1

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### Environmental Protection Agency 1

2

3

4

5 

### Public Hearing for 6 

### Health and Environmental Protection 7 

### Standards for Uranium and 8 

### Thorium Mill Tailings 9

10

11

12

13 

### 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. 14 

### Tuesday, May 12, 2015 15

16 

### Chadron State College, Student Center 17


### Scott Bluffs Rooms 18 

### 1000 Main Street 19 

### Chadron, NE 69337 20

21

222

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 1


### ATTENDEES 2

3


### EPA: 4 

### BOB DYE, EPA Regional Office, Kansas City 5 

### INGRID ROSENCRANTZ, Center for Waste Management 6 

### and Regulations, Radiation Protection 7 

### Division, EPA 8 

### TOM PEAKE, Director, Center for Waste 9 

### Management and Regulations, Radiation 10 

### Protection Division, EPA 11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

223

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### C O N T E N T S 1


### PAGE 2


### SESSION 1 3 

### SANDRA RODGERS (Unaffiliated) 13 4 

### SANTANA TAMARAK, Western Nebraska 5 

### Resources Council 16 6 

### EDWARD STARR, Pine Ridge Reservation 21 7 

### BUFFALO BRUCE, Western Nebraska 8 

### Resources Council 24 9 

### DON CUNY, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation 26 10 

### TONYA STANDS, Ogallala Sioux Tribe 30 11 

### DAVE CARLSON, Unaffiliated 34 12 

### ROLAND SKINNER, Unaffiliated 37 13 

### WEBB JOHNSON, Dawes County Commissioner, 14 

### District Number 3 41 15 

### NANCY KILE, Unaffiliated 43 16 

### LARRY TEAHON, Manager, Safety Health 17 

### Environmental Quality 48 18 

### JAKE STEWART, Dawes County Commissioners, 19 

### Chadron, Nebraska 50 20 

### ED HARVEY, Unaffiliated 53 21 

### SUSAN HENDERSON, Unaffiliated 58 224

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### MARY DONAHUE, Dawes County Resident 63 1 

### DEB COTTIER, Executive Director, 2 

### Nebraska Northwest Development Corporation 67 3 

### RICHARD TAEDTER, Superintendent of schools, 4 

### Crawford, Nebraska 70 5 

### WADE BEINS, Unaffiliated 76 6 

### BRUCE ELLISON, Attorney, South Dakota 80 7 

### PHIL CURD, Unaffiliated 86 8 

### CHARMAINE WHITE FACE, Coordinator 9 

### Defenders of the Black Hills 87 10 

### GARDINER GRAY, Unaffiliated 93 11 

### RENO RED CLOUD, Oglala Sioux Tribe, 12 

### Natural Resource and Regulatory Agency 97 13 

### INA WINTER, Unaffiliated 101 14 

### SARAH PETERSON, Unaffiliated 106 15 

### BRUCE ELLISON, Unaffiliated 110 16 

### SUSAN HENDERSON, Cattle Rancher 115 17 

### GARDINER GRAY, Unaffiliated 117 18 

### MARK HOLLENBECK, Project Manager, 19 

### Dewey Burdock Project 122 20 

### EDWARD HARVEY, Unaffiliated 126 21

225

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### C-O-N-T-E-N-T-S 1


### PAGE 2


### SESSION 2 3 

### KATHY STOKEY, Unaffiliated 134 4 

### RALPH KNODE, Unaffiliated 138 5 

### DR. LILLIAS JARDING, Unaffiliated 144 6 

### GENA PARKHURST, Unaffiliated 149 7 

### TATYANA NOVIKOVA, Unaffiliated 151 8 

### BOB TIENSVOLD, Mine Manager 9 

### Chemical Resources, Crow Butte 154 10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

226

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### P R O C E E D I N G S 1


### SESSION 1 2 

### MR. DYE: Good afternoon, everyone. My 3 

### name is Bob Dye. I am from the EPA Regional 4 

### Office in Kansas City. Thank you all for coming. 5 

### I will be presiding over the hearing today. 6 

### Joining me on the panel are Ingrid 7 

### Rosencrantz and Tom Peake from the Office of 8 

### Radiation and Indoor Air and Headquarters. This 9 

### hearing is now in session. And as a reminder, 10 

### would everyone please make sure and put their 11 

### cell phones on vibrate or silent. Thank you. 12 

### We are all here today to listen and 13 

### receive your comments on EPA's proposed revisions 14 

### to Health and Environmental Protection Standards 15 

### for Uranium and Thorium Mill Tailings, also known 16


### as 40 CFR Part 192. 17 

### EPA is proposing to revise the rule by 18 

### adding an additional Subpart F to explicitly 19 

### address groundwater protection at uranium in-situ 20 

### recovery operations. EPA announced this proposed 21 

### rule in the Federal Register on January 26th, 227

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### 2015. The comment period started on that date, 1 

### and it has been extended to May 27th, 2015. In a 2 

### moment, Ingrid will explain in more detail what 3 

### was proposed in that notice, but before I turn it 4 

### over to Ingrid, let me explain a little bit about 5 

### how today's hearing will work. 6 

### There will be two sessions today, one 7 

### this afternoon from 1 to 4, and one this evening 8 

### from 6 to 8 in this room. Please be sure you 9 

### have checked in at the registration desk even if 10 

### you are not planning to speak today. 11 

### I will call the scheduled speakers to the 12 

### podium. When it is your turn to speak, please 13 

### state your name, spelling your last name for the 14 

### court reporter, and your affiliation, before 15 

### you're giving your testimony. And I want to 16 

### apologize now if I mispronounce anybody's name. 17 

### I'll give it my best shot. Your comments will be 18 

### transcribed and included in the record of 19 

### comments on the proposed rule. 20 

### In order to ensure everyone has the 21 

### opportunity to speak, and to ensure fairness, 228

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### please limit your testimony to five minutes. 1 

### We'll have the light going. When you get to one 2 

### minute left, the yellow light will come in, and 3 

### when the red light comes on, your five minutes 4 

### will have passed, and we ask you to complete your 5 

### testimony. 6 

### If you have more to say after your five 7 

### minutes are up, and you would like to speak again 8 

### with information that is new and discrete from 9 

### your previous testimony, and it is not a rebuttal 10 

### to someone else's testimony, we'll be happy to 11 

### have you speak again, if there is time. 12 

### Please sign up to speak again at the 13 

### registration desk and you will be called again 14 

### after the other speakers. After you finish your 15 

### testimony, members of the panel may ask 16 

### clarifying questions. We are not here today to 17 

### answer any questions about the proposed rule. 18 

### If you have any questions about the 19 

### process, please find one of the EPA 20 

### representatives after the hearing. 21 

### If you have written copies of your 229

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### testimony or supporting documentation, please 1 

### give a copy to our staff at the registration 2 

### table. This will be helpful as we prepare the 3 

### transcript. 4 

### If you have any additional comments you 5 

### would like to make, you can submit them in 6 

### writing. Those comments must be received by 5 7 

### p.m. on May 27th. 8 

### Let me assure you that EPA gives just as 9 

### much consideration to comments that we receive in 10 

### writing as we do to comments we receive at public 11 

### hearings like this one. Instructions for 12 

### submitting comments are included in a fact sheet 13 

### at the registration table. You can pick up a 14 

### copy at that table by the door. 15 

### If you would like to testify but have 16 

### not yet registered to do so, please sign up at 17 

### the registration table outside this room. Now, 18 

### let me turn it over to Ingrid, who will summarize 19 

### the proposed rule. 20 

### MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you, Bob. I 21 

### appreciate that. Well, welcome, everyone. I'm 2210

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### glad to see everyone here. We have a nice big 1 

### crowd. I'm thrilled that so many folks are 2 

### interested in participating. 3 

### As Bob said, I'm going to go ahead and go 4 

### through the rule and give you a little bit of 5 

### background, and also, some more detailed overview 6 

### of the requirements of the rule. 7 

### Basically, our proposal provides 8 

### standards for NRC and NRC agreement states to use 9 

### to direct that uranium in-situ facilities return 10 

### groundwater to as close to pre-mining conditions 11 

### as possible, and ensure that geochemistry and 12 

### flow of the groundwater remains stable over time. 13 

### In-situ uranium recovery is now the most 14 

### common method for extracting uranium, and there 15 

### are no specific standards for this type of 16 

### process, and NRC and NRC agreement states use the 17 

### existing, more general standards under 40 CFR 192 18 

### to permit these facilities on an ad hoc basis. 19 

### So, what we are proposing to do is to add 20 

### an additional Subpart F that explicitly addresses 21 

### groundwater protection restoration and stability 2211

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### at in-situ recovery operations. We're proposing 1 

### that groundwater be adequately characterized 2 

### before operation begins, that after operation 3 

### ceases, the aquifer is restored to initial 4 

### groundwater conditions, and that facilities 5 

### ensure that post-restoration groundwater 6 

### conditions remain stable. 7 

### Specifically, we're proposing groundwater 8 

### protection standards be set for a minimum of 13 9 

### constituents. I'll read this list for folks to 10 

### have it. It is in the preamble to the regulation 11 

### and in the regulation itself. 12 

### The specific constituents include 13 

### arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, 14 

### mercury, selenium, silver, nitrate as nitrogen, 15 

### molybdenum, combined radium 226 and radium 228, 16 

### total uranium, and gross alpha particle activity, 17 

### excluding radon and uranium. 18 

### Okay, that's the list of constituents, 19 

### and basically, the standard would be set at the 20 

### MCL or Maximum Contaminant Level, or background, 21 

### whichever is higher. 2212

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### To implement the standard, EPA is 1 

### proposing monitoring requirements for all phases 2 

### of the operation; before operations begin to 3 

### establish background, during operations, during 4 

### restoration and after restoration, to ensure that 5 

### stability is continued. In addition, the 6 

### proposal requires corrective action when it's 7


### necessary. 8 

### That's a basic summary of the 9 

### requirements of the proposed rule. Again, we 10 

### would be happy to receive your comments in 11 

### writing. We will also capture your comments here 12 

### as part of the hearing. 13 

### If folks would like to submit comments in 14 

### writing, they can do so electronically to the 15 

### docket, and the docket number, for folks who need 16 

### it is actually on our web site and in the 17 

### preamble to the reg, but I'll read it for you, as 18


### well. 19 

### It's docket ID number EPA-HQ-OAR-2012- 20 

### 0788, and you can find that docket on 21 

### www.regulations.gov, so it makes it very easy to 2213

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### submit your comments electronically. Would you 1 

### like me to restate that? 2 

### (Inaudible portion) 3 

### MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Oh, it's just a 4 

### description. It doesn't actually exclude one. 5 

### It's a description of what gross alpha is -- 6 

### what's included in gross alpha does not include 7 

### radon and uranium as part of gross alpha. It's 8 

### just that one constituent of gross alpha. 9 

### So again, we'd love to have your 10 

### comments. We are in the comment phase of this 11 

### rulemaking. Next steps will be for EPA to 12 

### carefully consider all comments that we receive, 13 

### and then move forward with the final rulemaking. 14 

### So, I'll turn it back over to you, Bob, then. 15 

### MR. DYE: Okay. I would like to call our 16 

### first speaker now. It's Sandra Rodgers. 17 

### (Discussion off the record) 18 

### MS. RODGERS: Okay. My name is Sandra 19 

### Rodgers, R-O-D-G-E-R-S. I reside in Hot Springs, 20 

### South Dakota. I am not affiliated with anyone, 21 

### though I am active with the Clean Water Alliance 2214

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### and the Dakota Rural Action. 1 

### (Discussion off the record) 2 

### MS. RODGERS: I'd like to speak -- I had 3 

### an email talking about some in-situ leach 4 

### process, excursions, Crow Butte, Nebraska, 5 

### Nichols Ranch, Wyoming, Lost Creek, Wyoming, 6 

### Smith Ranch, Wyoming, PRI Highland, Wyoming, 7 

### North Butte, Wyoming. Willow Creek had been 8 

### Christianson Ranch, Wyoming, and our concerns are 9 

### with Crow Butte, here, and it's an active mine. 10 

### And I'm grateful to you for proposing the 11 

### change in the rulings for in-situ. This mine is 12 

### already in progress. And in 2014, they had three 13 

### well excursion incidents and one evaporation pond 14 

### liner leak. This is just Crow Butte. 15 

### Okay. In April, this year, there was a 16 

### declaration of the World Uranium Symposium, 2015. 17 

### This is the declaration held in Quebec City, 18 

### Canada. This was not the first symposium. 19 

### We solemnly decree that -- now, there 20 

### were 300 people from 20 countries in Quebec in 21 

### April. We solemnly declare that we reaffirm the 2215

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### declaration of the World Uranium Hearing in 1 

### Salzburg, Austria in 1992 of the Indigenous World 2 

### Uranium Summit in Wendell Rock, Navajo Nation, 3 

### USA in 2006, and the IPPNW-World Conference in 4 

### Basel, Switzerland in 2010. 5 

### Uranium and its associated radioactive 6 

### substances must remain in their natural location. 7 

### We demand a worldwide ban on uranium exploration, 8 

### mining, milling and processing, as well as the 9 

### reprocessing of nuclear waste and their 10 

### responsible management of radioactive waste. 11 

### We call on all states, authorities and 12 

### peoples to recognize and respect the rights of 13 

### indigenous people, including the right to self 14 

### determination and to free prior informed consent 15 

### achieved through the independent fair 16 

### transparency and impartial process, and to cease 17 

### the pursuit of uranium and nuclear related 18 

### activities on indigenous peoples' lands in 19 

### violation of these rights. 20 

### This continues, and I'm going to leave it 21 

### up front, but this is nothing new, and as I 2216

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### stated, 300 delegates signed this, and because of 1 

### the Internet, it's an ongoing process, and I've 2 

### posted it all over Facebook on two different 3 

### sites, and people are still signing this 4 

### worldwide. So, I thank you for your time. 5 

### MR. DYE: Thank you. 6 

### COURT REPORTER: Do you have an extra 7 

### copy of your written statement? 8


### MS. RODGERS: I do. 9 

### COURT REPORTER: Okay, perfect. 10 

### MS. RODGERS: Thank you very much. 11 

### MR. DYE: The next speaker will be 12


### Santana Tamarak. 13 

### MR. TAMARAK: Okay. My name is Santana 14 

### Tamarak, T-A-M-A-R-A-K. I am currently the 15 

### president of Western Nebraska Resources Council, 16 

### and I do want to thank EPA and panel for 17 

### providing us with this opportunity. So, thanks. 18 

### WNRC currently is an admitted intervener 19 

### in the NRC proceedings involving Crow Butte, and 20 

### we believe that the EPA and the FBI should 21 

### likewise take control of the Crow Butte mine and 2217

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### taken away from CUB and away from the NRC staff. 1 

### Nowhere is there greater need for a close 2 

### scrutiny by regulators and investigators than in 3 

### the nuclear industry. Nuclear power is not a 4 

### forgiving technology. The Nuclear Regulatory 5 

### Commission has not maintained an arm's length 6 

### regulatory posture, and in some critical areas, 7 

### has abdicated its role as regulator altogether. 8 

### Now, based on the EPA's dissatisfaction 9 

### without NRC, they've issued proposed rules, and 10 

### WNRC does support the current development of 11 

### those proposed rules. 12 

### Long-term environmental impacts can 13 

### result if restoration processes do not return 14 

### aquifers to their pre-operational state, and the 15 

### restoration process, likewise, cannot be assumed 16 

### to be fully restored. The permeability 17 

### characteristics of the host rock and changes in 18 

### the hydrologic properties in those rocks during 19 

### extraction and in restoration processes can have 20 

### long-term, long-term effects. 21 

### So, once again, we support the 2218

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### application of the proposed rules to the Crow 1 

### Butte operation. In some cases, mills have 2 

### remained on standby for a number of years, and it 3 

### is our feeling that the lixiviant continues, even 4 

### if a decision is made to stop extracting uranium. 5 

### And it's our view that stopping the extraction 6 

### cycle must be interpreted as an end to the 7 

### operational phase, and should trigger initiation 8 

### of the restoration phase. 9 

### WNRC believes that the EPA should 10 

### investigate these monitoring wells that have been 11 

### on excursion status for many years. 12 

### The proposed rules -- also, the EPA has 13 

### sought advice from the Radiation Advisory 14 

### Committee, and we support many of the 15 

### recommendations that that committee has brought 16 

### up, identifying indicators, defining background 17 

### and groundwater conditions; very importantly, 18 

### building in flexibility to modify the design and 19 

### implementation of these monitoring programs as 20 

### new information and new technologies become 21 

### available. So, once again, we believe that the 2219

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### RAC recommendations are good ones and should be 1 

### incorporated. 2 

### It is my contention that water and water 3 

### quality is the new gold, and as such, we need to 4 

### be very careful about how we deal with those 5 

### properties, not only in the short-term, but also, 6 

### in the very, very long-term. Once again, nuclear 7 

### processing is an unforgiving kind of technology, 8 

### and we have to be quiet careful with it. 9 

### In finality then, it is wonderful for us 10 

### to have vast visions, but it is inappropriate for 11 

### us to develop half-vast ideas. Thank you. 12 

### MR. PEAKE: I have a question, an 13 

### additional clarification. 14 

### In your comments, you had mentioned 15 

### something about excursion status. Could you put 16 

### that a little bit more in context to what you 17 

### were referring to, because it wasn't clear in 18 

### your comments. 19 

### MR. TAMARAK: Okay. I'm not sure exactly 20 

### what you're asking, but -- 21 

### MR. PEAKE: If you could just go back to 2220

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### the comments where you were mentioning excursion. 1 

### It's something about after -- you were mentioning 2 

### the operations and standby. 3 

### MR. TAMARAK: Right. There are different 4 

### -- it's my understanding that there are different 5 

### definitions to when a particular well is being 6 

### monitored and when it sits on a standby mode, 7 

### then it's not currently involved in a restoration 8 

### process. Okay? 9 

### And it's our feeling that a standby mode 10 

### should immediately initiate a restoration to that 11 

### particular well and monitoring that follows with 12


### that. Is that clear? 13 

### MR. PEAKE: I think so. I just -- yeah. 14 

### MR. TAMARAK: Yeah, sometimes they're 15 

### confusing, even for me -- some confusing 16 

### definitions of what is considered an active mine 17 

### and what isn't. 18 

### MR. PEAKE: Okay, thank you. 19 

### (Discussion off the record) 20 

### MR. DYE: Our next speaker will be Edward 21 

### Starr. And please, as the others have done, 2221

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### spell your name and state who you're representing 1 

### for the court report. 2 

### MR. STARR: My name is Edward Starr, and 3 

### I'm from the Pine Ridge Reservation just right 4 

### across the state line. 5 

### You know, today I wanted to just come and 6


### make some statements about our water 7 

### contamination that's happening on the res. I 8 

### grew up at the -- I don't know, maybe about 40 9 

### miles from here along the White River. They call 10 

### it Maka Izita, smoking earth, because it was 11 

### named after the Crawford -- the uranium -- where 12 

### it came from. It was named by the Corta Maki 13 

### Izita (phonetic). 14 

### And my grandma used to tell me stories 15 

### about way back then. We used to drink that water 16 

### that kind of ran through the White River, and it 17 

### comes right through the Crawford Crow Butte. The 18 

### water was good, and I grew up on it, and I 19 

### contracted cancer. I don't know what caused it, 20 

### but I had to take -- go through radiation 21 

### treatment to kind of put it in remission. 2222

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### But that's not what -- I'm a part-time 1 

