' property rights, and impacts on property values.
Over the past several months, Weld County residents and property owners have been steadily sending letters and emails opposing Powertech's proposal to the commissioners. The commissioners have refused to respond, and citizens have been growing increasingly frustrated and angry.
To conduct uranium mining in Weld County, Powertech must obtain the commissioners' approval of a Use by Special Review (USR) permit. If Powertech submits a USR permit application, the commissioners will be required to judge the application and render a decision for or against. The commissioners must hold a public hearing and consider all testimony and evidence, letters, emails, and other information submitted for or against the permit application.
In this quasi-judicial capacity, the commissioners are legally prohibited from discussing any proposed application with Powertech representatives and/or members of the public prior to a hearing on the proposal. These are referred to as "ex parte" contacts. The concept is that a party to a controversy is deprived of due process if a judge discusses the controversy with one party without representation or notification of the other party. There is no available evidence suggesting Mr. Long has had ex parte contacts with Powertech representatives or mine opponents.
Furthermore, the commissioners should not express any prejudgement or bias prior to a USR hearing. Demonstrating prejudgement or having ex parte contacts can result in legal action by Powertech or uranium mining opponents seeking to disqualify the offending commissioners from participating in the hearing and final decision on the USR.
An October 3, 2007 form letter from Donald Warden, Clerk to the Board (of county commissioners) to members of the public conveys the Weld County Attorney's advice to commissioners to "refrain from discussing Powertech's intended uranium mining activities until the Board conducts a hearing upon that company's application for a USR permit". Chairman Long apparently disregarded the county attorney's advice when he gave the interview to the NCBR. He is clearly irritated by having to deal with uranium mining opponents, and his irritation comes out loud and clear in the NCBR interview. JW
Chairman Long can be reached at: dlong@co.weld.co.us
NCBR Article
Powertech's costs,
potential profits soar
By Steve Porter
October 12, 2007 --
NUNN - Uranium producer
Powertech USA faces a long and expensive battle to mine its first pound of
uranium from deep within the geologic formations under northwest Weld
County.
But if the price for the mineral that the world's nuclear power industry
relies upon stays at current levels, the subsidiary of Vancouver,
Canada-based Powertech Uranium Corp. will reap rewards that far exceed its
costly permitting process.
In recent weeks, Powertech has been drilling monitoring and aquifer test
wells on about 5,700 acres of land where it owns mineral rights west of
Nunn, a tract the company calls the Centennial Project.
It's the first major step toward what would be the first commercial uranium
operation ever in Northern Colorado, provided the company successfully
secures all of its permits, licenses and approvals from federal, state and
county entities.
Centennial Project manager Lane Douglas said Powertech plans to begin
submitting its applications for a mining permit in the latter part of 2008
with extensive reviews and periods of public comment set for 2009.
If all goes well, Powertech expects to begin mining uranium by July 2010,
Douglas said. "At that point, the stock is going to soar," he said of the
publicly traded company.
But getting to that point is going to be an uphill struggle with lots of
money spent along the way. Already, fierce opposition is building to the
project among those who fear environmental damage from the uranium
extraction process. Numerous emotion-charged public hearings are expected as
the permit application process unfolds.
Spending millions
Douglas said Powertech expects to spend between $2 million and $3 million on
pre-mining activities and has spent an additional $2.1 million on land
purchases "for surface acreage over minerals we already own."
Owning the land clears the way for Powertech to construct any facilities it
may need for an ongoing operation. It also allows the company - with EPA
approval - to inject waste water from the mining process deep into
underground receiving areas that are geologically separated from the
Laramie-Fox Hills aquifer, which supplies drinking water to nearby
residents.
Powertech is required to install water monitoring wells around its drill
sites to make sure there is no contamination to nearby water wells.
Douglas said Powertech has also posted a $360,000 bond with the Colorado
Department of Natural Resources' Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety
to ensure that all drill wells will be capped and the area restored at the
end of operations.
Demand surge holds
Demand in America and around the world for uranium to fuel nuclear power
plants has been surging in recent years, and uranium oxide or U3O8 reached a
record price of $138 per pound on the spot market in June. That price
dropped to $75 per pound at the end of September, but industry analysts say
the latter price is more realistic and likely to hold for the foreseeable
future. Douglas said Powertech could make a profit even if the price fell
further but wouldn't say at what point the price would make its uranium
operations unprofitable.
"The demand for uranium is solid because every nuclear plant will need
uranium to keep running," he said. "We maintain that (the price) is going to
go up."
Powertech has estimated from historical records compiled by Rocky Mountain
Energy Co. which explored the region in the late 1970s and early '80s -
before the uranium market took a dramatic dive - that the Weld County area
has a total inferred resource of 9.7 million pounds of uranium. If those
resources are confirmed and the price of uranium maintains at least $50 per
pound, the company could earn about half a billion dollars from the
Centennial Project.
County's role limited
Weld County
will have a voice in whether Powertech gets its permit to mine uranium, but
county commission chairman David Long said the county can't arbitrarily
prohibit mining no matter how much public opposition forms to the project.
"There's a perception by the public that we could make it so burdensome that
it can't be done," he said. "But that would be a taking of a development
right."
Although Weld County is one of the state's biggest producers of oil and
natural gas, Long said the county has no specific policy on the regulation
of uranium mining.
"We've been asked to put a ban on uranium mining but we can't do that," Long
said. "We can't separate out mining uses. That's a state function."
The county will have a part to play in the permitting process when it
comments on Powertech's Environmental Plan and in deciding on a Use by
Special Review Permit for the project before any mining can begin.
But Long said public opposition will not be the deciding factor in granting
or rejecting any application. What county commissioners will focus most on,
he said, is that "an applicant meets the code and the operation doesn't
violate the health, safety and welfare of the county."