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1 Environmental Protection Agency 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 Public Hearing for 

7 Health and Environmental Protection 

8 Standards for Uranium and 

9 Thorium Mill Tailings 

10 

11 

12 

13 

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

15 Tuesday, May 12, 2015 

16 

17 Chadron State College, Student Center 

18 Scott Bluffs Rooms 

19 1000 Main Street 

20 Chadron, NE 69337 

21 

22 
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1 

2 ATTENDEES 

3 

4 EPA: 

5 BOB DYE, EPA Regional Office, Kansas City 

6 INGRID ROSENCRANTZ, Center for Waste Management 

7 and Regulations, Radiation Protection 

8 Division, EPA 

9 TOM PEAKE, Director, Center for Waste 

10 Management and Regulations, Radiation 

11 Protection Division, EPA 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 

21 

22 
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1 C O N T E N T S 

2 PAGE 

3 SESSION 1 

4 SANDRA RODGERS (Unaffiliated) 13 

5 SANTANA TAMARAK, Western Nebraska 

6 Resources Council 16 

7 EDWARD STARR, Pine Ridge Reservation 21 

8 BUFFALO BRUCE, Western Nebraska 

9 Resources Council 24 

10 DON CUNY, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation 26 

11 TONYA STANDS, Ogallala Sioux Tribe 30 

12 DAVE CARLSON, Unaffiliated 34 

13 ROLAND SKINNER, Unaffiliated 37 

14 WEBB JOHNSON, Dawes County Commissioner, 

15 District Number 3 41 

16 NANCY KILE, Unaffiliated 43 

17 LARRY TEAHON, Manager, Safety Health 

18 Environmental Quality 48 

19 JAKE STEWART, Dawes County Commissioners, 

20 Chadron, Nebraska 50 

21 ED HARVEY, Unaffiliated 53 

22 SUSAN HENDERSON, Unaffiliated 58 
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1 MARY DONAHUE, Dawes County Resident 63 

2 DEB COTTIER, Executive Director, 

3 Nebraska Northwest Development Corporation 67 

4 RICHARD TAEDTER, Superintendent of schools, 

5 Crawford, Nebraska 70 

6 WADE BEINS, Unaffiliated 76 

7 BRUCE ELLISON, Attorney, South Dakota 80 

8 PHIL CURD, Unaffiliated 86 

9 CHARMAINE WHITE FACE, Coordinator 

10 Defenders of the Black Hills 87 

11 GARDINER GRAY, Unaffiliated 93 

12 RENO RED CLOUD, Oglala Sioux Tribe, 

13 Natural Resource and Regulatory Agency 97 

14 INA WINTER, Unaffiliated 101 

15 SARAH PETERSON, Unaffiliated 106 

16 BRUCE ELLISON, Unaffiliated 110 

17 SUSAN HENDERSON, Cattle Rancher 115 

18 GARDINER GRAY, Unaffiliated 117 

19 MARK HOLLENBECK, Project Manager, 

20 Dewey Burdock Project 122 

21 EDWARD HARVEY, Unaffiliated 126 

22 
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1 C-O-N-T-E-N-T-S 

2 PAGE 

3 SESSION 2 

4 KATHY STOKEY, Unaffiliated 134 

5 RALPH KNODE, Unaffiliated 138 

6 DR. LILLIAS JARDING, Unaffiliated 144 

7 GENA PARKHURST, Unaffiliated 149 

8 TATYANA NOVIKOVA, Unaffiliated 151 

9 BOB TIENSVOLD, Mine Manager 

10 Chemical Resources, Crow Butte 154 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 

21 

22 
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1 P R O C E E D I N G S 

2 SESSION 1 

3 MR. DYE: Good afternoon, everyone. My 

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

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

6 I will be presiding over the hearing today. 

7 Joining me on the panel are Ingrid 

8 Rosencrantz and Tom Peake from the Office of 

9 Radiation and Indoor Air and Headquarters. This 

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

11 would everyone please make sure and put their 

12 cell phones on vibrate or silent. Thank you. 

13 We are all here today to listen and 

14 receive your comments on EPA's proposed revisions 

15 to Health and Environmental Protection Standards 

16 for Uranium and Thorium Mill Tailings, also known 

17 as 40 CFR Part 192. 