### instructor with all the Lakota colleges. And 2 

### sometimes, I work with people -- some of the 3 

### classmen -- they study the water. They've been 4 

### testing the water at different times. 5 

### And they're monitoring -- first, the 6 

### readings, like selenium and -- well, they 7 

### mentioned chemicals here. It was kind of low -- 8 

### little bits of lead, and maybe chromium, cadmium. 9 

### But lately, the readings were increasing, and 10 

### they're wondering what that is. 11 

### Then, I heard about the mining going on 12 

### over here at Crow Butte, so I was kind of curious 13 

### about that, and that's why I came. The readings 14 

### were increasing, so I think it was just three 15 

### months ago, they were testing the tap water. 16 

### They even came to my house to test it, but I 17 

### didn't see the report on the readings yet. But 18 

### I'm sure that the first time -- or there must be 19 

### something happening, I guess. 20 

### And they work -- like the Indian Health 21 

### Service and the OST Sewer and Water resource -- 2223

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### they all work together to try to monitor the 1 

### water system. And I think the concern about 2 

### tailings -- like in Edgemont who had some 3 

### tailings -- uranium tailings at Igloo, South 4 

### Dakota that usually, the wind comes this way, 5 

### south, southeast, and it blows right into the red 6 

### (sic). 7 

### In 1981, there was a series of SIDS, 8 

### Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. A lot of babies 9 

### were dying. They couldn't figure out what was 10 

### happening. And at the hospital, the doctors were 11 

### saying that something in the air -- and at that 12 

### time, the top people -- they transferred all of 13 

### the doctors out just because of that. You know, 14 

### something that was kind of covered over at that 15 

### time. 16 

### And I think all of this area is part of 17 

### the 1868 treaty, and I would like to ask the EPA 18 

### to consider that portion of the 1868 treaty; that 19 

### the people where I'm from, we're Sioux Indians. 20 

### They call us Sioux Indians, but we're Lakota 21 

### people. 2224

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### And every day, we face the genocide, 1 

### extermination, and this uranium that they're 2 

### digging, mining is another contribution to that. 3 

### So, I think the 1868 treaty should be part of the 4 

### consideration. 5 

### MR. DYE: Okay, sir, we need to move on 6 

### to the next speaker. 7 

### MR. STARR: Okay. 8 

### MR. DYE: Thank you. 9 

### MR. STARR: Thank you. 10 

### MR. DYE: Next is Buffalo Bruce. 11 

### MR. BRUCE: My name is Buffalo Bruce, B-- 12 

### R--U--C--E, from Chadron, Nebraska, and I would 13 

### like to thank you for agreeing to conduct this 14 

### hearing where the action is, here in Dawes 15 

### County, Nebraska. I have a packet here with 16


### comments from the Western Nebraska Research 17 

### Council, which I'll be giving you. 18 

### It's the comments from the senior 19 

### intervener regarding uranium in-situ extraction 20 

### in the United States, Western Nebraska Resources 21 

### Council. 2225

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### We commend your approach for effective 1 

### aquifer quality rehabilitation, but believe the 2 

### proposed standards do not go far enough. With 3 

### water becoming so rare a commodity, western 4 

### states will be attempting to recovery (sic) at a 5 

### greater depth than ever before. 6 

### These documents clearly outline the solid 7 

### credibility of the 1989 Whistleblower's Concern 8 

### Summary detailing the presence of faults and 9 

### fault lines throughout the Crow Butte mining area 10 

### with current scientists with brief 11 

### recommendations from the current research and the 12 

### expert opinions on the geological setting. 13 

### I'm going to cut my comments short, 14


### because there are a lot of folks here that are 15 

### more scientifically -- have better scientific 16 

### knowledge than I do. I'll be brief, and thank 17 

### you so much for your time and allowing me to 18 

### testify on this today. That's all. 19


### MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thanks. 20 

### MR. DYE: Thank you. Next is Don Cuny. 21 

### I'm going to ask you to please spell your name 2226

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### and who you represent. 1 

### MR. CUNY: C-U-N-Y. My name is Don Cuny. 2 

### I'm from the Pine Ridge Indian reservation from 3 

### Wild Horse Creek, and I was kind of invited to 4 

### this at the last deal. 5 

### But all the strip mining that's been 6 

### going on for years and years, and all you people 7 

### that are in the Senate, you all know the true 8 

### story. You all know that's why we, as native 9 

### people -- and of this world of native people is 10 

### radium -- everything that you have taken from 11 

### mother earth, you have turned around. You have 12 

### poisoned my people. You poisoned my 13 

### grandchildren, and you're doing it today. 14 

### But yet, you always want to find a better 15 

### way. But you can't find a better way. Once you 16 

### have destroyed something from mother earth, and 17 

### you turn around with your greatest science, who 18 

### is the most intelligent people in the world -- 19 

### supposed to be. Look what you are all doing 20 

### right now at this time, today, this moment, clear 21 

### across this world. 2227

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### You are destroying my people. You are 1 

### destroying the water that comes from my people. 2 

### All look in South Dakota here (sic). Everything 3 

### that they had touched and left behind has brought 4 

### nothing but death, cancer in this world that you 5 

### call the United States of America. 6 

### And the most talented -- you're supposed 7 

### to be one of the most intelligent races. I don't 8 

### believe that's true, because if it was, you would 9 

### not let this continue to happen. Everything you 10 

### have left behind, you have left death. 11 

### And they said the Indian wars is over? 12 

### The Indian wars are not over. As long as you 13 

### continue to do what you're doing, uranium -- is 14 

### the mine of shipping -- I won't be there. And I 15 

### will die for my people, and I will die for my 16 

### land in the Black Hills (Inaudible). And we 17 

### shall remain, because this is going to continue 18



### on. 19 

### Because all of your multi-million dollar 20 

### corporations -- you don't care about nothing 21 

### else, just as long as you've got that big old fat 2228

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### bill fold in your pocket -- you can leave. You 1 

### can go someplace else, to a new paradise. And 2 

### then, what you going to do then? You're going 3 

### destroy that, too. 4 

### Ever since tar -- found tar. Look how 5 

### many millions and billions of people -- your 6 

### people of all nationalities have killed -- 7 

### murdered. I use the word "murder," because 8 

### that's exactly what it is. It's murder. And I'm 9 

### saddened that today, at my age, as a grandfather 10 

### to be proud (sic), but at the same time, what's 11 

### going to be left for our next generation, our 12 

### grandchildren? And you okay it? 13 

### Start right off with these multi-million 14 

### dollar corporations who come in -- you know? And 15 

### they're supposed to have a better way? Well, if 16 

### there's a better way, I sure would like to know. 17 

### But I'm never going to give up, and I will fight 18 

### this war, like I said. 19 

### They said the Indian wars are not over. 20 

### The Indian wars now is it -- it's water. Water 21 

### is sacred. And if you can't see that, what's 2229

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### wrong with this world, this world -- I don't care 1 

### what they call it. What's wrong with the United 2 

### States of America? What's wrong? What's wrong? 3 

### You know, you ask -- why don't you ask 4 

### yourselves that? What's wrong? And what can 5 

### you, as a person -- be a better person to help 6 

### that stop this. And that's all I have to say. 7 

### But remember, this native war, Indian war, it's 8 

### not over, because it's about the water now. It 9 

### always has been. 10 

### And how much more damage are you going to 11 

### do? More and more and more? Then what are you 12 

### going to do? You know what a person told me one 13 

### time? The end of the world -- what's the end of 14 

### the world? A lot of you that are Christians? 15 

### They said it's going to burn up. I don't know 16 

### how many of you believe that's true, but okay, 17 

### you remember this. Every animal -- everything 18 

### that exists in this world, in this universe needs 19 

### water to survive. Thank you. 20 

### (Discussion off the record) 21 

### MR. DYE: Next speaker is Tonya Stands. 2230

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### MS. STANDS: Hello. My name is Tonya 1 

### Stands. I'm from Ogallala, South Dakota, and I 2 

### am enrolled Ogallala Sioux tribal member, fourth 3 

### force (?), and I'm a mother of three, and I come 4 

### from many different bands in the (Indiscernible 5 

### Indian name), which they refer to as the Great 6 

### Sioux Nation. So, my blood is from all the 7 

### indigenous nations, and that's where I come from, 8 

### and that's where I want to speak from. 9 

### And I just want to say that -- I want to 10 

### start this and say that water -- in our culture, 11 

### water is the first medicine. So, we just always 12


### refer to that. You know? No matter what we do. 13 

### So, this whole process of extracting from 14 

### this aquifer, you know. And what is extremely 15 

### interesting about the whole aquifer system 16 

### underneath the Black Hills, it ties back in to 17 

### our people and those out crops going -- you know, 18 

### referring to the 1868 and 1851 treaties? 19 

### That area that our land goes to seeds 20 

### with this water, the outcrops on this water. So, 21 

### these aquifers reach out into our people, and 2231

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### they're such -- our ceremonies and our connection 1 

### to this land is so powerful, that you know, 2 

### experience genocide? You know? Extreme 3 

### genocide. 4 

### And it's still not recognized by this 5 

### United States, but we're still alive. You know? 6 

### We got pushed onto a reservation, but our natural 7 

### culture roam land, indigenous roam land is 8 

### underneath this ground. So with that, they have 9 

### this -- where we live right here, I mean, we got 10 

### this nice little handout. 11 

### And when you look at this picture on 12 

### here, it shows -- it's a very good description, 13 

### and it talks about lower clay, sand clay, gravel. 14 

### And it drills into these aquifers. And where we 15 

### come from as Ogallala people on the Pine Ridge 16 

### Indian reservation, there is a whole area that we 17 

### refer to as Makahsa (phonetic), and Sa, being 18 

### like extremely holy. You know? 19 

### And we use that clay that they're going 20 

### to dig into. We use that for our ceremonies, and 21 

### it's like so sacred. You know? We eat it. We 2232

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### ingest it. You know? It's a part of our 1 

### ceremonies. 2 

### And so when you start messing with those 3 

### aquifers, you know, you think about a pool -- a 4 

### simple pool, a swimming pool of water, you know, 5 

### and where these deposits of uranium are. You 6 

### know? It's not like you can physically see this. 7 

### It's going to go off, you know, technology, and 8 

### it's going to go in there and extract that. You 9


### know? 10 

### And if you put Kool-Aid, any kind of dye 11 

### you know, inside of a swimming pool and get some 12 

### little power washers and try and go in there, and 13 

### you know, let's take this out with this power 14 

### washer. I mean, come on now. Are you that 15 

### brilliant? You know? 16 

### You're going to contaminate that whole 17 

### aquifer. You know? And that goes right up into 18 

### our people where we live, rather it's Dewey 19 

### Burdock. It's going to right in there. 20 

### And we have dances, we have ceremonies 21 

### where those -- they call it spedda oyakaye 2233

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### (phonetic), because we come from Wind Cave. We 1 

### have that connection to the buffalo. And our 2 

### culture is almost -- you know, total polar 3 

### opposite from this culture, this American 4


### culture. 5 

### And in our culture, it's not (Indian 6 

### phrase) -- because of the women. The women are 7 

### the strong. There’s every 12 poles, there's one 8 

### lodge. So, for those 12 poles, there's one 9 

### woman, and that's how powerful we are. And in 10 

### our culture, they have respect for us like this. 11 

### So, I'm talking in a good way, and I hope 12 

### that you understand this. And back to the 13 

### buffalo, the buffalos do this dance, and they 14 

### bring those water tables up when it's dry, and 15 

### those aquifers come back up, and those outcrops 16 

### go all the way to Spirit Lake. 17 

### You know, we have Dakota people up there 18 

### that speak a different dialect. They still get 19 

### those aquifers. So, when you do this, you're 20 

### affecting us. You know? You talk about 21 

### continual genocide? You're still at it. You 2234

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### know? 1 

### How do we escape this? You know, when 2 

### you touch the aquifer, that's our water, too. 3 

### That's the first medicine. I just don't 4


### understand that. You know? 5 

### When you talk about you know, our treaty 6 

### rights and how this all started, in just simple - 7 

### - you know, get a pick. Open up this whole 8 

### mining area. Simple act. You know, didn't even 9 

### no reverence or respect to our culture and our 10 

### people and way of life, and just with a pick ax, 11 

### boom, that's your land. You know? That's all it 12 

### was. And now, look where it's coming from. And 13 

### we have no rights. 14 

### So, this is the -- I just want to end 15 

### this and to try to restore it, you can't restore 16 

### it. You can't ever restore it. So, thank you. 17 

### (Discussion off the record) 18 

### (Applause) 19 

### MR. DYE: Dave Carlson, next speaker. 20 

### MR. CARLSON: My name is David Carlson. 21 

### That's C-A-R-L-S-O-N, and I'm speaking for 2235

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### myself. I'm a retired program specialist with 1 

### the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality. 2 

### I was employed in the underground injection 3 

### control program for 23 years. 4 

### During my employment, I worked with the 5 

### in-situ leach uranium mine located in Crawford, 6 

### Nebraska. I monitored well construction, 7 

### mechanical integrity tests and water sampling in 8 

### monitor wells in and around the mines from the 9 

### time the mine went into commercial production in 10 

### 1991 until my retirement, in 2011. 11 

### During this time, not only was the state 12 

### responsible for monitoring the mining company, 13 

### but also, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and 14 

### the Environmental Protection Agency had 15 

### oversight. 16 

### My family has been located in Dawes 17 

### County for over 135 years. While protecting the 18 

### environment and water quality is very important, 19 

### regulating businesses out of business is not. 20 

### Currently regulations are quite adequate. 21 

### Requiring groundwater monitoring for an 2236

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### additional 30 years will put a great and somewhat 1 

### useless burden on mining, and prevent many ISL 2 

### operations from staying in business. Our 3 

### president is all for renewable resources, for 4 

### energy generation to reduce CO2 emissions. 5 

### While wind and solar energy is good, it 6 

### will never totally replace fossil fuels. With 7 

### the help of more nuclear energy, that clean fuel, 8 

### the use of high CO2 emission fossil fuels could 9 

### be reduced. With more expensive, useless 10 

### regulations tied to uranium mining, the continued 11 

### development of nuclear energy could be 12


### threatened. 13 

### I strongly urge the EPA to look very 14 

### closely at the added economic burden to both the 15 

### mining companies, the local communities by adding 16 

### all the additional water monitoring. Also, they 17 

### need to take a close look at any benefits from 18 

### additional monitoring. 19 

### Does scientific evidence indicate a need 20 

### for more monitoring? Do you have scientific 21 

### evidence that currently, monitoring is 2237

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### inadequate? I hope you will consider these 1 

### questions. I thank you for your consideration. 2 

### MR. DYE: Thank you. 3 

### MR. CARLSON: And then, I have a copy of 4 

### this -- 5 

### MR. DYE: Okay, thank you. 6 

### MR. CARLSON: -- if you like. 7 

### (Discussion off the record) 8 

### MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you. 9 

### MR. DYE: Next speaker is Roland Skinner. 10 

### MR. SKINNER: I'm Roland Skinner, S-K-I11 

### N-N-E-R. I retired a year ago as the manager of 12 

### Northwest Real Public Power District. That's the 13 

### real electric that serves the northwest corner of 14 

### Nebraska. We've served public resources for -- 15 

### since its beginning. 16 

### I wanted to speak with you about the 17 

### value that they brought to the electrical system 18 

### in this part of the world. Prior to their 19 

### existence, we had a very small, bold and 20 

### antiquated substation near Whitney, with no 21 

### growth to support increasing of that capacity of 2238

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### replacing of the substation. 1 

### Crow Butte came in. They paid for the 2 

### replacement substation, four times' capacity, 3 

### strengthened the electrical grid from basically 4 

### Chadron west to Crawford, south to Marsland 5 

### immensely. Because of the existed capacity 6 

### increases in this area, we were able to close a 7 

### three phase line south to Marsland, which tied in 8 

### with our substation south of Chadron at Dunlap. 9 

### Now, those two substations can support 10 

### one another, so that line then -- because of the 11 

### capacity, it's increased the service quality in 12 

### both the Crawford area, where the mine is at, as 13 

### well as, as far east at the Flats -- Mirage 14 

### Flats, which is south of Hay Springs. 15 

### We can back feed through substations. 16 

### We're eventually trying to close the loop around 17 

### the western half of our system, where from 18 

### Chadron to Whitney. Short of that, at this time 19 

### is all. And that will support things. 20 

### In addition to that, the existence of the 21 

### mine allowed for a full line crew in the Crawford 2239

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### area, with equipment. The derricks and the 1 

### bucket trucks -- that brought the second line 2 

### crew to our area. So, in times of problems and 3 

### storms, we could use that line crew all over our 4 

### project, and many times, they were clear east of 5 

### Gordon, which is 70 miles to the west or to the 6 

### east, to support rebuilding of the lines, shorten 7 

### the outages significantly. 8 

### So, it affected both the electrical grid 9 

### and the manpower opportunities. On top of that, 10 

### our crews, because we had two crews, we could 11 

### send one crew to help others in the state, 12 

### actually in a four state area around here to help 13 

### other rural electrics that had problems with 14 

### storms, et cetera. 15 

### Because of the capacity at the Crawford 16 

### substation now, we interconnected with the real 17 

### electric to the west in four locations. So now, 18 

### we can support clear to the state line and 19 

### actually, beyond electrically. They can support 20 

### us, as well, if we have storms. 21 

### We're part of a real electric grid across 2240

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### the nation with a national association that has a 1 

### safety program. There's 990 some real electrics 2 

### in the state -- in the United States. We own and 3 

### operate approximately half of their electric 4 

### lines in the United States, and they have a very 5 

### strong safety record and safety program. 6 

### But we are reaccredited by that program 7 

### every three years; have been, since our 8 

### beginning. Our scores rank in the upper echelon 9 

### in the nation, so we recognize a strong safety 10


### program. 11 

### When I retired a year ago, we had gone 14 12 

### years without a disabling injury in a very 13 

### dangerous business. I'm very proud of that. We 14 

### work closely with the safety department at Crow 15 

### Butte Resources. They set literally, thousands 16 

### of wells in and around our many lines in their 17 

### project without ever making contact with our 18 

### 14,400 volt lines. 19 

### So, we know that they have a strong 20 

### safety program. They insisted we follow their 21 

### safety rules, as well. So, I'd like to support 2241

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### Crow Butte Resources for what it's brought 1 

### electrically to the region, and what it's brought 2 

### from a safety program, because I recognize it as 3 

### a good safety program like our own. 4 

### Thank you. Appreciate it. 5 

### MR. PEAKE: Thank you. 6 

### MR. DYE: Next speaker, Webb Johnson. 7 

### And just a reminder to everybody, spell your name 8 

### and say who you represent for the court reporter. 9 

### MR. JOHNSON: My name is Webb Johnson, J10 

### O-H-N-S-O-N. I am a Dawes County Commissioner 11 

### for District Number 3, which includes the Crow 12 

### Butte Mine. 13 

### The mine provides a substantial amount of 14 

### tax dollars to Dawes County. In 2010, Crow Butte 15 

### paid almost 11 percent of the total taxes 16 

### collected for the county. 17 

### (Discussion off the record) 18 

### MR. JOHNSON: Since 2010, they have paid 19 

### over 960,000 in taxes to the county. 20 

### The mine also pays taxes to the Crawford 21 

### school system. This is a small school with a 2242

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### limited tax base. The valuation of the mine 1 

### represents about 28 percent of the total tax base 2 

### for the school on a five year average. 3 

### The closing of the mine would have a huge 4 

### impact on the Crawford schools, and Dawes County 5


### would also be affected. 6 

### Crow Butte has been a valuable neighbor, 7 

### as they provide quality jobs to keep people in 8 

### the county. They purchase from local businesses, 9 

### donate to local organizations, and they even put 10 

### up a new building in the Crawford City Park to 11 

### replace the building that was destroyed by a 12


### flood. 13 

### Dawes County has a dominant agriculture 14 

### base. We need some industry to help us 15 

### diversify. Crow Butte fills the need and fits in 16 

### well with the ag sector. Ag people depend on 17 

### land and water to survive. They are closely 18 

### guarding these elements. Crow Butte is also 19 

### mindful of these elements. 20 

### To suggest a 30 year monitoring 21 

### requirement will place a severe hardship on Crow 2243

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### Butte. The options for Crow Butte are very 1 

### limited with total shut down being at the top of 2 

### the options list. 3 

### We ask that you please come up with a 4 

### decent compromise to help the United States to 5 

### become energy independent. So, thank you. 6 

### MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you. 7 

### MR. PEAKE: Thank you. 8 

### MR. DYE: Next speaker is Nancy Kile. 9 

### (Pause) 10 

### MS. KILE: Good afternoon. My name is 11 

### Nancy Kile, K-I-L-E. Thank you for scheduling 12 

### this important public hearing within the Pine 13 

### Ridge, and welcome to the Nebraska panhandle. 14 

### Please accept these as my comments to the formal 15 

### hearing record. 16 

### I am a Sioux County resident who lives 17 

### west of Fort Robinson State Park on the White 18 

### River Road. Our home is located about the same 19 

### distance from the head waters of the White River 20 

### as we are from Camecos, Crow Butte Resources, in21 

### situ leach milling and mining operation. 2244

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### I returned to the area after living in 1 

### the Black Hills for 26 years. What little I 2 

### heard about the Crow Butte yellow cake operation 3 

### was mostly public relations fluff. Hard working 4 

### people in the town where I was born don't like to 5 

### debate about jobs, when faced with deepening 6 

### rural poverty. 7 

### In 2004 and 2005, I spent a lot of time 8 

### in Crawford, caring for my terminally ill mother. 9 

### Mom was a citizen of Crawford since the early 10 

### 1940s. She was diagnosed with lung cancer in 11 

### 2004 and died nine months later. 12 

### During that time period, one of the many 13 

### Crow Butte resources documented violations was an 14 

### undetected poisonous spill into the ground -- the 15 

### underground source of drinking water that lasted 16 

### two and a half years, spanning from July 1, 2003 17 

### through March 31, 2006. 18 

### I think about neighbors, my peers and my 19 

### schoolmates that treated with cancer. Some 20 

### treated successfully, but others died early in 21 

### their lives. 2245

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### A few years back, during a Crow Butte 1 

### yellowcake expansion application period, Crawford 2 

### residents were saying the mine is doing us a 3 

### favor, getting the uranium out of the soils. It 4 

### is said that gardeners did not like the results 5 

### that third party water tests provided. 6 

### I am frustrated with Crow Butte 7 

### Resources' waste handling and reclamation 8 

### procedures. I worry that it's all topical. 9 

### There is not much critical thought and pushback 10 

### about what is happening to the water, the soils 11 

### and our peoples. 12 

### Because of my questioning and talking 13 

### about the uranium practices and impacts after the 14 

### recent hydrochloric acid spill, I was denied 15 

### access to the mine by public relations personnel. 16 

### You might imagine my surprise, because before 17 

### that particular spill, I was invited by community 18 

### leaders to sit as an advisor with the Kickstart 19 

### Crawford Community Group. 20 

### I also feel worried about information 21 

### that reveals that at least 1 of the 8,000 Crow 2246

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### Butte resource wells has been sealed with 1 

### railroad ties. The last time, I checked, a 2 

### square peg does not fit in a round hole. 3 

### Up north, near the South Dakota border, 4 

### some people are saying they want the economic 5 

### advantages uranium mining and milling components 6 

### boast about. The economic advantaged up there 7 

### must be talking about tax relief and school 8 

### funding, because Crawford is dilapidating. The 9 

### water works infrastructure is giving way, and 10 

### costly repairs are undertaken to keep the city 11 

### water system functioning for a high poverty and 12 

### declining population. 13 

### Throughout the Pine Ridge, both town and 14 

### rural citizens have come together to talk about 15 

### revitalizing community for a prosperous future, 16 

### asking how do we feed ourselves. It is, of 17 

### course, a time honored rural tradition. 18 

### Food transportation is the most costly 19 

### carbon footprint society undertakes. Individuals 20 

### and communities in my region are thinking about 21 

### re-localizing food supplies. Traditionally, 2247

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### ranching is our work. We have the beef and the 1 

### bison. 2 

### Extending our growing season with 3 

### greenhouses by enacting small acreage food 4 

### sourcing is a value added piece toward a 5 

### sustainable future for us. We cannot do any of 6 

### this without a safe and stable water supply. I'm 7 

### wrapping up. 8 

### High pressure injection and extraction 9 

### mining of uranium, oil and gas is happening in 10 

### Nebraska panhandle as we speak. When tectonic 11 

### stability is changed and movement occurs, it 12 

### allows poison correction water to further 13 

### contaminate our regional groundwater, then who is 14


### accountable? 15 

### Please, do enact uranium monitoring 16 

### timelines that extend far into the future to 17 

### ensure that foreign owned Cameco is accountable 18 

### to the people who remain living on the land that 19 

### the uranium industry exploits for profit. 20 

### Thank you. 21 

### MR. DYE: Thank you. 2248

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### (Applause) 1 

### MR. DYE: Larry Teahon is our next 2 

### speaker. 3 

### MR. TEAHON: Good afternoon. My name is 4 

### Larry Teahon. T as in Tom, E-A-H-O-N. I'm the 5 

### manager of Safety Health Environmental Quality, a 6 

### Chemical Resources Crow Butte in-situ mine near 7 

### Crawford, Nebraska. 8 

### In April, Crow Butte marked 24 years of 9 

### commercial operation. As is the case with all 10 

### modern in-situ mining, years of careful study, 11 

### planning and testing preceded commercial 12 

### production to assure the environment and human 13 

### health and safety would be protected. 14 

### In these 24 years, we've never polluted a 15 

### neighbor's well. Contaminants for our mining 16 

### operation have never been detected downstream in 17


### surface waters. 18 

### Mining unit one, which is the heart of 19 

### our operation, was signed off as fully restored 20 

### concerning ground water quality back in 2003. 21 

### This mine units remains stable, 12 years later. 2249

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### Our employees' commitment to excellence 1 

### starts with safety. We recently surpassed eight 2 

### years without a lost time injury, representing 3 

### more than one million hours' work. Modern in4 

### situ uranium mines have operated responsibly to 5 

### protect the environment and to ensure the safety 6 

### of their workers and the public. 7 

### Significant studies concerning 8 

### groundwater quality, with results that would 9 

### argue against the lengthy monitoring proposed in 10 

### this rule have either recently been published, or 11 

### soon will be, by the following institutions: The 12 

### South Dakota School of Mines, Colorado State 13 

### University, University of Wyoming, and the Los 14 

### Alamos National Laboratory. 15 

### Some of these studies were partially 16 

### funded by EPA itself. Yet, a footnote in the 17 

### proposed rule claims that there is little 18 

### research into groundwater restoration. This is 19


### not the case. 20 

### It is a concern that the proposed EPA 21 

### rule is not based on science and did not include 2250

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### participation of the industry directly involved. 1 

### In the past rulemakings, for example, proposed 2 

### rule changes to 40 CFR Part 61 Subpart W, 3 

### concerning radon floods from evaporation ponds, 4 

### the industry was given an opportunity to make 5 

### meaningful contributions in reviewing the rule 6 

### and working towards a final version that is truly 7 

### effective. This has not been the case thus far 8 

### in this instance. 9 

### EPA has proposed a rule with no 10 

### quantifiable benefits to human health, safety and 11 

### the environment. We ask that research recently 12 

### completed and underway be taken into account, 13 

### before this rule is finalized and made effective. 14 

### Thank you for your time. 15 

### MR. PEAKE: Thank you. 16 

### MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you. 17 

### MR. DYE: The next speaker is Jake 18


### Stewart. 19 

### MR. STEWART: I'm Jake Stewart, S-T-E-W20 

### A-R-T, I am here on behalf of Dawes County 21 

### Commissioners here in Chadron. 2251

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### I am giving testimony today as a Dawes 1 

### County Commissioner in charge of protecting the 2 

### rights of property owners and business operators, 3 

### alike. 4 

### Today, I speak to the board against 5 

### extended regulations being considered by the EPA 6 

### for in-situ mining operations. 7 

### Chemical and Crow Butte resources have 8 

### maintained a safe and responsible mining process 9 

### while upholding meticulous and strict regulations 10 

### by the EPA since their beginning. 11 

### The mission of the EPA is to protect 12 

### human health and the environment. The EPA 13 

### efforts to reduce environmental risk are based on 14 

### the best available scientific information and are 15 

### enforced fairly and effectively. 16 

### Environmental Protection Policies 17 

### concerning natural resources, human health, 18 

### economic growth, energy, agriculture and industry 19 

### play a vital role in establishing and making our 20 

### communities and ecosystems diverse, sustainable, 21 

### and economically productive. 2252

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### The existing standards incorporate 1 

### groundwater protection requirements applicable to 2 

### hazardous waste management units. With these 3 

### conditions and a clean and safe process already 4 

### in observance at Crow Butte Resources, the solid 5 

### proof and existing standards have been met and 6 

### will continue to be met, leaving Crow Butte among 7 

### the top leaders in the uranium mining industry 8 

### for safety and environmental standards. 9 

### Aspects of the new regulations seem to be 10 

### unclear. We're discussing different mining 11 

### techniques. Crow Butte Resources is currently 12 

### working in an exempt aquifer, specifically 13 

### because of the natural uranium and radium content 14 

### that has existed before mining began. 15 

### Well field testing is already in place at 16 

### Crow Butte Resources and continues to assure 17 

### water quality, due to the regulations currently 18 

### enforced by the NDEQ, NRC and the EPA. 19 

### There may be technical approaches better 20 

### suited for these particular types of facilities, 21 

### like Crow Butte Resources that operate at such a 2253

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### high level of competency. Crow Butte Operations 1 

### continues to develop new approaches toward being 2 

### good stewards of the land, while protecting the 3 

### groundwater and health of local and surrounding 4 

### communities. 5 

### The new regulations to extend well field 6 

### monitoring for decades on ISR facilities are 7 

### unmerited. The placement of these regulations 8 

### will have devastating effects on our local 9 

### economy and the entire ISR mining industry. 10 

### Thank you. 11 

### (Pause) 12 

### MR. DYE: Next speaker is Ed Harvey. 13 

### MR. HARVEY: Good afternoon. Thank you 14 

### for inviting us here. My name is Edward Harvey, 15 

### H-A-R-V-E-Y. I'm speaking for myself. 16 

### I have some issues to discuss. First is 17 

### mill tailings. There is no physical difference 18 

### in the mill tailings pile and in the above ground 19 

### uranium milling site, and the underground 20 

### dissolved sandstone at an in-situ mining site. 21 

### The main difference is isolation from the 2254

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### groundwater aquifer. 1 

### Mining should be banned at any site where 2 

### migration and existing aquifers in isolation from 3 

### the adjacent is not aquifers. Given the premise 4 

### that in-situ mining requires a fractured rock 5 

### formation, isolation of the mining site from the 6 

### rest of the aquifer system is not easily assumed. 7 

### Strict compliance with the existing clean 8 

### water standards must be required from all areas 9 

### not directly involved with the active mining. 10 

### All operations should be stopped immediately 11 

### until any spills, releases or excursions are 12 

### remediated to pre-mining conditions for all 13 

### involved areas. 14 

### Daily reports of all monitoring wells 15 

### must be required to minimize the environmental 16 

### damage associated with excursions. In-situ 17 

### mining must be held to the same standards as any 18 

### other commercial enterprise associated with 19 

### radioactive materials. 20


### Assurance bond levels should be 21 

### consistent with documented remediation costs at 2255

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### lone sites such as the Navajo Nation cleanup 1 

### efforts in New Mexico, the Edgemont, South Dakota 2 

### military remediation, et cetera. 3 

### The major source of documented 4 

### environmental damage and human health problems in 5 

### this country from radioactive materials is the 6 

### uranium mining industry. 7 

### Migration. Flow data which infers very 8 

### little migration rates, yet provides for very 9 

### high flow rates for mining operations is at best, 10 

### suspect. The premise that the aquifer is 11 

### stressed in the mine area by pumping totally 12 

### ignores the stress caused by existing municipal 13 

### and domestic wells in the aquifer. 14 

### No studies have been done to address the 15 

### changes in flows caused by the introduction of 16 

### mining fluids into the surrounding formations. 17 

### We know that these fluids cause increased flow 18 

### rates in the mining zone. 19 

### Precise mapping of the mining zones needs 20 

### to be accomplished to identify all faults and 21 

### fractures in the area prior to the mining. 2256

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### Without this information, probable pathways from 1 

### migration remain unknown. 2 

### Sampling. Baseline samples taken and 3 

### analyzed by an EPA certified facility need to be 4 

### taken at all wells and springs within 20 miles of 5 

### the proposed mining area. Baseline samples need 6 

### to be taken in all drainage pathways that flow 7 

### through or out of the proposed mining area. Any 8 

### non-compliance areas must be remediated prior to 9 

### mining operations. 10 

### Baseline samples, both soil and air, need 11 

### to be taken in all areas where mining effluents 12 

### will be applied to the ground surface. This will 13 

### provide a database for accurately tracking any 14 

### migration of contamination from the mining 15 

### operations. The practice of diluting effluents 16 

### with high quality water for discharged limit 17 

### compliance must be banned. 18 

### Unique tracers need to be added to all 19 

### mining fluids to facilitate positive 20 

### identification of the contamination sources. 21 

### Quarterly sampling should be required in all 2257

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### areas to provide timely warning, shall release 1



### occur. 2 

### When the mining occurs in an area which 3 

### supplies agricultural products for human or 4 

### livestock consumption, all products must be 5 

### sampled to assure that our food supply remains 6 

### uncontaminated. Wildlife should also be sampled 7


### for the same concerns. 8 

### Compliance. Rules and fines need to be 9 

### established which will assure the mining 10 

### operation which will assure the mining operation 11 

### meets all existing clean air and water standards 12 

### for all areas outside the immediate mining area 13 

### as defined by the location of site monitoring 14


### wells. 15 

### Fines should be at least twice the cost 16 

### of compliance and negate any economic advantage 17 

### for non-compliance. Operations must be stopped 18 

### until all spills, excursions, et cetera, are 19 

### remediated. 20 

### A program must be implemented which 21 

### addresses the causes of incidents and remedial 2258

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### actions to minimize repeated same or similar 1 

### incidents. A database of all known incidents and 2 

### their causes needs to be created to identify 3 

### substandard materials and processes. 4 

### The yellowcake recovery's facility must 5 

### be required to meet all clean air and water 6 

### standards. The industry must again be held to 7 

### the same standards as all other industries 8 

### handling radioactive materials. 9 

### Recent data shows that fluid injection 10 

### into rock formation causes earthquakes. Deep 11 

### well injection should not be allowed in any area 12 

### where there are known faults or it is 13 

### geologically active, and again, dilution is not 14 

### an acceptable method to obtain compliance to 15 

### rules. Thank you. 16 

### MR. DYE: For the next speaker, just a 17 

### reminder to everybody -- 18 

### (Applause) 19 

### MR. DYE: -- state your name and spell it 20 

### and who you represent. Susan Henderson is next. 21 

### MS. HENDERSON: Thank you so much for the 2259

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### opportunity to talk with you about this project 1 

### and your proposed rule changes. 2 

### I am a cattle rancher, and I've come from 3 

### a long line of cattle ranchers. I am from the 4 

### Edgemont, South Dakota area. My family has 5 

### ranched there since 1902. My grandfather built 6 

### one of the first dams in the area, and he wrote 7 

### back to Scotland, this was an inhospitable area. 8 

### The creeks dried up. 9 

### And then, he began, a long history of our 10 

### family of attempting to develop water on our 11 

### property. I currently own and operate the 8,000 12


### acre cattle ranch that he founded. 13 

### I want to caution you about not 14 

### regulating things and protect water in the 15 

### American West. The American West is the bread 16 

### basket of this country. Without underground 17 

### water, ranches such as mine, smaller operations 18 

### and larger ones, cannot survive. Period. 19 

### I have developed a natural spring on our 20 

### property that's been in operation that my father 21 

### fixed up in the 1930s, and I have a 1,700 foot 2260

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### deep well. If I didn't have those two sources of 1 

### water, I would have to close my operation down in 2 

### three days. Period. 3 

### Now, the problem that we have is that we 4 

### will not be able to fix this if we wreck it. If 5 

### we wreck water in the American West, and there's 6 

### a vast amount of information that indicates that 7 

### that is happening, we cannot recover from it. We 8 

### will simply have to close down agriculture as we 9 

### now know it. I would remind you that in South 10 

### Dakota, we pay 60 percent of the tax in our 11 

### state. We are the biggest business in South 12


### Dakota. 13 

### I would call your attention to the 14 

### National Research Defense Council report, I guess 15 

### I would call that. It's a 300 page report. It's 16 

### called "The Dirty Little Secret of Uranium 17 

### Mining." And it talks about what has happened to 18 

### these communities that have engaged in uranium 19 

### mining since the 1950s, when we first looked for 20 

### uranium to build bombs. 21 

### And I would remind you that we have a 2261

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### great many companies from out of the country. 1 

### The one operating in my ranch is financed out of 2 

### China and Australia through Canada. And these 3 

### companies are neither responsible nor qualified. 4 

### There was just a report in the paper last 5 

### week, saying that the Dewey Burdock operation is 6 

### -- that company is nearly bankrupt; that it had a 7 

### $6.3 million cash shortfall last year. 8 

### Now, I would urge you to put these 9 

### monitoring requirements that you have proposed 10 

### into operation, but not allow the operators 11 

### themselves to do the monitoring. You've got to 12 

### provide for a way for this to be financed and 13 

### done by outside third parties or the states, or 14 

### somebody responsible, because we can't trust 15 

### these people. 16 

### And if you look at what has happened to 17 

### the Christiansen Ranch and the Smith Highland, 18 

### and you know, the water problems in Gillette, 19 

### Wyoming and on and on, the problems in Texas, you 20 

### will notice that this is not working. We are not 21 

### able to run these ISL operations safely, and we 2262

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### have to do that, or we will lose the small towns. 1 