18 EPA is proposing to revise the rule by 

19 adding an additional Subpart F to explicitly 

20 address groundwater protection at uranium in-situ 

21 recovery operations. EPA announced this proposed 

22 rule in the Federal Register on January 26th, 
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1 2015. The comment period started on that date, 

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

3 moment, Ingrid will explain in more detail what 

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

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

6 how today's hearing will work. 

7 There will be two sessions today, one 

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

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

10 have checked in at the registration desk even if 

11 you are not planning to speak today. 

12 I will call the scheduled speakers to the 

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

14 state your name, spelling your last name for the 

15 court reporter, and your affiliation, before 

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

17 apologize now if I mispronounce anybody's name. 

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

19 transcribed and included in the record of 

20 comments on the proposed rule. 

21 In order to ensure everyone has the 

22 opportunity to speak, and to ensure fairness, 
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1 please limit your testimony to five minutes. 

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

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

4 when the red light comes on, your five minutes 

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

6 testimony. 

7 If you have more to say after your five 

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

9 with information that is new and discrete from 

10 your previous testimony, and it is not a rebuttal 

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

12 have you speak again, if there is time. 

13 Please sign up to speak again at the 

14 registration desk and you will be called again 

15 after the other speakers. After you finish your 

16 testimony, members of the panel may ask 

17 clarifying questions. We are not here today to 

18 answer any questions about the proposed rule. 

19 If you have any questions about the 

20 process, please find one of the EPA 

21 representatives after the hearing. 

22 If you have written copies of your 
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1 testimony or supporting documentation, please 

2 give a copy to our staff at the registration 

3 table. This will be helpful as we prepare the 

4 transcript. 

5 If you have any additional comments you 

6 would like to make, you can submit them in 

7 writing. Those comments must be received by 5 

8 p.m. on May 27th. 

9 Let me assure you that EPA gives just as 

10 much consideration to comments that we receive in 

11 writing as we do to comments we receive at public 

12 hearings like this one. Instructions for 

13 submitting comments are included in a fact sheet 

14 at the registration table. You can pick up a 

15 copy at that table by the door. 

16 If you would like to testify but have 

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

18 the registration table outside this room. Now, 

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

20 the proposed rule. 

21 MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you, Bob. I 

22 appreciate that. Well, welcome, everyone. I'm 
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1 glad to see everyone here. We have a nice big 

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

3 interested in participating. 

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

5 through the rule and give you a little bit of 

6 background, and also, some more detailed overview 

7 of the requirements of the rule. 

8 Basically, our proposal provides 

9 standards for NRC and NRC agreement states to use 

10 to direct that uranium in-situ facilities return 

11 groundwater to as close to pre-mining conditions 

12 as possible, and ensure that geochemistry and 

13 flow of the groundwater remains stable over time. 

14 In-situ uranium recovery is now the most 

15 common method for extracting uranium, and there 

16 are no specific standards for this type of 

17 process, and NRC and NRC agreement states use the 

18 existing, more general standards under 40 CFR 192 

19 to permit these facilities on an ad hoc basis. 

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

21 an additional Subpart F that explicitly addresses 

22 groundwater protection restoration and stability 
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1 at in-situ recovery operations. We're proposing 

2 that groundwater be adequately characterized 

3 before operation begins, that after operation 

4 ceases, the aquifer is restored to initial 

5 groundwater conditions, and that facilities 

6 ensure that post-restoration groundwater 

7 conditions remain stable. 

8 Specifically, we're proposing groundwater 

9 protection standards be set for a minimum of 13 

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

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

12 and in the regulation itself. 

13 The specific constituents include 

14 arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, 

15 mercury, selenium, silver, nitrate as nitrogen, 

16 molybdenum, combined radium 226 and radium 228, 

17 total uranium, and gross alpha particle activity, 

18 excluding radon and uranium. 

19 Okay, that's the list of constituents, 

20 and basically, the standard would be set at the 

21 MCL or Maximum Contaminant Level, or background, 

22 whichever is higher. 
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1 To implement the standard, EPA is 

2 proposing monitoring requirements for all phases 

3 of the operation; before operations begin to 

4 establish background, during operations, during 

5 restoration and after restoration, to ensure that 

6 stability is continued. In addition, the 

7 proposal requires corrective action when it's 

8 necessary. 

9 That's a basic summary of the 

10 requirements of the proposed rule. Again, we 

11 would be happy to receive your comments in 

12 writing. We will also capture your comments here 

13 as part of the hearing. 