### We will lose agricultural, and we will lose 2 

### ranching. And we can't afford to do that. 3 

### So, if you want to have beef steaks in 4 

### your barbecues, you have to develop plans to 5 

### protect the water. And that's all there is to 6 

### it. If you don't do this, we're going to lose 7 

### the economic health and safety of our country. 8 

### And we shouldn't be allowing the Russians 9 

### to come in here and become the largest operator 10 

### of a company called Uranium One in the west. We 11 

### shouldn't be allowing this stuff. 12 

### So, I want you to think carefully about 13 

### what you're doing. I want you to implement all 14 

### the rules you can think of. And I want you to 15 

### figure out how to enforce it. And then, I want 16 

### these penalties huge, so when these people break 17 

### these rules, it breaks their company, just the 18 

### way they'd like to break mine. 19 

### Thank you. 20 

### (Hoots from audience - applause) 21 

### MR. DYE: For those that have spoken and 2263

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### those that are going to speak, whether you have a 1 

### prepared statement you want to leave, or if you 2 

### just want to leave your notes for your 3 

### presentation, we'll take those, as well, just to 4 

### make sure we get everything correct. 5 

### MS. HENDERSON: Did you get my name 6 

### spelled? 7 

### MALE SPEAKER: No, I don't think so. 8 

### MS. HENDERSON: Oh, Susan Henderson. H9


### E-N-D-E-R-S-O-N. 10 

### MR. DYE: Next speaker is Mary Donahue. 11 

### MS. DONAHUE: Hello. My name is Mary 12 

### Donahue, D-O-N-A-H-U-E, and I am a resident of 13 

### Dawes County. And I'd like to revisit some of 14 

### the language in the summary and the medical 15 

### information research concerned with this. 16 

### It is stated in the summary for the 17 

### proposed rule change that uranium in-situ 18 

### recovery, ISR, "has a greater potential to 19 

### directly affect groundwater than does 20 

### conventional milling." 21 

### The summary also discusses, "the human 2264

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### health risks that could result from exposures to 1 

### radionuclides in well water used for drinking and 2 

### agriculture in areas located down gradient from 3 

### an ISR. Because radionuclides are human 4 

### carcinogens, the main health risk averted would 5


### be cancer." 6 

### And this is from the EPA web site. 7 

### "Intakes of uranium exceeding EPA's standards can 8 

### lead to increased cancer risk, liver damage or 9 

### both. Long-term chronic intakes of uranium 10 

### isotopes in food, water or air can lead to 11 

### internal irradiation and/or chemical toxicity." 12 

### We know these mining products and 13 

### byproducts cause cancer. Drilled wells in the 14 

### last one hundred years which have not been 15 

### properly capped can act as conduits for these 16


### hazardous substances. 17 

### The act of ISR mobilizes material and 18 

### water underground that wasn't moved around or 19 

### altered previously by human activity. There is 20 

### no one hundred percent surety that damage cannot 21 

### occur to groundwater supplies. The majority of 2265

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### residents in the area receive their drinking 1 

### water from these supplies. 2 

### This is a quote from the EPA's site on 3 

### radiation. "Most people are not exposed to 4 

### dangerous levels of uranium. However, people who 5 

### live near uranium mining areas or near government 6 

### weapons facilities or certain industrial 7 

### facilities may have increased exposure to 8 

### uranium, especially if their water is from a 9 

### private well. 10 

### Simply returning the water to original 11 

### standards does not guarantee that the aquifers 12 

### will remain stable, since it has been inherently 13 

### changed and disturbed. Additional monitoring 14 

### will increase the assurance that the aquifer may 15


### be stable. 16 

### Monitoring for as long as it takes to 17 

### show that there are no further changes is 18 

### prudent. Uranium has a long radioactive half19 

### life. U238 is 4.47 billion years. U235 is 700 20 

### million years. U234 is 246,000 years. 21 

### Monitoring for an additional 30 years is 2266

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### minimal compared to this. To assure long-term 1 

### stability, when we are talking about crucial, 2 

### life-giving water sources that once contaminated, 3 

### can never be returned to their original state, 4 

### the residents of this area deserve, as this 5 

### uranium mining company brochure, which was 6 

### inserted in our Chadron Record Newspaper this 7 

### week states, "a program that ensures water and 8 

### good lands available for generations to come." 9 

### Thank you. 10 

### (Applause) 11 

### MR. PEAKE: Thank you. If you have 12 

### information that you have read from, and you 13 

### don't mind giving it to us, if you could do that 14 

### either here or out at the desk, that would help - 15



### - 16 

### MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you. 17 

### MR. PEAKE: -- our person taking the -- 18 

### doing the transcripts just make sure that we 19 

### capture what you're saying accurately. So, thank 20


### you. 21 

### MR. DYE: Next speaker is Deb Cottier. 2267

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### (Pause) 1 

### MS. COTTIER: Hello. My name is Deb 2 

### Cottier, C-O-T-T-I-E-R, and I'm the executive 3 

### director of the Nebraska Northwest Development 4 

### Corporation, which is a countywide economic 5 

### development organization here in Chadron covering 6 

### Dawes County. 7 

### I'm here today to speak in opposition of 8 

### proposed rules to further expand and lengthen the 9 

### groundwater monitoring process surrounding in10 

### situ uranium mines. 11 

### I believe everyone speaking here today 12 

### wants the same thing, safe operations for the 13 

### environment, for the people who live and work in 14 

### the proximity of a uranium mine. 15 

### I believe we already have that in place 16 

### in this country, specifically at the Crow Butte 17 

### Resources Mine, owned by Cameco near Crawford, 18


### Nebraska. 19 

### For the EPA to propose additional 20 

### monitoring requirements above and beyond those 21 

### already agreed upon and satisfied in the past, 2268

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### without any more scientific proof that they are 1 

### needed is over reaching and unfair. 2 

### Modern is the key. Modern in-situ mining 3 

### has been proven to be safe for workers and the 4 

### public. For an industry that utilizes highly 5 

### regulated processes and inputs, the Crow Butte 6 

### mine has a great safety record, while taking the 7 

### issue of environmental safety very seriously. 8 

### These additional monitoring requirements 9 

### have not been proven to have any quantifiable 10 

### beneficial impact on the safety of people or the 11 

### environment, but to add significantly to the 12 

### higher costs the company would have to undertake 13 

### to operate the mine. 14 

### One has to ask, what has prompted the new 15 

### rules being proposed. Any proposed rules, at a 16 

### minimum, should be delayed until their impact can 17 

### be studied and all factors be considered. Crow 18 

### Butte Resources has operated in a transparent, 19 

### responsible way from day one. 20 

### For more than 25 years, they have 21 

### followed the law and have been model corporate 2269

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### citizens. Dawes County would be hard pressed to 1 

### find a more responsive, involved company 2 

### operating in our area today. 3 

### Besides the obvious impact of payroll and 4 

### income taxes paid, Crow Butte resources 5 

### contributes to the local economy by their strict 6 

### buy local policy. Many more jobs than those 7 

### employed at the mine depend on this business. 8 

### The citizens of Crawford and Dawes County as a 9 

### whole could not have a more conscientious 10 

### neighbor. 11 

### As the entity in Dawes County with some 12 

### responsibility for recruiting and retaining 13 

### businesses and jobs, the Nebraska Northwest 14 

### Development Corporation urges the EPA to delay 15 

### any new rules until they can be researched, 16 

### studied and evaluated by the scientific 17 

### community. 18 

### This business deserves to operate on a 19 

### level playing field with other businesses in the 20 

### state. Thank you. 21 

### MR. PEAKE: Thank you. 2270

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you. 1 

### MR. DYE: Next is Richard Tanther? 2


### MR. TAEDTER: Taedter. 3 

### MR. DYE: Okay, thank you. (Laughter) 4 

### (Discussion off the record) 5 

### MR. TAEDTER: I'm Richard Taedter. I'm 6 

### the superintendent of schools for Crawford, 7


### Nebraska. T-A-E-D-T-E-R. 8 

### Good afternoon. I'm Richard Taedter, and 9 

### I serve as the superintendent of schools for 10 

### Crawford, Nebraska. I am here this afternoon to 11 

### speak in opposition to the proposal of the EPA's 12 

### involvement in groundwater monitoring which is to 13 

### last for decades for in-situ uranium mines. 14 

### Let me make it very clear that I am not 15 

### opposed to parameters, regulations and monitoring 16 

### to ensure in-situ uranium mines operate in a safe 17 

### and effective manner. In fact, it is my 18 

### understanding that one of the main purposes of 19 

### the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the NRC, is to 20 

### protect the environment and ensure public safety, 21 

### and this includes monitoring of underground water 2271

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### aquifers. 1 

### In addition, it is my understanding that 2 

### the Nebraska Department of Educational Quality , 3 

### the NDEQ, functions in a similar manner, albeit 4 

### at the state level as the federal nuclearatory 5 

### (sic) -- regulatory commission. 6 

### Thus, a federal agency, the NRC and the 7 

### state agency, the NDEQ, both have responsibility 8 

### and accountability to ensure safety protocols 9 

### exist, are utilized in safety parameters in these 10 

### strict compliance regulations. 11 

### Should the EPA become involved, this 12 

### would constitute a federal agency working over 13 

### another federal agency, the NRC, and a state 14 

### agency, the NDEQ. This is a great example of an 15 

### inversely proportionate situation, and by this, I 16 

### mean, the more federal and state entities 17 

### involved, the less effective the oversight. 18 

### Some people wrongly believe more 19 

### oversight is synonymous with better oversight. I 20 

### respectfully disagree, for when two agencies 21 

### share oversight duties, the opportunity for both 2272

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### of them to grow lax, increases. 1 

### At the risk of oversimplification, a 2 

### possible scenario might see Agency A believing 3 

### Agency B was monitoring a specific area, and 4 

### Agency B believed Agency A was monitoring the 5 

### same area. And as a result, no monitoring 6 

### existed at all. 7 

### This dual monitoring creates a gap, and 8 

### it is simply a matter of when, not if, a problem 9 

### occurs. Furthermore, this duplicity and 10 

### oversight lessens accountability. Should 11 

### something problematic occur, the NRC points its 12 

### finger at the EPA, and the EPA points its finger 13


### at the NRC. 14 

### However, if one federal agency is fully 15 

### and solely in charge, no gaps in monitoring 16 

### exist, and as a result, this agency is held fully 17


### accountable. 18 

### To summarize, monitoring quality and 19 

### accountability are compromised when duplicity in 20 

### coverage exists. Allow me to address this topic 21 

### from my position as a resident of Crawford who 2273

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### serves as the superintendent of schools. 1 

### Cameco has a strong safety record which 2 

### extends back over 20 years. Cameco's operation 3 

### constitutes 30 percent of the Crawford tax base, 4 

### so Cameco's presence has a significant impact 5 

### both upon the town and the school district 6 

### funding. 7 

### Many spouses and parents of the Crawford 8 

### students are employed by Cameco. Crawford Public 9 

### Schools has reduced staff and expenditures to the 10 

### bare minimum. The loss of the Crow Butte mine 11 

### would be a catastrophic blow to the Crawford 12 

### public school system. 13 

### In addition, Cameco has donated several 14 

### thousands of dollars in equipment to Crawford 15 

### public schools, contributed to the town of 16 

### Crawford via the construction of a park pavilion, 17 

### and assisted with the fire department. 18 

### The local business generated either 19 

### directly or indirectly from the Crow Butte 20 

### operation significantly impacts every aspect of 21 

### Crawford and its school system. 2274

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### An aspect I deal with as a school 1 

### superintendent is standardized testing. Allow me 2 

### to use standardized testing as an analogy to the 3 

### topic at hand. Each spring, students in Nebraska 4 

### take the Nebraska State Achievement Test, and 5 

### this data largely determines, rightly or wrongly, 6 

### how a district, a school and each student is 7 

### performing. 8 

### This assessment process is monitored by 9 

### the Nebraska Department of Education, which is 10 

### overseen in some ways by the U.S. Department of 11 

### Education. This is a clean, direct system. 12 

### Local, monitored by state with minimal federal 13 

### oversight. 14 

### Suppose another federal agency should 15 

### decide to enter the educational picture, and as a 16 

### result, another set of tasks are not required to 17 

### be completed by our students. Tests that largely 18 

### assess the same facts, concepts and skills as the 19


### current test. 20 

### This duplicity in testing is asinine and 21 

### is a waste of instructional time and taxpayer 2275

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### money. So too, is the duplicity of federal 1 

### mounting of groundwater for in-situ uranium 2 

### mines. 3 

### As for health concerns expressed today 4 

### correlation does not imply causation. If this 5 

### panel does not understand the concept thought 6 

### correlation does not imply causation, time should 7 

### be spent reviewing this scientific and 8 

### statistical truth. 9 

### I just turned 50 last fall, and for 10 

### decades, I have listened to politicians and 11 

### presidential candidates use -- 12 

### (Bell rings) 13


### MR. TAEDTER: I'm almost done. 14 

### Use similar government as a platform. 15 

### And instead of smaller, more effective and more 16 

### efficient government, we have created the 17 

### opposite. A bureaucratic mess that grows thicker 18 

### and stickier each year. 19 

### I support federal oversight. I do not 20 

### support duplicity of federal oversight. The 21 

### EPA's involvement in an area already well 2276

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### regulated and monitored by the NRC is a problem 1 

### looking for a solution. As both a Crawford 2 

### resident and an employee, I'm opposed to the 3 

### proposed involvement of the EPA in this matter. 4 

### Thank you. 5 

### MR. PEAKE: Thank you. 6


### MR. DYE: Does have number 18? 7 

### MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you. 8 

### MR. DYE: I wasn't sure if he gave the 9 

### card. He didn't catch the name. So, next 10 

### speaker is Beins Wade. 11 

### MR. BEINS: Good afternoon. My name is 12 

### Wade Beins. That's B-E-I-N-S. I'm testifying 13 

### today as an individual, and not as an official 14 

### representative of any company. I'm a geologist 15 

### with 20 years of experience in the uranium 16 

### industry. 17 

### In EPA's informational brochure, the 18 

### notice for proposed rulemaking -- it's been 19 

### written that the proposed new rule would 20 

### establish groundwater restoration goals and 21 

### monitoring requirements at ISR facilities. 2277

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### The proposed rule will require 1 

### characterization of groundwater chemistry before 2 

### beginning the radium recovery operations. The 3 

### proposal also sets forth requirements to meet 4 

### restoration goals for 13 groundwater constituents 5 

### such as arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, 6 

### uranium and others. 7 

### The proposed rule would require that 8 

### uranium operators monitor the groundwater for 30 9 

### years after, after demonstrating that they 10 

### cleaned up the groundwater chemistry and that 11 

### it's restored and stable. 12 

### To read through the EPA informational 13 

### brochure, the public could be led to believe that 14 

### uranium operators do not take pre-mining baseline 15 

### water quality samples, but they do not restore 16 

### groundwater impacted during mining, and that they 17 

### do not monitor that groundwater for stabilization 18 

### after the restoration phase is finished. 19 

### Such a perception of the present day 20 

### uranium industry is not only misleading, it is 21 

### blatantly false. As one can expect, mining 2278

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### operations are subject to the oversight of 1 

### numerous federal and state government agencies, 2 

### include the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the 3 

### EPA, OSHA, the Department of Transportation, the 4 

### Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality and 5 

### Nebraska Department of Natural Resources. 6 

### The various permits and licenses that are 7 

### required to operate a modern day mining facility 8 

### must be approved prior to that operation going 9 

### into startup phase. In fact, years of baseline 10 

### quality data for water quality, water level 11 

### measurements, soil samples, air quality 12 

### measurements, geologic research, archaeological 13 

### reviews, hydrologic monitoring, environmental 14 

### impact studies, operational plans, restoration 15 

### and reclamation plans are part of every single 16 

### permit that is submitted for government approval. 17 

### Once the approval to operate has been 18 

### given, additional baseline water quality samples 19 

### are obtained from wells that are located every 20 

### four acres across the operating well field. 21 

### Those wells and the water quality in those wells 2279

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### are used to determine the parameters that will be 1 

### used for later restoration. 2 

### Groundwater is restored back to these 3 

### pre--mining levels during the restoration phase, 4 

### and then monitored for a minimum of one year of 5 

### stability. The 30 year monitoring period is 6 

### proposed by this new rule that would go into 7 

### effect after the groundwater has been restored, 8 

### and after it has already demonstrated stability 9 

### is excessive. 10 

### I ask the question, if the groundwater 11 

### has been signed off by the regulators as being 12 

### restored and stable, then what are we monitoring 13 

### for, for these 30 years? This proposed change 14 

### appears to be an attempt to delay final 15 

### reclamation and decommissioning. Why? Why would 16 

### EPA want to do this? 17 

### And I believe it's because they wish to 18 

### drag the process out for an additional 30 years, 19 

### knowing that it is expensive and cost prohibitive 20 

### to the producer. On the surface, the proposed 21 

### rule has the appearance of improving 2280

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### environmental protection, but in reality, does 1 

### very little change the existing rules that are 2 

### already in effect. 3 

### Instead, it appears that the primary 4 

### effect of the of the proposed rule would be to 5 

### burden uranium producers with an additional 30 6 

### years of needles monitoring and excessive 7 

### practices that make further development of mines 8 

### in the United States cost prohibitive and 9 

### unpredictable. 10 

### Under these uncertain conditions, the 11 

### U.S.' uranium production in this country might 12 

### well cease to exist. This proposed rule should 13 

### not be adopted in its current form. Thank you. 14 

### MR. DYE: Thank you. Next speaker is 15 

### Bruce Ellison. 16 

### MR. ELLISON: Good afternoon. My name is 17 

### Bruce Ellison. I am an attorney based in South 18


### Dakota. 19 

### I want to begin by thanking you for 20 

### having these hearings, and I want to thank you 21 

### for your proposed rules. And as I will comment, 2281

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### I think they are a step in the right direction, 1 

### but they don't go far enough to protect our 2


### water. 3 

### I also want to -- for purposes of 4 

### disclosure, I am a pro bono or volunteer attorney 5 

### representing a human rights group and individuals 6 

### from Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. As one of 7 

### the previous speakers spoke to, the Crawford Mine 8 

### -- they mine the White River formation. 9 

### The White River flows through the 10 

### northern part of the current mine site. They 11 

### want to mine on the other side, too. That river 12 

### then flows up through the Pine Ridge Indian 13 

### Reservation, and recharges the (Inaudible) 14 

### formation, which provides 60 percent of the 15 

### drinking water for the people of Pine Ridge. 16 

### I also represent the Clean Water Alliance 17 

### in actions in front of the Nuclear Regulatory 18 

### Commission as well, out of the Dewey Burdock 19 

### Project in the Southern Hills. I am not paid to 20 

### be here, unlike, I suspect, some company 21 

### representatives or people who don't want to say 2282

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### that they're speaking on behalf of the company. 1


### I'm here as a father and as a 2 

### grandfather, and I'm here because I want my 3 

### grandchildren and their grandchildren to have 4 

### what little water we have, to be in the best 5 

### quality shape that it could possibly be in. 6 

### I am here before based upon my eight 7 

### years' of experience in litigating matters in 8 

### front of state agencies and the Nuclear 9 

### Regulatory Commission, and soon, EPA on the Dewey 10 

### Burdock Project. Rather than there being enough 11 

### control and oversight, I would say that there has 12 

### been way too little, from what I have seen. 13 

### Basically, what I've heard today is that 14 

### you should not have these rules, because it costs 15 

### the company too much. And that basically, if you 16 

### have these rules that would better protect the 17 

### water, that somehow, these companies would then 18 

### leave; the same excuse they give whenever a state 19 

### says, how about a bond? 20 

### Like in Wyoming, where Cameco was not 21 

### doing its job in reclaiming. And the Wyoming VEQ 2283

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### came in and said it's going to cost $150 million 1 

### to reclaim this area you're not reclaiming 2 

### according to your promises, your permits, your 3 

### obligations. And Cameco said, oh, that's too 4 

### expensive. We can't afford that kind of a bond. 5 

### So they got the bond down to 70, $80 million. 6 

### Who picks up the rest of that tab, 7 

### assuming that $150 million would actually restore 8 

### the water? Your regulations actually go in the 9 

### right direction that regard. 10 

### Now, with regard to baseline, I like the 11 

### idea of pre-mining, but in the southern hills, we 12 

### pre pre-mining. In other words, if Dewey Burdock 13 

### wants to come in and mine an area that there's 14 

### been mining, surface mining, shaft mining before, 15 

### and that water has already been contaminated. 16 

### I would urge that your baseline go to any 17 

### pre-mining activity that has ever been in the 18 

### area, because if the true purpose of the EPA, 19 

### which I believe it is, is to protect the 20 

### environment, then we need to get our drinking 21 

### water the best quality it can. And if a foreign 2284

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### company wants to come into our communities for 1 

### their profit, sprinkle around a few jobs, a park 2 

### in addition to a school, those are all good 3 

### things. We all desperately need those, 4 

### especially in the poor communities. 5 

### But if they want to come in and make 6 

### their millions and millions of dollars, they 7 

### should not be unwilling to pay for whatever 8 

### regulations would be imposed that truly, in fact, 9 

### protect the water. 10 

### If the uranium industry was really 11 

### concerned about protecting the water, why, in 12 

### South Dakota, when the DENR twice rejected an ISL 13 

### company's permit applications, it stripped the 14 

### DENR of its authority for the legislature. 15 

### I'm never going to get close to what I 16 

### wanted to try and talk about today, but I do want 17 

### to urge the baseline be broader. I also want to 18 

### suggest this. The baseline of a well field: Is 19 

### a well field five wells, seven wells? Is it a 20 

### combination of 500 of those units? 21 

### And in any given aquifers, especially the 2285

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### Inyan Kara in the Southern Hills and even the one 1 

### here, you have a lot of variation in flows and in 2 

### the quality of water, maybe a hundred feet from a 3 

### port area, you have drinking quality water. 4 

### So, what is going to be the baseline? Is 5 

### it the best water within ever a proposed well 6 

### field? Or, what about if you have a well field 7 

### that starts out with 20 of these 5 or 7 unit 8 

### things? And that's what they test. And then all 9 

### of the sudden, they say, well, we're going to 10 

### expand it to 500. So, where is the baseline, and 11 

### how are you going to ensure that it gets back 12


### there? 13 

### I heard that the NRC is being touted as 14 

### this wonderful agency, and I'll wrap this up 15 

### quick. I have never been more disappointed as a 16 

### lawyer, as a citizen of the United States, than 17 

### watching the NRC in action lately. 18 

### They take everything that the company 19 

### says, and without doing their own independent 20 

### analyses of samples and whatnot. If the company 21 

### says, here's our data, trust us, they say okay, 2286

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### we will. Here's our models. Yeah, they don't 1 

### show any of the real problems with the faults and 2 

### the fractures, but trust us, it's not a problem. 3 

### And the NRC says, not a problem. Here's your 4 

### license. 5 

### That's what we're dealing with right now. 6 

### The NRC in the Dewey Burdock project said you 7 

### folks, the EPA, are the ones who are going to do 8 

### the serious water quality studies. And you are 9 

### the ones who determine the fast three wells and 10 

### the deep injection wells, if they are allowed, 11 

### and I would hope that you don't allow those. 12 

### But yes, sir. I thank you for your time. 13 

### Your work is important. We depend upon you to 14 

### protect our water for our future generations, and 15 

### not for those who would take a job -- and I 16 

### understand needing a job for 10, 15, 20 years. 17 

### It's not enough for our grandchildren. Thank 18


### you. 19 

### (Applause) 20 

### MR. DYE: The next speaker is Phil Curd. 21 

### MR. CURD: My name is Phillip Curd, C-U- 2287

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### R-D. I'm representing myself. 1 

### The way I understand this, the EPA has 2 

### proposed a rule to extend the monitoring time 3 

### that uranium operations must wait to approve 4 

### registration of mined areas from one year 5 

### stability to 30 years. 6 

### If this rule change is not based on 7 

### scientific proof to support this rule change, 8 

### then I am opposed to this rule change. I may be 9 

### wrong, but I think there's three sources of 10 

### carbon-free energy, or carbon-free. And that's 11 

### nuclear, and that's solar and that's wind power. 12 

### If we take away the nuclear, then we have wind 13 

### and solar. If you're a bat, a bird or a bald 14 

### eagle, you're left with solar. 15 

### MR. DYE: The next speaker is Charmaine 16 

### White Face. 17 

### MS. WHITE FACE: My name is Charmaine 18 

### White Face, C-H-A-R-M-A-I-N-E. White Face, two 19 

### words, just like it sounds. 20 

### I am not sick. My immune system is real 21 

### weak (clears throat) from going into too many 2288

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### abandoned uranium mines up in South Dakota. 1 

### There's 272. I am the coordinator for Defenders 2 

### of the Black Hills, and I will leave this with 3 

### you. It's more of a summary of my remarks. I'm 4 

### also a scientist -- a physical scientist and a 5 

### biologist. 6 

### The following are the comments of the 7 

### Defenders of the Black Hills to the proposed new 8 

### subpart of 40 CFR and the 192 that would 9 

### establish groundwater restoration goals and 10 

### monitoring requirements at ISR facilities. 11 

### Number 1: Authority of the U.S. 12 

### Environmental Protection Agency. The United 13 

### States Environmental Protection Agency does not 14 

### have any legal authority to operate within the 15 

### confines of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty 16 

### territory as outlined in the treaty, which 17 

### includes all of Western South Dakota and parts of 18 

### North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Nebraska. And 19 

### I have the legal citations in here. 20 

### To presume to do is not only a violation 21 

### of Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution, but also, 2289

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### a violation of federal law, the March 3rd act of 1 

### 1871. Furthermore, the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty 2 

### was upheld recently in two federal cases, Elk 3 

### versus the United States and Richard versus the 4 

### United States, thereby affirming the statement 5 

### that the United States Environmental Protection 6 

### Agency does not have legal authority to operate 7 

### within the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty territory. 8 

### There can be no selective enforcement of 9 

### only one article of an agreement or a treaty. 10 

### Therefore, the entire treaty is enforceable. The 11 

### following comments which I will be giving are 12 

### more based on scientific information; are not a 13 

### waiver of the rights given to the people of the 14 

### Great Sioux Nation in the articles from the 1868 15 

### Fort Laramie Treaty, but are provided only as 16 

### comments on ISR facilities, and that means all 17 

### ISR facilities, not just Crow Butte. Many ISR 18 

### facilities are currently illegally trespassing 19 

### and operating within the confines of the 1868 20 

### Fort Laramie Treaty territory. 21 

### Number 2: Inadequate groundwater 2290

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### constituents. It is commendable that the EPA has 1 

### listed 13 groundwater constituents for their ISR 2 

### determination, both before, beginning and after 3 

### ending operations. However, this number is 4 

### inadequate, and also needs to include all 5 

### radionuclides, including all the decay products 6 

### of uranium 238, a/k/a naturally occurring 7 

### uranium. 8 

### Thorium, as the first decay product of 9 

### uranium 238, also occurs in natural systems. 10 

### However, EPA, at present, does not monitor or 11 

### regulate such thorium. (See EPA Radionuclides 12 

### and Drinking Water, A Small Entity, Compliance 13 

### Guide, page 16) It's listed in there and it says 14 

### EPA, made an error. Therefore, all radionuclides 15 

### present before beginning ISR operations must be 16 

### determined, including their extent, location and 17


### amount. 18 

### Number 2 (sic): Confining areas around 19 

### uranium or thorium deposits. The confining 20 

### geologic layers must completely surround the 21 

### formation containing the deposit to be mined. 2291

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### Having only horizontal confining layers will not 1 

### ensure the lixiviant and dissolved product will 2


### not move to an area used for human and 3 

### agricultural purposes. Vertical confining 4 

### boundaries must also contain the product to be 5 

### mined. 6 

### Furthermore, the confining layers must 7 

### not be affected by the lixiviant. They must be 8 

### impermeable to the lixiviant or the dissolving 9 

### agent. The confining boundaries must be able to 10 

### totally enclose the product and lixiviant. 11 

### Number two secondary -- or number three, 12 

### secondary: Secondary porosity of an aquifer can 13 

### occur in a number of ways, including previous 14 

### bore holes, fracturing within geologic layers, 15 

### the actual characteristics of the geologic 16 

### layers, such as shale, and fracturing caused by 17 

### earthquakes, allowing the lixiviant and product 18 

### to spread further than anticipated. 19 

### Prior to the beginning of any ISR 20 

### operation, the issue of secondary porosity needs 21 

### to be studied for an area at least 200 miles in 2292

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### radius from the mine site, and the possibility of 1 

### contaminating such areas with excursions 2 

### determined. 3 

### Number 4: Adjacent aquifer 4 

### contamination. Exploratory bore holes, Breccia 5 

### pipes in certain geologic formations and faults 6 

### from prior earthquakes can cause contamination 7 

### and cross contamination from adjacent aquifers. 8 

### Such contamination must be taken into 9 

### consideration when determining groundwater 10 

### chemistry, prior to beginning alterations of an 11 

### ISR operation. 12 

### The direction of groundwater flow and the 13 

### rate of groundwater flow must also be taken into 14 

### consideration before any operation is allowed to 15 

### proceed, as well as well pressure pull from 16 

### surrounding wells, where there are huge, huge 17 

### draw downs of water, such as the Pine Ridge 18 

### Reservation has huge -- five huge wells that draw 19 

### into the (Inaudible) aquifer which Crow Butte 20 

### happens to mine into. 21 

### Independent monitoring should also occur. 2293

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### We have been studying -- through Defenders, we 1 

### have been studying all of the uranium in the 2 

### Northern Great Plains region for the last 12 3 

### years, and so, I will give this to you. It 4 

### contains a lot more information than I am able to 5 

### give right now, and I will probably be sending 6 

### another one before the May 27th deadline with 7 

### more scientific backup to these comments. 8 

### Thank you very much. 9 

### MR. DYE: Thank you. 10 

### MR. PEAKE: Thank you. 11 

### (Applause) 12 

### MR. DYE: Next speaker is Gordon Gray. 13 

### (Discussion off the record) 14 

### MR. GRAY: My name is Gardner Gray, G-R15 

### A-Y. I live just south of Pringle, in South 16 

### Dakota, and I'm here representing myself. 17 

### And I was going to say some things, but 18 

### everybody -- many other people have already 19 

### stolen what I was going to say, so I'm going to 20 

### wing this a little bit and try to be as 21


### controlled as I can. 2294

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### First of all, the medical community will 1 

### say that there's no safe level of radiation. So, 2 

### by setting limits that are not zero, other than 3 

### zero, we are not safe from the contaminants. 4 

### Environment protection. The important 5 

### words there are protection of the environment, 6 

### obviously. And you have already acknowledged 7 

### that the water in the west is important. We are 8 

### high desert here. We don't get a lot of rain, 9 

### and so what water we can get, most of which is 10 

### underground, obviously, it needs to be protected 11 

### from environmental damage. 12 

### You've also acknowledged that all water 13 

### in the west is important and needs to be 14 

### protected. That's why we're here, so that your 15 

### new regulations will go further than has 16 

### previously been experienced. 17 

### Contamination is, as you know, an 18 

### integral part of ISL mining. It cannot be done 19 

### without contamination. The very process of 20 

### removing safely -- naturally safely stored 21 

### uranium, putting that into solution, it also 2295

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### releases all of the other chemicals and poisons 1 

### and contaminants that you so clearly outlined in 2 

### your opening statements from vanadium and cadmium 3 

### and chromium and arsenic, ad nauseam. 4 

### So, we know that that's an integral part. 5 

### The issue is, how far do we go to clean it up? 6 

### Now, let's say that we have a hundred glasses of 7 

### water, and only one of them, or maybe five or 8 

### contaminated with a poison that will kill you. It 9 

### might be immediate, but it will kill you. Who is 10 

### going to want to make that choice? Who is going 11 

### to make, well, if I get that one, then I'm going 12 

### to die? 13 

### Some of the outfits in Texas who have not 14 

### been able to clean up, and they'll say, well, 15 

### it's unreasonable. I can't afford it, like the 16 

### 150 million in Wyoming. I can't afford. Well, 17 

### then, how about 70? Well, can you afford 70? 18 

### In Texas, they've had outfits that said, 19 

### I can't clean it up. Lower your standards. So, 20 

### the state lowers the standards. And then, it 21 

### becomes public that this outfit met the standards 2296

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### that were proposed and required by the government 1 

### agencies, when in fact, they haven't. The 2 

### standards had to be lowered in order for them to 3 

### get a passing grade. This kind of inadequacy is 4 

### rampant in this industry. 5 

### The NRC doesn't require any cleanup. And 6 

### in fact, the EPA doesn't. The NRC only requires 7 

### that the mining outfits reduce the contamination 8 

### to as low as reasonably achievable -- as low as 9 

### reasonable achievable, which is -- all they have 10 

### to do is say, it's unreasonable for me to spend 11 

### any more money. And lo and behold, out the door 12 

### they go, and they don't have to. Then, the cost 13 

### of this clean up is borne by the local and state 14 

### taxpayers. 15 

### The United States -- USGS has clearly 16 

### stated that there hasn't been any ISL operation 17 

### in this country that has ever been remediated to 18 

### baseline. Not one. 19 

### Now, you have heard testimony that Crow 20 

### Butte's been cleaned up and is remediated, and 21 

### the ones in Texas have met all of the standards, 2297

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### et cetera, et cetera. But as I said, you can't 1 

### clean this up. How do you de-radiate uranium? 2 

### You have to wait four and a half billion years to 3 

### even get to a half line. 4 

### How do you de-radiate and how do you de5 

### poison arsenic? If you have arsenic in your 6 

### system, chances are, you're going to die. Why 7 

### would we risk that kind of scenario? It doesn't 8 

### make sense. It's irrational to trade, for no 9 

### cost of the water, by the way, which equals 10 

### billions of gallons of usable water -- it's 11 

### insane to say, I will trade a few jobs for a few 12 

### months and a few dollars in taxes for what I used 13 

### to have as usable, clean water. 14 

### Thank you very much. 15 

### (Applause) 16 

### MR. DYE: Next speaker is Reno Red Cloud. 17 

### (Pause) 18 

### MR. RED CLOUD: Yeah, my name is Reno Red 19 

### Cloud. My last name spelled is R--E--D, C--L--O20 

### -U--D. And I represent the Oglala Sioux Tribe, 21 

### Natural Resource and Regulatory Agency. 2298

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### And today, I wanted to just give my 1 

### history and you know, my background. I worked in 2 

### water, too. I am from the Pine Ridge 3 

### reservation, the lost Sioux tribe. I'm the 4 

### great, great grandson of Chief Red Cloud. 5 

### (Clears throat) 6 

### I have been working in water -- I've been 7 

### a water -- certified water operator for 35 years, 8 

### so I do have a background in sampling water, 9 

### mainly on what to save drinking water (sic). I 10 

### have to work for the tribe for 35 years. 11 

### I've worked for the public water systems 12 

### with the OST Water and Sewer Company, and I 13 

### worked for the Mini Latoni (phonetic) Water 14 

### Project for 16 years, so, I do I have a 15 

### background, and I am a class 3 water achievement, 16 

### water distribution operator still currently. So, 17 

### I still hold certifications. 18 

### But today, I wanted to just give you 19 

### know, my input that I think there should be 20 

### stricter laws, regulations for compliance for the 21 

### mining -- in-situ mining going on in Crow Butte. 2299

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### The White River does go through our 1 

### reservation, and we do have the White River and 2 

### the Cheyenne River, and there are deep concerns 3 

### of -- like the Cheyenne River being polluted, 4 

### too, and the White River -- I would hate to see 5 

### it ever, you know, get fully contaminated with 6 

### uranium. 7 

### But I'd like to just emphasize the Safe 8 

### Drinking Water Act -- Clean Water Act. I would 9 

### like to see the EPA emphasize source water 10 

### protection, protecting our ground to surface 11 

### waters. Maybe stricter regulations of that 12 

### itself. 13 

### But one of my questions is, if there is 14 

### ever a radioactive emergency on the reservation, 15 

### does Cameco have an emergency response plan? Or 16 

### you know, whether -- if we did get a slug , who 17 

### would pay for the cleanup? 18 

### I just would like the EPA's assurance for 19 

### protecting our water resources. We do have -- we 20 

### are on the High Plains Aquifer. You have the 21 

### Arikaree, the overall aquifer. It would be very, 22100

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### very detrimental to see the overall or the 1 

### Arikaree every contaminated, and that is just a 2 

### concern I have, because of the vast users of 3


### water from South Dakota clear to Texas. You 4


### know? 5 

### But I have a concern, and sometimes, when 6 

### you think about, with water, with the Ogallala 7 

### Sioux Tribe, water is life to us. It's part of 8 

### our culture. So, it's a -- and then with my 9 

### previous experience, I worked -- there is water 10 

### quality problems on the reservation, and there 11 

### was a Congressional act in 1988 called the Mini 12 

### Watoni (phonetic) Water Project. 13 

### I don't know if you guys are familiar 14 

### with it, but it's taking source water from the 15 

### Missouri River, and it's moving it to the Pine 16 

### Ridge reservation. It's a combination of wells 17 

### and source water -- I mean, source water – 18 

### treated source water over in Fort Pierre, South 19


### Dakota. 20 

### But it is a congressional act, and it 21 

### addresses our water quality issues on the Pine 22101

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### Ridge Reservation, and it goes to the Roosevelt 1 

### Reservation in Lower Brule, so -- and it helps 2 

### nine West River counties, too. 3 

### But just today, I just want to express my 4 

### concern, that I do believe that uranium mining 5 

### needs stricter laws and regulations and 6 

### compliance, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, 7 

### somewhat annual. The more monitoring the better, 8 

### you know, for -- as my experience at being a 9 

### water operator, you've got to assure your people 10 

### and the public that you're providing them a good 11 

### quality water system. 12 

### That's just mainly what I wanted to say 13 

### today. Thank you. 14 

### (Applause) 15 

### MR. DYE: The next listed speaker is Ina 16 

### Winter. 17 

### MS. WINTER: Thank you. 18 

### (Pause) 19 

### MS. WINTER: Thank you for the 20 

### opportunity to speak on this important issue. I21 

### -N-A, Winter, just like the season, and only one 22102

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### of them. I have several points to make. A lot 1 

### of them overlap with previous comments. 2 

### The first one is water quality. I am a 3 

### retired civil engineer, so I understand some 4 

### technical issues. This is not my field, though. 5


### I was able to attend a lecture at South Dakota 6 

### School of Mines and Technology. From a mining 7 

### engineer, who talked about the chemicals used in 8 

### the process, I was stunned -- stunned at the 9 

### number of -- just categories of chemicals. 10 

### We're talking about surfactants, all 11 

### kinds of agents to do different things. And 12 

### then, there's a list of -- under each one of 13 

### those categories, individual chemicals that they 14 

### can use. And he also said that when you inject 15 

### these, you also try to pull them out -- clean 16 

### them with solvents or however that's done. He 17 

### said that it's impossible to get all of it back 18 

### out. So, water quality is a big concern for me. 19 

### Also, water quantity. While the water is being 20 

### used by the mine, it's not being able to be used 21 

### by others. 22103

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### In this juncture of human history, where 1 

### we are -- there's a lot of people. We have a 2 

### high water use. We just can't afford to give up 3 

### any water to non-essential purposes. And I 4 

### believe that uranium mining is non-essential. I 5 

### believe there's technology in the future that 6 

### will surpass the power generation needed from 7 

### uranium. 8 

### So, water quantity. The other thing is 9 

### that we have some climate change going on, and 10 

### there is a recent prediction that -- I think it 11 

### was like an 80 percent chance in the last half of 12 

### the century that there will be a mega-draught in 13 

### this part of the country. We can't afford to 14 

### lose any water. So, water quantity, as well as 15 

### quality is a concern. 16 

### Geologic stability. I'm not qualified to 17 

### say much about that, except that I understand 18 

### that fracking, which is a related process, is 19 

### under suspicion for stimulating earthquakes in 20 

### areas that aren't used to having those. So, 21 

### that's a huge concern of mine, because of not 22104

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### only the surface effects on infrastructure and 1 

### structures that aren't in areas that have 2 

### regulations that cover that, but also, because of 3 

### the opportunity to further contaminate 4 

### groundwater. 5 

### Now, here's one area that I would really 6 

### urge you to consider, and that is, regulatory 7 

### enforcement. There needs to be teeth in the 8 

### regulations. The companies need to understand 9 

### that they are being watched, and they cannot 10 

### provide you with the information you need to make 11 

### those decisions. 12 

### I have worked in the field. I know that 13 

### profit is a strong motivation for individuals in 14 

### companies to spin the facts in their favor, and 15 

### there's a lot of ways to do that. And maybe, I 16 

### can propose that a third party company be 17 

### certified by the EPA or other regulatory 18 

### agencies, and that the mining companies can then 19 

### hire them. But there has to be some really good 20 

### teeth in the regulations and oversight. 21 

### And then finally, I want to talk a little 22105

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### bit about risk analysis. And again, profit is a 1 

### strong motivator. There's nothing wrong with 2 

### profit. It's a nice thing for people to be able 3 

### to look forward to. But when you're regulating, 4 

### you need to regulate the relative risks between 5 

### health, impacts to the public. 6 

### And what I mean is, say, let's see, 7 

### chlorine in water. Okay, that's not exactly 8 

### safe, but it's necessary, because the risks of 9 

### not doing that are greater. So, instead of -- 10 

### I'm sorry, I'm kind of babbling on this point, 11 

### but I think it is important. 12 

### Rather than number of jobs and economic 13 

### activity that's generated, you should really look 14 

### at the relative health risks. If it's important 15 

### for individuals in a mining area to take on 16 

### health risks, there should be a good solid 17 

### benefit to the communities, to the people as a 18 

### whole. Thank you. 19 

### MR. DYE: Thank you. 20 

### (Applause) 21 

### MR. DYE: This is all of the listed 22106

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### speakers that we have for this session. Does 1 

### anybody new that has spoken yet, want to say 2 

### anything? 3 

### (No response heard) 4 

### MR. DYE: Okay. Then has anybody that's 5 

### already spoken want to come up again to say 6 

### anything new, and not a rebuttal to anybody else? 7 

### (Discussion off the record) 8 

### MR. DYE: Come right up, ma'am. 9 

### MS. PETERSON: My name is Sarah Peterson, 10


### P-E-T-E-R-S-O-N. 11 

### I have prepared something, but again, it 12 

### pretty much goes in line with most people -- 13 

### people have already said, so I'd like to just hit 14 

### some different points. 15 

### I was upon -- I first became aware of 16 

### radioactivity and death as a result of 17 

### radioactivity in the '70s, at the Rocky Flats 18 

### Nuclear Power -- it wasn't a power plant. It was 19 

### an arms plant between Colden and Boulder, 20


### Colorado. 21 

### I had friends graduate from high school 22107

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### that got very, very good jobs there, and I 1 

### watched them turn yellow and green and gray, and 2 

### then, they died. The whole time, the EPA, the 3 

### Defense Department and the NRC was saying there 4 

### is no radioactivity at this facility at all. 5 

### Yet, this continued to happen. 6 

### And I would hate to see history repeat 7 

### itself. You know, if we don't learn from our 8 

### history, we are doomed to repeat it. When Rocky 9 

### Flats was finally closed, the EPA came in and did 10 

### the tests, and this was all underground bunkers, 11 

### where the plutonium triggers were made for the 12 

### nuclear bomb. And people were working in the 13 

### glove boxes to put these together. This is 14 

### underground in cement bunkers. 15 

### The plan was to clean up what they could, 16 

### and again, I don't know of any way of cleaning up 17 

### radioactivity. And if you do, please tell me, 18 

### because (laughs) I am not aware of this. 19 

### The land above what was Rocky Flats 20 

### Nuclear Weapons Plant was going to be -- this was 21 

### the whole big plan. They were going to have a 22108

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### big open space for day use. They were going to 1 

### have ponds and playgrounds and picnic areas. 2 

### And after the underground area was -- I 3 

### don't know, filled in with concrete -- I'm not 4 

### sure what they did, the land above that facility 5 

### -- the EPA decided, with the tests that had been 6 

### done, that the ground was too radioactive for day 7



### use. 8 

### And that came after the damage had been 9 

### done. And I see a lot of damage in this country 10 

### being done by foreign corporations coming in. 11 

### And we are giving them our water. This is our 12


### water. 13 

### We are giving them our water to pollute 14 

### and kill us. You know? We don't have water 15 

### around here, and don't let this last snow storm 16 

### fool you any. You know? We're still below the 17 

### average for the year. You know? We get these 18 

### spurts of water, and in the meantime, everything 19 

### dries out. 20 

### The EPA -- that's what I have to say 21 

### about this. This is very dangerous, and I wish 22109

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### that you would study your history. 1 

### The Dewey Burdock area has been mined, as 2 

### it was said. It is already contaminated. 3 

### Powertech said that there were 3,000 bore holes - 4 

### - that's exploration bore holes, which the 5 

### industry calls punching holes in the ground. As 6 

### far as I'm concerned, the earth protects us from 7 

### the uranium. The minute we punch holes into our 8 

### mother, that's opening it up for snow and rain to 9 

### go down. And that radioactivity and the other 10 

### heavy metals are carried down with the water into 11 

### our aquifers. 12 

### The actuality of the number of bore holes 13 

### that have been punched into the ground at the 14 

### Dewey Burdock area is over 7,000. 15 

### Azarga/Powertech, once again, put down a number 16 

### that was not accurate, and it has been accepted 17 

### until we got the Tennessee Valley authority's 18 

### historical information on that. 19 

### Thank you. And I will give you what I 20 

### had written, but you also have it up there. 21 

### MR. DYE: Thank you. 22110

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### (Discussion off the record) 1 

### MR. DYE: Anyone else? 2 

### (Applause) 3 

### MALE SPEAKER: I will -- 4 

### MR. DYE: Please state your name again 5 

### and spell it, so I have it. 6 

### MR. ELLISON: Bruce Ellison. E-L-L-I-S7 

### O-N. I'm just going to zero in on two areas of 8 

### your proposed regulations. 9 

### I applaud the requirement of the return 10 

### to baseline. I'm very concerned about the idea 11 

### that if it can't be achieved, whatever that 12 

### means, that you can give an excuse to 13 

### contaminate. 14 

### The regulations -- this should all be 15 

### able to be foreseen. We've gone from agencies 16 

### that required a whole lot of testing up front 17 

### before licenses were issued to agencies that 18 

### simply say, well, you promise that you'll do your 19 

### test, and if there's a problem, we'll deal with 20 

### it later. That's kind of backwards, I would 21 

### submit. 22111

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### There should be a pretty limited area of 1 

### excuses given by the EPA to allow for any 2 

### increases in the levels of the elements and 3 

### minerals that are being monitored, that are being 4 

### of concerned, and an explanation as to why that 5 

### wasn't known up front. Because otherwise, there 6 

### isn't an ISL company, I would submit to you, in 7 

### this country, that isn't going to come back and 8 

### say, well, we can't do the baseline because they 9 

### technologically can't do it, and then go for 10 

### higher. 11 

### So, you've got a good start by returning 12 

### to baseline, because that's more than even South 13 

### Dakota requires anymore, but don't let the 14 

### companies get away by coming in and just saying, 15 

### well, we can't do it. So okay, you can do higher 16


### levels. 17 

### The other thing I want to address -- and 18 

### a fact in point, we heard that Crow Butte Mine 19 

### One was signed off. Yes, it is. The uranium and 20 

### the arsenic levels are 10 times that they were 21 

### baseline. Ten times what they were baseline. 22112

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### That's according to the USGS study that was done 1 

### a few years ago. 2 

### So, that to me, says what you are 3 

### attempting to address could have prevented that 4 

### increase with careful oversight. Now, 30 years 5 

### of monitoring. I applaud that. The questions 6 

### that I would ask you to consider are, will the 7 

### company post a bond for 30 years? How are you 8 

### going to get them to do that? If the company 9 

### goes bankrupt or just simply ceases to exist, 10 

### then who pays for that? 11 

### So, I applaud the 30 year monitoring. I 12 

### think it's at a minimum. We know some of these 13 

### aquifers move slowly. You know, once you shut 14 

### the pumps off, everything starts to flow down 15 

### flow. So, if 40 years from now or 50 years from 16 

### now, if somebody starts to impact wells, because 17 

### the matter wasn't cleaned up, up front, that's a 18 

### problem. 19 

### Who's going to be responsible for it? 20 

### Who's going to give us back our water? So, I 21 

### would urge you that when you look at the 30 22113

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### years, how is it realistically going to be 1 

### monitored? Please don't have the company do it. 2 

### You guys have got to do it. You've got to. 3 

### And I heard a suggestion of hiring a 4 

### third party company. As long as it is truly an 5 

### independent company and doesn't simply become the 6 

### right arm or the left arm of the ISL operator, 7 

### which too often happens with these so-called 8 

### independent operations. 9 

### So, I again thank you for holding these 10 

### hearings. I thank you for your suggestions. 11 

### Please go further than you have with protecting 12 

### our water. You've got a great start. Since the 13 

### NRC is advocating its responsibility to you 14 

### folks, we are depending upon you. 15 

### Thank you. 16 

### MR. PEAKE: I have a question for you. 17 

### MR. ELLISON: Yes, sir. 18 

### MR. PEAKE: Were you -- you didn't say 19 

### the words, but were you alluding to the 20 

### provisions for the alternative concentration 21 

### limits, the ACLs? 22114

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### MR. ELLISON: Yes. Yes. In other words, 1 

### for example, in the NRC or within the state of 2 

### South Dakota, the same basic approach. Well, we 3 

### want you to get back to baseline, but if you 4 

### can't, let us know. We'll give you alternative 5


### levels to reach. 6 

### South Dakota, even after the company came 7 

### in and bought our legislature changed things to 8 

### the point that even if you can't meet that first 9 

### additional level, come back again. We'll give 10 

### you a higher level. 11 

### The most expensive part of this -- an ISL 12 

### operation is reclamation. What you are 13 

### attempting to do is to hold the company somewhat 14 

### accountable -- much more than they have been for 15 

### that heavy cost. And that's where the problem 16 

### with the bankruptcy is. We've got Superfund 17 

### sites in the Black Hill because companies went 18 

### bankrupt. The bonds were insufficient. 19


### Don't -- we'll need more. We need 20 

### whatever little water we have. So, yes, the 21 

### alternative figures -- I understand there may be 22115

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### some circumstances that this mining is allowed, 1 

### but that's going to be necessary. But it should 2 

### be the exception, rather than the rule. And my 3 

### concern is, is that the way the rules are 4 

### proposed, it too easily allows for it to become 5 

### the rule because that's the way the industries 6 

### have been used to operating since ISL operations 7 

### began. 8 

### Thank you. Did that answer your 9 

### question, sir? 10 

### MR. PEAKE: Yes, it did. 11 

### MR. ELLISON: All right. Thank you. 12 

### MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you. 13 

### (Applause) 14 

### MR. DYE: Anybody else in the room to 15 

### speak? Yes, ma'am. One again, will you state 16 

### your name and spell it please. 17 

### MS. HENDERSON: Hi. My name is Susan 18


### Henderson. H-E-N-D-E-R-S-O-N. I am the cattle 19 

### rancher from the Edgemont area. 20 

### I just wanted to say that the USGS report 21 

### that Mr. Ellison was referring to, I looked at 22116

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### that, and it showed, of course, that the arsenic 1 

### and uranium levels had increased ten-fold. And 2 

### so, I thought, well, how can this be? 3 

### So, I called up the NDEQ in Lincoln, 4 

### Nebraska, and they said, well, we're very upset 5 

### about this, but the company managed to get these 6 

### levels changed before the project began. So, 7 

### technically, they're in compliance. I can't do 8 

### anything about it. I'd like to do something 9 

### about it, because we're really worried about it. 10 

### So, what needs to happen here is we need 11 

### to have tremendous oversight, and Mr. Ellison 12 

### made a comment about our legislature. There is a 13 

### substantial number of the hundred members of the 14 

### South Dakota legislature that bought stock in 15 

### Powertech/Azarga. 16 

### There a substantial number of county 17 

### commissioners in Fall River County that bought 18 

### stock in Powertech/Azartga. They bought it at -- 19 

### from six to $10. It's now trading at -- Azarga 20 

### is trading at about 38 cents a share. The latest 21 

### takeover from Azarga, you had to put in 10 shares 22117

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### of Powertech to get that. 1 

### So, your $10 investment has gone from ten 2


### bucks to three and a half cents. And there are a 3 

### lot of powerful people in South Dakota that want 4 

### to have this company succeed somehow, so that 5 

### they can get their money back. And you know 6 

### what? We can't afford this. The environment 7 

### can't afford it. Agriculture can't afford it. 8 

### Cities and towns can't afford it. No one can 9 

### afford these relationships. 10 

### Thank you. 11 

### MR. DYE: Thank you. 12 

### (Applause) 13 

### MR. DYE: Anyone else in the room? Yes, 14 

### sir? 15 

### (Discussion off the record) 16 

### MR. GRAY: I promise I won't overstay my 17 

### invitation. We've had reference to -- 18 

### MR. DYE: Please state your name. 19 

### MR. GRAY: Oh, I'm sorry. Gardner Gray, 20


### G--R--A--Y. 21 

### We've had testimony that says that the 22118

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### science that is out there proves that these kind 1 

### of ISL operations are safe and benign. 2 

### Powertech/Azarga will tell you that. 3 

### Well, what is the science? If you look 4 

### at company science, they will say it's safe and 5 

### benign. Well, we know that's not true. If you 6 

### take independent science, Dr. Stone, Dr. Rahm 7 

### (phonetic) from School of Mines, highly respected 8 

### individuals, they will tell you something 9 

### different. They will tell you that there is 10 

### transmissibility between aquifers of water. It 11 

### can go up. It can go down. 12 

### What's the process, and why is it 13 

### contaminating? Well, if you take from a safe, 14 

### natural storage, uranium, and you put that into 15 

### solution, it also puts all those other chemicals 16 

### into solution. And when you take out a one to 17 

### three percent bleed in order to kind of power 18 

### this operation, you take out one to three percent 19 

### of not just the lixiviant, but of these 20 

### chemicals. 21 

### Now, what do we do with those chemicals? 22119

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### This bleed is contaminated. It is, because 1 

### that's the nature of the beast. Once it's 2 

### contaminated, they take one to three percent, 3 

### call the bleed, and they have three options to do 4 

### this at Dewey Burdock. 5 

### One is to put it into the deadwood 6 

### aquifer. That will make that aquifer unusable. 7 

### The other is they will put it into the Minnelusa, 8 

### an aquifer that is already in use by a great many 9 

### people in the Southern Hills. Well, if you 10 

### contaminate that with radioactive material, 11 

### including arsenic, et cetera, et cetera, then 12


### that one becomes unusable. 13 

### Well, there's only four down there. The 14 

### other two are the Madison and in the Inyan Kara. 15 

### Well, the Inyan Cara is the main aquifer from 16 

### which they want to take this uranium. 17 

### Well, if they put all that stuff into 18 

### solution, then that part of the aquifer will be 19 

### unusable. So, that leaves the Madison. We had 20 

### four. Now we're down to one. And this is the 21 

### science. 22120

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### The science says that the Madison will 1 

### most likely get contaminated because of the 2 

### fissures and the cracks and the movement of the 3 

### earth. This is a small, but it is an earthquake 4 

### area. We've had two or three in the last 20 5 

### years or so -- 25 years. 6 

### So, this poison can go from one place to 7 

### another, and you can't clean it up, which is why 8 

### the NRC doesn't require it. And by your own 9 

### admission at your introductory comments, was that 10 

### you’ve tried to get as safe as possible. Well, 11 

### that's not getting it safe. If you have it as 12 

### low as reasonably achievable, that is not safe. 13 

### The science says it's not safe. 14 

### The opponents to your changes, which I, 15 

### too, as well as most of us here, applaud -- well 16 

### now, see, I just spaced out. I forgot what I was 17 

### going to say. Oh, somebody's glass is up here. 18 

### So, just very quickly, the science says 19 

### this is bad news. What we've done is traded that 20 

### science for some money. And I don't want to 21 

### receive money if it's going to risk my 22121

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### grandchildren's' water supply. I don't want to 1 

### take some extra little tax money or a little 2 

### money from the state, and the state builds a 3 

### park, or the state does this with this mining 4 

### money, at the risk of -- any risk; 1 percent 5 

### chance of it happening. 6 

### We know it's going to be contaminated. 7 

### We just don't know to what extent it's going to 8 

### be contaminated. And so, that's -- when I said 9 

### take one glass out of a hundred, is that the one 10 

### that's contaminated? If it's a 1 percent chance, 11 

### you have a 1 percent chance of drinking that 12 

### contaminated water. I don't want to take that 13


### chance. 14 

### I've been in situations where I had a 15 

### 50/50 chance of getting through. And it's not 16 

### fun. But there was still a 50 percent chance 17 

### that I might not make it. 18 

### Well, even if it's five percent, even if 19 

### it's one percent, is it rational or fair to the 20 

### public, fair to wildlife, who need the water? Is 21 

### it fair to a lot of these companies to get away 22122

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### with this? 1 

### If you include in your discussions what 2 

### Colorado did when Powertech wanted some ISL money 3 

### down there, they said absolutely, you can mine. 4 

### All you have to do is guarantee us that you can 5 

### clean up the water. Just give us that one 6 

### guarantee. Prove it to us,that you can do it, 7 

### and then, give us a list of a few more in the 8 

### country that have accomplished that, and you can 9 

### mine. We only care about the quality of the 10 

### water the quantity. Make it safe. Make it safe. 11 

### If they cannot do it safely, if -- true 12 

### safely -- remove those contaminants. If they 13 

### can't remove them, then you must deny their 14 

### application. You cannot allow them to 15 

### contaminate the water. It's too precious. Thank 16


### you. 17 

### MR. DYE: Anyone else that wants to say 18 

### something new that's not a rebuttal? 19 

### MR. HOLLENBECK: I'm Mark Hollenbeck, H20 

### O-L-L-E-N-B-E-C-K. I'm the project manager for 21 

### the Dewey Burdock Project, but I'm here on my own 22123

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### accord. 1 

### As you may be aware, the NRC 2 

### commissioners asked their staff to look into this 3 

### issue as to whether or not there was 4 

### contamination caused by in-situ. The NRC staff 5 

### has a memo to their commissioners. It's a well 6 

### circulated memo. 7 

### The staff is unaware of any situation 8 

### indicating that the quality of groundwater in 9 

### nearby Water Walk supply well has been degraded, 10 

### the use of a water supply well has been 11 

### discontinued, or a well has been relocated 12 

### because of the impacts attributed to an ISR 13 

### facility. 14 

### And at our hearing in Rapid City, the 15 

### science experts from the other side were 16 

### repeatedly asked if they had any evidence to the 17 

### contrary. They had none. I think there's been a 18 

### misconception perpetrated here that this water 19 

### that we're mining in, whether it's uranium or 20 

### it’s pristine water. It is not. 21 

### It is not usable water today. The radium 22124

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### in that water is up to 1,200 times drinking water 1 

### standards. Now, radium, if you drink it, looks 2 

### like calcium to your body and it goes into your 3 

### bones. Uranium, for the most part, passes 4 

### through. This is a reduced environment, is why 5 

### the uranium is there, and so there's very little 6 

### uranium in the water. 7 

### There is a lot of radium in the water. 8 

### And every one of these that I've looked at that 9 

### has been restored, the radium, which is the more 10 

### hazardous constituent, has been reduced. The 11 

### uranium has increased, but when you increase it 12 

### from a drinking water standard just slightly or 13 

### even 10 times, when it is very low, there isn't 14 

### much reduction. 15 

### The reduction in radium improves the 16 

### quality of water. I would say that this hearing 17 

### or this rule that someone else said, is kind of 18 

### searching for a problem. When the NRC staff 19 

### hasn't been able to find a problem, I'm not sure 20 

### what the EPA is looking for. 21 

### And then, the other issue is on baseline 22125

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### -- on returning this water to baseline. Any 1 

### reclamation project, returning whatever it is 2 

### you're working on to a usable condition after 3 

### you're done is the goal. There is not a single 4 

### city in the United States that I'm aware of that 5 

### returns their water to baseline. 6 

### There is nobody that returns -- I'm still 7 

### waiting for the first project that's returned to 8 

### baseline. If you go and affect something, you're 9 

### not going to return it to baseline, or you 10 

### wouldn't have had an effect on it. And so, we 11 

### want to return it to its usable condition as it 12 

### is today. And that's the goal of any 13 

### reclamation, whether it's surface mining or if 14 

### it's a water project. The goal is to return it 15 

### to a usable condition -- the same usable 16 

### condition that it is today, and that has been 17 

### successfully done. 18 

### And I thank you for your time, for coming 19 

### to this part of the country and hearing us. 20 

### Thank you. 21 

### MR. DYE: Anyone else with something new? 22126

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### No rebuttals? All right. We'll go in recess, 1 

### see if any more speakers show up. If not, we'll 2 

### be in recess until four o'clock. 3 

### [Recess taken] 4 

### MR. DYE: We'll go ahead and get back in 5 

### session. Is there anyone else that showed up 6 

### that wants to speak? 7 

### MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Do you have any 8 

### questions? 9 

### (Discussion off the record) 10 

### MR. DYE: Since there's no further 11 

### comments, I will conclude this public hearing. 12 

### MALE SPEAKER: Whoa, whoa, please. 13 

### MR. DYE: Whoa. Does somebody want to 14 

### speak? I'm sorry. 15 

### MR. HARVEY: My name again, is Edward 16 

### Harvey. I'm from -- 17 

### MS. ROSENCRANTZ: What was your name 18 

### again? 19 

### MR. HARVEY: Edward Harvey. H-A-R-V-E-Y. 20 

### I would like to applaud you for opening 21 

### this to us, and I would also like to applaud you 22127

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### for extending the sample times in these areas. I 1 

### think to me, it doesn't make much sense to 2 

### monitor an above ground containment of a mill 3 

### tailings pile for decades, and yet, the very same 4 

### pile in the aquifer you're trying to protect in 5 

### the first place, you're only going to monitor for 6 

### a year. And it makes no sense. 7 

### So, I think your 30 year is a very good 8 

### start on how long this should really be done. 9 

### Thank you. 10 

### MR. DYE: All right, thank you. 11 

### MR. HARVEY: You all have a great time, 12 

### and I hope you enjoyed your stay here. 13


### MR. DYE: If there are no further 14 

### comments, I will conclude this public hearing 15 

### session. Officially closed at 4:00 p.m. 16 

### [Whereupon, at 4:00 p.m., the Public 17 

### Hearing, Session 1, was adjourned.] 18


### P R O C E E D I N G S 19 

### Session 2 20 

### MR. DYE: -- are Ingrid Rosencrantz from 21 

### Tom Peake from the Office of Radiation and Indoor 22128

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### Air. This hearing is now in session. Please, 1 

### everyone make sure and put your cell phones on 2 

### silent, if you would. 3 

### We are all here today to listen and 4 

### receive your comments on EPA's proposed revisions 5 

### to Health and Environmental Protection Standards 6 

### for Uranium and Thorium Mill Tailings, also known 7


### as 40 CFR Part 192. 8 

### EPA is proposing to revise the rule by 9 

### adding an additional Subpart F to explicitly 10 

### address groundwater protection at uranium in-situ 11 

### recovery operations. EPA announced this proposed 12 

### rule in the Federal Register on January 26th, 13 

### 2015. The comment period started on that date, 14 

### and it has been extended to May 27th, 2015. 15 

### In a moment, Ingrid will explain in more 16 

### detail what was proposed in that notice, but 17 

### before I turn it over to Ingrid, let me explain a 18 

### little bit about how this hearing will work. 19 

### There were two sessions today, one this 20 

### afternoon from 1 to 4, and this one, from 6 to 8. 21 

### Please be sure you have checked in at the 22129

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### registration desk even if you are not planning to 1 

### speak today. 2 

### I will call the scheduled speakers to the 3 

### podium. When it is your turn to speak, please 4 

### state your name, spelling your last name for the 5 

### court reporter, and your affiliation, before you 6 

### begin your testimony. And I want to apologize 7 

### now if I mispronounce anybody's name. I'll do 8 

### the best I can. Your comments will be 9 

### transcribed and included in the record of 10 

### comments on the proposed rule. 11 

### In order to ensure everyone has the 12 

### opportunity to speak, and to ensure fairness, 13 

### please limit your testimony to five minutes. 14 

### We'll have the timer going. The yellow light 15 

### will come on when you have one minute left to 16 

### speak, and then, the red light, when your time is 17 

### up. At that time, you will be asked to complete 18 

### your testimony. 19 

### If you have more to say after your five 20 

### minutes are up, and you would like to speak again 21 

### with information that is new and discrete from 22130

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### your previous testimony, and it is not a rebuttal 1 

### to someone else's testimony, we'll be happy to 2 

### have you speak again. 3 

### Please sign up to speak again at the 4 

### registration desk and you will then be called 5 

### again after the other speakers. After you finish 6 

### your testimony, members of the panel may ask 7 

### clarifying questions. We are not here today to 8 

### answer any questions about the proposed rule. If 9 

### you have any questions about the process, please 10 

### find one of the EPA representatives after the 11 

### hearing. 12 

### If you have written copies of your 13 

### testimony or supporting documentation or notes, 14 

### please give a copy to our staff at the 15 

### registration table. This will be helpful as we 16 

### prepare the transcript. 17 

### If you have any additional comments you 18 

### would like to make, you can submit them in 19 

### writing. Those comments must be received by 5 20 

### p.m. on May 27th. 21 

### Let me assure you that EPA gives just as 22131

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### much consideration to comments that we receive in 1 

### writing as we do to comments we receive at public 2 

### hearings like this one. Instructions for 3 

### submitting comments are included in a fact sheet 4 

### at the registration table. You can pick up a 5 

### copy at that table outside the door. 6 

### If you would like to testify but have 7 

### not yet registered to do so, please sign up at 8 

### the registration table outside this room. Now, 9 

### let me turn it over to Ingrid, who will summarize 10 

### the proposed rule. 11 

### MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you, Bob. 12 

### Again, my name is Ingrid Rosencrantz, and 13 

### I am the technical lead on this proposed 14 

### rulemaking. As Bob said, I'm going to go through 15 

### and share a bit more on the details involved in 16 

### the rulemaking context. 17 

### So basically, the proposal provides 18 

### standards for NRC and NRC agreement states to use 19 

### that direct that uranium in-situ facilities 20 

### return groundwater to as close to pre-mining 21 

### conditions as possible, and ensure that 22132

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### geochemistry and flow of the groundwater remains 1 

### stable over time. 2 

### In-situ recovery is now the most common 3 

### method for extracting uranium. There are no 4 

### specific standards for this type of process, and 5 

### NRC and NRC agreement states use the existing, 6 

### more general standards under 40 CFR 192 to permit 7 

### these facilities on an ad hoc basis. 8 

### What we are proposing to do is to add an 9 

### additional Subpart F that explicitly addresses, 10 

### actually, groundwater protection, restoration and 11 

### stability at in-situ recovery operations. We're 12 

### proposing that groundwater be adequately 13 

### characterized before operation begins; that after 14 

### operations cease, the aquifer is restore to 15 

### initial groundwater conditions, and that 16 

### facilities ensure that post restoration 17 

### groundwater conditions remain stable. 18 

### Specifically, we're proposing groundwater 19 

### protection standards be set for 13 constituents. 20 

### These constituents include arsenic, barium, 21 

### cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, selenium, 22133

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### silver, nitrate as nitrogen, molybdenum, combined 1 

### radium 226 and radium 228, total uranium and 2 

### gross alpha particle activity, excluding radon 3 

### and uranium. Basically, the standard would be 4 

### set at the MCL or background, whichever is 5 

### higher. 6 

### To implement these standards, EPA is 7 

### proposing monitoring requirements for all phases 8 

### of the operation; both beginning before 9 

### operations begin to establish baseline, during 10 

### operations, during restoration and after 11 

### restoration, to ensure that stability is 12 

### continued. In addition, the proposal requires 13 

### corrective action when it's necessary. 14 

### That's the basic summary of the 15 

### requirements of the proposed rule. Details can 16 

### be found in the Federal Register notice. Many 17 

### folks maybe have seen this. This is the actual 18 

### proposal. 19 

### And we're welcoming written comments as 20 

### well as these verbal comments you'll be offering 21 

### today. If folks would like to submit comments in 22134

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### writing, you can go to www.regulations.gov, and 1 

### the docket number is docket ID number EPA-HQ-OAR2


### 2012-0788. 3 

### So, we welcome any comments you'd like to 4 

### submit. I'll turn it back over to you then, Bob. 5 

### That's it. Thank you. 6 

### MR. DYE: Thank you, Ingrid. I'd like 7 

### to now call the first scheduled speaker, Kathy 8 

### Stokey. So as I said, please spell your name and 9 

### state who you are representing for the court 10 

### reporter. Yes, ma'am. 11 

### MS. STOKEY: Kathy Stokey, K-A-T-H-Y, S12 

### T-O-K-E-Y, resident of Chadron. And I'd like to 13 

### thank you for allowing me to make these comments. 14 

### The Crow Butte uranium mining facility 15 

### located about four miles east of the city of 16 

### Crawford, Nebraska, has been a part of that 17 

### community since 1989. This facility uses an in18 

### situ recovery process to extract uranium from the 19 

### basal Chadron sandstone aquifers below the ground 20 

### surface. Leaching solution enters the formations 21 

### through the injection wells and flows to the 22135

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### recovery wells. 1 

### Uranium rich leaching solution is drawn 2 

### from the recovery wells for processing into 3 

### yellow cake at CBR Central Processing Plant. The 4 

### Crow Butte uranium mining facility has proven to 5 

### be a good neighbor to Crawford and the 6 

### surrounding area. 7 

### Crow Butte and Chemical Resources have 8 

### given much back to the community. Examples of 9 

### their generosity include their donation to the 10 

### volunteer fire department in Crawford. Volunteer 11 

### fire fighters are better prepared to respond to 12 

### chemical fires and other toxic environments 13 

### thanks to a donation of self-contained breathing 14 

### apparatus that replace their outdated equipment. 15 

### In 1991, the pavilion in the Crawford 16 

### City Park was destroyed by fire. Chemical 17 

### Resources donated the funds to replace that 18 

### facility with an all weather building for use by 19 

### community members, clubs and organizations. This 20 

### facility has been a great addition to the town of 21


### Crawford. 22136

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### Chemical Resources also provides math and 1 

### science scholarships to graduating seniors. In 2 

### 2010, the Crawford High School received new 3 

### computer-aided design, computer-aided 4 

### manufacturing equipment to help prepare students 5 

### for high tech jobs in industry. For a small 6 

### school in a community of this size, this is a 7 

### wonderful opportunity for these students that 8 

### would not have been as fortunate without the 9 

### generosity of Chemical Resources. 10 

### Years ago, a retired local gentleman 11 

### named Virgil Couch, began gathering used toys, 12 

### lovingly repairing them and making them like new 13 

### to donate them to children in the area who might 14 

### otherwise have not received anything for 15 

### Christmas. Mr. Couch eventually became too frail 16 

### to continue this work, and later passed away. 17 

### The community was in danger of losing a 18 

### valuable and beloved holiday tradition. Chemical 19 

### Resources' employees stepped in however, to 20 

### create the Virgil Couch Toy Program, similar to 21 

### the U.S. Marine Corps reserves Toys for Tots. 22137

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### Employees and others in the community 1 

### donate new toys and cash to assure no child in 2 

### the area goes without a present at Christmas, and 3 

### that Virgil Couch's name lives on in the work he 4


### loved. 5 

### The Crow Butte uranium mining facility 6 

### has provided many well paying jobs with excellent 7 

### benefits to a community with a limited number of 8 

### options for employment. These employees that 9 

### live and work in this community take great pride 10 

### in working for an employer that is concerned with 11 

### maintaining an outside record of safety, keeping 12 

### the environment safe for all who live there, and 13 

### giving back to the community. 14 

### The 40 CFR Part 192 rules are going to 15 

### have a major effect on Crow Butte resources and 16 

### the U.S. uranium extraction industry, its 17 

### employees, the businesses that provide goods and 18 

### services to this industry and the local 19 

### communities where this industry is active. 20 

### I believe the EPA has a responsibility to 21 

### ensure that the concerns of various stakeholders 22138

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### are not just considered, but analyzed and weighed 1 

### in detail. All we are asking is that you delay 2 

### the proposed rule until a proper economic 3 

### analysis can be completed. 4 

### And I've lived in this community for a 5 

### long time. I know the people that work there -- 6 

### have known them for most of their lives. They're 7 

### good people, and they would never do anything to 8 

### hurt the community or the groundwater or anything 9 

### that has to do with the business. They're really 10 

### good people, and I know that they're safe. Thank 11


### you. 12 

### MR. DYE: Thank you. 13 

### MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you. 14 

### MR. DYE: Next speaker is Ralph Knode. 15 

### MR. KNODE: My name is Ralph Knode, K-N16 

### O-D-E. First of all, I want to thank the EPA for 17 

### taking the time to get outside of Washington, 18 

### D.C. and come out and listen to people that are 19 

### affected by the rulemaking that you're proposing 20 

### today. 21 

### The comments that I'm going to offer are 22139

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### mine -- personal comments and my opinion. They 1 

### have nothing to do with -- other than my own 2 

### thoughts. I'm a land owner here in Dallas 3 

### County, Nebraska. The White River, which you 4 

### heard a lot about today, runs right through my 5


### farm. 6 

### I irrigate my crops with water from the 7 

### White River. My wife, my children, my 8 

### grandchildren drink water from aquifers that are 9 

### above and adjacent to where the mining has taken 10 

### place for the last three decades. I have worked 11 

### in the in-situ leach industry for over 30 years. 12 

### I'm a geologist by training. I know what I'm 13 

### talking about. 14 

### I spent substantial time reviewing the 15 

### proposed rulemaking, all 193 pages of it. And I 16 

### looked at the letters from the scientific 17 

### advisory board and their recommendations to the 18 

### administrator of the EPA, and I've got a few 19 

### comments that I'd like to make, some 20 

### observations. 21 

### One, and I'll get to this later, if 22140

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### there's more time -- apparently, the EPA has no 1 

### clue what's going on when we characterize 2 

### baseline groundwater quality at uranium mines 3 

### today. I listened to your statement twice today, 4 

### and you give the impression that there is some 5 

### gap in data collected. Well, you don't 6 

### understand the process, then. 7 

### But I digress. The EPA is required to 8 

### perform a cost benefit analysis when they propose 9 

### rulemaking. And they need to know what the costs 10 

### and the benefits of that -- of the impact of that 11 

### regulation would be. You were tasked with that. 12 

### I've looked at the cost estimate provided 13 

### in this rulemaking, and it is flawed beyond 14 

### belief. It's my personal opinion you're probably 15 

### off by an order of magnitude. So, when you say 16 

### there's a dollar fifty per pound of cost 17 

### associated with this rulemaking, I believe you're 18 

### off by a factor of ten. And I looked and I 19


### looked and I looked for where there was a more 20 

### representative analysis of this cost, and it's 21


### not there. 22141

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### The benefits. You have two tables. You 1 

### list the benefits. It's a possible this or a 2 

### potential this. There's no concrete benefits 3 

### that are cited. As a matter of fact, you can't - 4 

### - you say you can't quantify them. So, if you 5 

### can't quantify a benefit, how can you do a cost 6 

### benefit analysis? It's deeply flawed. 7 

### Another point. There were many 8 

### recommendations made by the scientific advisory 9 

### board that it looks to me, like they went largely 10 

### ignored by the EPA in this rulemaking process. A 11 

### couple that I would point out. 12 

### The EPA was advised that they should look 13 

### at the -- and survey the extensive monitoring 14 

### data that was available. The EPA says there is 15 

### no data available. The state of Nebraska, the 16 

### state of Wyoming, the state of Texas have huge, 17 

### huge archives of groundwater quality that has 18 

### been derived before, during and after uranium 19 

### mining in all three states. I suggest you look 20


### at that. 21 

### The other recommendation. The EPA should 22142

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### expand the report -- the report being the 1 

### proposed rulemaking, to discuss among other 2 

### things, natural attenuation. So, I searched your 3 

### document three times this morning to find the 4 

### words natural attenuation. They are not even in 5 

### there. How can we have this discussion without 6 

### an understanding of natural attenuation that 7 

### happens as groundwater moves? It's unbelievable. 8 

### And the most egregious finding of all, 9 

### the comment, and I quote from your document, 10 

### "nevertheless, we believe there is sufficient 11 

### information available to indicate practices are 12 

### related to groundwater protection and ISR 13 

### facilities have not been sufficiently rigorous to 14 

### provide confidence either that groundwater is 15 

### being restored appropriately, or that such 16 

### restoration will persist into the reasonably 17


### foreseeable future." 18 

### What's egregious about this? The fact 19 

### that you support this comment with a footnote to 20 

### a National Resource Defense Council document 21 

### that's not a peer reviewed document, that -- it's 22143

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### unbelievable that you would use a document like 1 

### that to support your findings in this rulemaking. 2 

### I cannot believe it. 3 

### Okay. Finally, what I'm seeing is 4 

### proposed rulemaking is carried out to the point 5 

### of absurdity. This is an attempt by the EPA and 6 

### others to halt uranium by its own methods. In 7 

### doing this, you are denying my children, my 8 

### grandchildren, my friends and my neighbors the 9 

### right to earn a living, just like people have 10 

### been doing for the last 30 years in Dawes County. 11 

### If you want to know what's going on, take 12 

### a look at the data that's available. There are 13 

### many residents that live within a mile or less of 14 

### the existing uranium mine. That water quality is 15 

### there. It's there for the taking. 16 

### This rulemaking is -- this is a matter of 17 

### a solution looking for a problem. I strongly 18 

### urge you to withdraw the proposed rulemaking. 19 

### Thank you very much. 20 

### MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you. 21 

### MR. DYE: Thank you. 22144

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### MR. PEAKE: Thank you. 1 

### MR. DYE: Next speaker is Lillias Jones 2 

### Jarding. 3 

### MS. JARDING: That's Lillias, L-I-L-I-A4 

### S. The last name is J-A-R-D-I-N-G. 5 

### Thank you for the opportunity to address 6 

### you. I am Dr. Lillias Jarding of Rapid City, 7 

### South Dakota. My PhD is in political science 8 

### with an emphasis on environmental policy. I have 9 

### done research on uranium mining and followed the 10 

### industry for over 35 years. I have presented 11 

### papers on uranium at professional conferences and 12 

### been published in peer reviewed journals. 13 

### My research indicates that the main 14 

### concern here, which has been present since the 15 

### industry began, is water. In the old days, many 16 

### tons of mill tailings were left open to water, 17 

### air and the public, and some of these tailings 18 

### are still sitting, exposed, decades and billions 19 

### of taxpayer dollars later. 20 

### Radioactive mine wastes and pits were 21 

### left open, including in the Black Hills, where 22145

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### the EPA is currently studying one old mine under 1 

### (Inaudible). Company after company went 2 

### bankrupt. In the Black Hills, there are 169 old 3 

### uranium mines and prospects, according to your 4 

### agency. Only a handful have been reclaimed by 5


### the state. 6 

### The modern uranium industry hasn't done 7 

### any better. The CEO of a uranium company once 8 

### told me that excursions are an expected aspect of 9 

### in-situ mining, and the record indicates this is 10


### true. 11 

### The Crow Butte mine near here has 12 

### experienced 68 license violations and reportable 13 

### incidents. In the last two years, there have 14 

### been seven excursions. In the same time period, 15 

### at Lost Creek mine in Wyoming, there have been at 16 

### least five spills of mining fluids, one of which 17 

### flowed outside the permit boundary. 18 

### The water has never been returned to its 19 

### pre-mining condition at any of the ISL operations 20 

### I have studied. Common post-mining contaminates 21 

### are tracked by the new rule. One additional that 22146

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### should be added to your list is vanadium. 1 

### My research indicates that the NRC is 2 

### understaffed and outmaneuvered by uranium 3 

### companies, or is simply a victim of 4 

### administrative capture by the uranium industry. 5 

### For South Dakota, NRC regulation is done 6 

### from its Texas office, which covers 22 states. 7 

### While only a few of these states have operating 8 

### mines, the office only has two inspectors. It 9 

### has to call in people from other distant 10 

### locations to do inspections. 11 

### Typically, when a company says that it 12 

### has done mining, the NRC increases permissible 13 

### pollutant limits and lets the companies close the 14 

### mines without cleaning up the water. Over the 15 

### past six decades, the uranium industry and the 16 

### NRC have given us every reason to be concerned. 17 

### The proposed rule is overdue, and EPA's standards 18 

### need to be updated to address ISL operations, 19 

### which have become the most common type of uranium 20 

### extraction in the U.S. 21 

### In the western states, water is our most 22147

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### critical resource, and in the Black Hills, 1 

### communities and ranches rely on groundwater. It 2 

### needs to be protected to the highest standards. 3 

### In South Dakota, we have one more reason for 4 

### supporting EPA regulations such as this for all 5


### states. 6 

### In 2011, legislation passed in South 7 

### Dakota which suspended state regulation of ISL 8 

### mining, leaving all activities except passive 9 

### monitoring to federal authorities. If mining 10 

### starts in South Dakota, state regulators could 11 

### literally watch while companies engaged in any 12 

### sort of problematic behavior, but would not be 13 

### able to take enforcement action. 14 

### While the company's argument for this 15 

### change was that mining is overregulated, history 16 

### shows the opposite. So, we are at the mercy at 17 

### any of the 11 uranium companies that have shown 18 

### an interest in the Black Hills, if federal 19 

### regulators do not take an active role. We 20 

### believe that the proposed rule allows the EPA to 21 

### take a more active and welcome role in protecting 22148

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### our groundwater. 1 

### I wish to make one final point. Studies 2 

### indicated as far back as the 1970s that 3 

### groundwater quality can get worse after 4 

### restoration is over. Clearly, monitoring must be 5 

### done for a long time, given the essentially 6 

### permanent characteristics of radioactivity. 7 

### I think the proposed rules 30 year 8 

### monitoring requirement is the minimum that should 9 

### be required, and funding to do the monitoring 10 

### should be collected as mining occurs, so that it 11 

### can be completed without further burden to the 12 

### taxpayer. 13 

### These proposed rules are an important 14 

### step forward. I urge the enactment of this new 15 

### standard in its strongest form in all states. It 16 

### is good policy. Thank you. 17 

### MR. DYE: Thank you. 18 

### MR. PEAKE: Can we have your statement? 19 

### DR. JARDING: It’s sort of scratched up. 20 

### I'll drop it off in the hall. 21 

### MR. PEAKE: Okay. Just submit something 22149

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### in writing. 1 

### DR. JARDING: Okay. I will be. 2 

### MR. PEAKE: Okay, thank you. 3 

### MR. DYE: Next speaker, Gena Parkhurst. 4 

### MS. PARKHURST: My name is Gena. It's 5 

### spelled G--E--N--A. Last name, P-A-R-K-H-U-R-S6 

### T, and I'm representing myself. I live in Rapid 7 

### City, South Dakota. 8 

### Good evening, members of the EPA panel. 9 

### I want to thank you for holding this hearing in 10 

### Chadron, Nebraska. I do live in Rapid City, 11 

### South Dakota, and while South Dakota has never 12 

### had an ISL uranium mine, our state does have a 13 

### history of open pit uranium mining. 14 

### Currently, a company known as Powertech 15 

### or Azarga, A-Z-A-R-G-A, is attempting to get the 16 

### permits necessary to start an ISL uranium mine in 17 

### southwestern South Dakota, and part of this 18 

### project would take place on the actual site of 19 

### two abandoned, open pit uranium mines that have 20 

### not been cleaned up, and one of them is about a 21 

### square mile in size, and is called the Darrow 22150

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### Pits mine. 1 

### What's more, the NRC, Nuclear Regulatory 2 

### Commission, permitting process has revealed that 3 

### there are about 7,500 old bore holes in the 4 

### proposed project area. Geologist, Dr. Hannan, H5 

### A-N-N-A-N, LaGarry, L-a-G-A-R-R-Y, and a team of 6 

### students determined that there is no reason to 7 

### assume that this proposed mine would be able to 8 

### confine mining solutions. 9 

### I encourage you to strength the proposed 10 

### rule so that it addresses such potential sources 11 

### of groundwater pollution, because sadly, our 12 

### state of South Dakota has given up regulation of 13 

### such mines. So, we do need strong regulation in 14 

### South Dakota, and this rule is a good start. 15 

### I also encourage you to address spills, 16 

### pond leaks and other sources of potential 17 

### groundwater pollution, such as geological faults 18 

### and fractures which abound in the Black Hills of 19 

### South Dakota, where uranium is found. 20 

### I also urge you to clarify how this rule 21 

### will be implemented by a state like South Dakota 22151

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### which has no regulations to speak of for ISL 1 

### uranium mining. I urge you to ensure that the 2 

### standards are implemented fully by enforcement. 3 

### In conclusion, the proposed rule is a 4 

### good start. However, it needs to be strengthened 5 

### in certain areas. Thank you for your time. 6 

### MR. DYE: Thank you. Next speaker 7 

### Tatyana Novikova. 8 

### Good evening. My name is Tatyana 9 

### Novikova, T-A-T-Y-A-N-A, N-O-V-I-K-O-V-A. I 10 

### thank you for giving me the floor. I represent 11 

### myself. And I am a permanent resident of Black 12 

### Hills, South Dakota. And I am an experienced 13 

### environmental activist from Belarus. It's a 14 

### European country, defending the environment and 15 

### health of the citizens from the risks of Russian 16 

### nuclear corporations and opposing the 17 

### construction of nuclear power plants in Belarus. 18 

### I know what is water and soil 19 

### contamination because of Chernobyl. Chernobyl is 20 

### the biggest radioactive accident in the history 21 

### of nuclear power. 22152

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### The contamination by radionuclides, the 1 

### half-life of which is about thousands of years 2 

### for people living on the land -- is forever. We 3 

### do not know of a case in which the nuclear 4 

### industry has cleaned up the pollution from 5 

### dangerous leaks of radioactive materials into the 6 

### environment or completely restored the land. 7 

### This has not happened in any case of Chernobyl, 8 

### nor in the case of Fukushima. 9 

### Technology in-situ-leaching does not 10 

### exclude the contamination by the radionuclides 11 

### into the drinking water, including uranium 238, 12 

### which is a strong carcinogen with a half life of 13 

### about four billion years. There is no way, no 14 

### technology to clean up the groundwater from this 15 

### contamination. And an example of Wyoming, Willow 16 

### Creek side of ISL shows that. 17 

### That's why I am convinced that the only 18 

### way to clean up the land from the deadly 19 

### radionuclide contamination is to prevent deadly 20 

### and irresponsible activity. 21 

### The new regulation of the EPA's health 22153

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### and environmental protection standards for 1 

### uranium and thorium mill tailings is the first 2 

### step in the right direction of protection of the 3 

### natural resources such as drinking water. But 4 

### this law has to have the necessary mechanisms of 5 

### protection. 6 

### In other words, it needs to be completed 7 

### by the rules which address the problems of 8 

### contamination and leaks; rules describing when 9 

### and in which cases the extraction activity has to 10 

### be stopped, as well as the conditions in which 11 

### the permission for extraction can be denied. 12 

### I think that our common aim as well as 13 

### the aim of this new set of regulations is to 14 

### protect the natural resources on which our life 15 

### and health depends. That's why these regulations 16 

### should not and could not respond to the poorly 17 

### economic interest of industry, because doing so 18 

### would confer the right to contaminate and kill. 19 

### Thank you for your attention. 20 

### MR. DYE: Thank you. 21 

### MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you. 22154

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### MR. DYE: Next speaker is Bob Tiensvold. 1 

### MR. TIENSVOLD: My name is Bob Tiensvold, 2 

### T-I-E-N-S-V-O-L-D. I am a mine manager at 3 

### Chemical Resources Crow Butte operation in 4 

### Crawford, Nebraska. 5 

### Chemical Resources is America's largest 6 

### uranium producer. This includes the Crow Butte 7 

### in-situ uranium mine near Crawford. In addition, 8 

### Chemical Resources has potential future growth 9 

### sites in Nebraska which are also envisioned as 10 

### in-situ operations. 11 

### Chemical Resources is a United States 12 

### corporation. We are a wholly owned subsidiary of 13 

### Chemical Corporation of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, 14


### Canada. 15 

### Chemicals production in Canada, 16 

### Kazakhstan and the United States supplies about 17 

### 30 percent of the uranium needs of the United 18 

### States nuclear power industry. Nuclear power 19 

### accounts for nearly 1/5 of U.S. electricity and 20 

### is America's largest source of emission free 21 

### energy, far exceeding hydro, wind and solar 22155

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### combined. 1 

### We believe that the proposed rule, which 2 

### features 30 years of monitoring, would have 3 

### significant negative consequences to our company, 4 

### our industry, rural communities, small businesses 5 

### and the nation. These consequences would result 6 

### from a rule as written that is not based on 7 

### science and that offers no quantifiable benefits 8 

### to the environment or human health and safety. 9 

### Scientists and other professionals from 10 

### our company, the uranium industry and academia 11 

### will offer written testimony detailing our 12 

### concerns. Let me offer these general 13 

### observations: 14 

### Modern in-situ uranium mines have 15 

### operated responsibly to protect the environment 16 

### and to assure the safety of their workers and the 17 

### public. Our Crow Butte mine has been in 18 

### commercial production for 24 years. During all 19 

### of those years, we have protected the 20 

### groundwater. 21 

### Further, Chemical Resources' sites have 22156

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### been made available to researchers for major 1 

### universities and from Los Alamos National 2 

### Laboratory for important groundwater studies, 3 

### some of the work partially funded by the EPA, 4 

### itself. Several of these studies were presented 5 

### at the 2015 In-situ Recovery of Uranium Research 6 

### symposium on April 21st at the University of 7 

### Wyoming in Laramie. 8 

### There were encouraging results that 9 

### relate to the effectiveness of restoration. It 10 

### concerns us that the latest research is not being 11 

### taken into account in the proposed rule. The 12 

### proposed EPA rule seeks to put in monitor 13 

### requirements that are not based on science, and 14 

### is being forward, when more good science is 15 

### emerging. That would not support the rulemaking 16 

### moving forward. 17 

### We are equally concerned that the socio 18 

### economic impacts of the proposed rule have not 19 

### been examined. From an economic impact study by 20 

### the University of Wyoming, we know that every 21 

### Chemical Resources job in Nebraska creates 22157

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### another 1.6 jobs in the state. 1 

### The annual economic benefits to Nebraska, 2 

### direct and indirect from chemical operations at 3 

### full production include 191 jobs and $22.1 4 

### million in payrolls, purchases, taxes, royalties, 5 

### et cetera, every year. At present, jobs and 6 

### production are down as the industry manages 7 

### through a depressed market. 8 

### The proposed rule would impose 30 years 9 

### of additional costs to companies, including ours, 10 

### threatening the viability of planned expansion 11 

### and new development, even while the long-term 12 

### need for uranium and nuclear energy remains 13 

### strong. 14 

### Jobs and tax revenue in Nebraska already 15 

### have declined significantly as Crow Butte awaits 16 

### approval of expansion sites necessary to maintain 17 

### past production levels. The EPA itself concludes 18 

### that US domestic uranium production will decrease 19 

### with implementation of the proposed rule, because 20 

### suppliers cannot pass the higher costs onto the 21 

### market, which is dominated from production in 22158

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### other countries. These higher costs threaten 1 

### local jobs, tax revenues and small businesses. 2 

### Chemical Resources respectfully requests 3 

### the EPA delay the rule until science based 4 

### proposals can be developed and social and 5 

### economic factors can be appropriately considered. 6 

### The consequences of a rash decision to implement 7 

### quickly are too great to push ahead with a rule 8 

### that is not based on science and that does not 9 

### take into account all potential impacts. 10 

### Thank you for coming to Chadron and to 11 

### the other cities close to America's uranium 12 

### production. 13 

### MR. PEAKE: Thank you. I have question 14 

### for you. 15 

### MR. TIENSVOLD: Okay. 16 

### MR. PEAKE: In the proposal, there is 17 

### also the possibility to shorten the 30 years 18 

### significantly with the combination of the 19 

### stability monitoring and geochemical modeling. 20


### MR. TIENSVOLD: Mm-hmm. 21 

### MR. PEAKE: Are you all going to have 22159

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### comments on that -- 1


### MR. TIENSVOLD: Yes. 2 

### MR. PEAKE: -- so that you're not solely 3 

### locked into the 30 years? 4 

### MR. TIENSVOLD: Yes. Yeah, that will be 5 

### written comments supporting that. 6 

### MR. PEAKE: Okay, thank you. 7


### MR. TIENSVOLD: Mm-hmm. 8 

### MR. DYE: Thank you. 9 

### MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you. 10 

### MR. DYE: The next speaker is Doug 11 

### Leeling (phonetic). 12


### MR. LEELING: You can move to the next 13 

### speaker. 14 

### MR. DYE: You're the last one listed. 15 

### MR. LEELING: I'm obviously not prepared. 16 

### MR. DYE: Okay. 17 

### MR. LEELING: I'll review the online. 18 

### MR. DYE: Okay, that's fine. 19 

### That is all the speakers that we have 20 

### listed for this evening right now that are here. 21 

### Does anybody that has spoken wish to speak? 22160

OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, #810, Washington, DC 20036 Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376

Toll Free: 888-445-3376 

### (No response heard) 1 

### MR. DYE: Okay. Is anybody that has 2 

### spoken want to say more that would be new and not 3 

### a rebuttal of something somebody else said? 4 

### (No response heard) 5 

### MR. DYE: Okay. In that case, we will 6 

### recess until more speakers show up or until 8:00, 7 

### whichever comes first. 8 

### [Off the record - 6:37 p.m.] 9 

### [On the record - 8:00 p.m.] 10 

### MR. DYE: We will reconvene the hearing. 11 

### If anyone in the audience would like to come 12 

### forward to speak, please do so. 13 

### At this time, if I have no more speakers 14 

### come, we will end the hearing at 8:00. 15 

### [Whereupon, at 8:00 p.m., the Public 16 

### Hearing, Session 2, was adjourned.] 17

18

19

20

21

22