14 If folks would like to submit comments in 

15 writing, they can do so electronically to the 

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

17 it is actually on our web site and in the 

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

19 well. 

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

21 0788, and you can find that docket on 

22 www.regulations.gov, so it makes it very easy to 
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1 submit your comments electronically. Would you 

2 like me to restate that? 

3 (Inaudible portion) 

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

5 description. It doesn't actually exclude one. 

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

7 what's included in gross alpha does not include 

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

9 just that one constituent of gross alpha. 

10 So again, we'd love to have your 

11 comments. We are in the comment phase of this 

12 rulemaking. Next steps will be for EPA to 

13 carefully consider all comments that we receive, 

14 and then move forward with the final rulemaking. 

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

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

17 first speaker now. It's Sandra Rodgers. 

18 (Discussion off the record) 

19 MS. RODGERS: Okay. My name is Sandra 

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

21 South Dakota. I am not affiliated with anyone, 

22 though I am active with the Clean Water Alliance 
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1 and the Dakota Rural Action. 

2 (Discussion off the record) 

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

4 an email talking about some in-situ leach 

5 process, excursions, Crow Butte, Nebraska, 

6 Nichols Ranch, Wyoming, Lost Creek, Wyoming, 

7 Smith Ranch, Wyoming, PRI Highland, Wyoming, 

8 North Butte, Wyoming. Willow Creek had been 

9 Christianson Ranch, Wyoming, and our concerns are 

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

11 And I'm grateful to you for proposing the 

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

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

14 well excursion incidents and one evaporation pond 

15 liner leak. This is just Crow Butte. 

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

17 declaration of the World Uranium Symposium, 2015. 

18 This is the declaration held in Quebec City, 

19 Canada. This was not the first symposium. 

20 We solemnly decree that -- now, there 

21 were 300 people from 20 countries in Quebec in 

22 April. We solemnly declare that we reaffirm the 
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1 declaration of the World Uranium Hearing in 

2 Salzburg, Austria in 1992 of the Indigenous World 

3 Uranium Summit in Wendell Rock, Navajo Nation, 

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

5 Basel, Switzerland in 2010. 

6 Uranium and its associated radioactive 

7 substances must remain in their natural location. 

8 We demand a worldwide ban on uranium exploration, 

9 mining, milling and processing, as well as the 

10 reprocessing of nuclear waste and their 

11 responsible management of radioactive waste. 

12 We call on all states, authorities and 

13 peoples to recognize and respect the rights of 

14 indigenous people, including the right to self 

15 determination and to free prior informed consent 

16 achieved through the independent fair 

17 transparency and impartial process, and to cease 

18 the pursuit of uranium and nuclear related 

19 activities on indigenous peoples' lands in 

20 violation of these rights. 

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

22 up front, but this is nothing new, and as I 
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1 stated, 300 delegates signed this, and because of 

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

3 posted it all over Facebook on two different 

4 sites, and people are still signing this 

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

6 MR. DYE: Thank you. 

7 COURT REPORTER: Do you have an extra 

8 copy of your written statement? 

9 MS. RODGERS: I do. 

10 COURT REPORTER: Okay, perfect. 

11 MS. RODGERS: Thank you very much. 

12 MR. DYE: The next speaker will be 

13 Santana Tamarak. 

14 MR. TAMARAK: Okay. My name is Santana 

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

16 president of Western Nebraska Resources Council, 

17 and I do want to thank EPA and panel for 

18 providing us with this opportunity. So, thanks. 

19 WNRC currently is an admitted intervener 

20 in the NRC proceedings involving Crow Butte, and 

21 we believe that the EPA and the FBI should 

22 likewise take control of the Crow Butte mine and 
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1 taken away from CUB and away from the NRC staff. 

2 Nowhere is there greater need for a close 

3 scrutiny by regulators and investigators than in 

4 the nuclear industry. Nuclear power is not a 

5 forgiving technology. The Nuclear Regulatory 

6 Commission has not maintained an arm's length 

7 regulatory posture, and in some critical areas, 

8 has abdicated its role as regulator altogether. 

9 Now, based on the EPA's dissatisfaction 

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

11 WNRC does support the current development of 

12 those proposed rules. 

13 Long-term environmental impacts can 

14 result if restoration processes do not return 

15 aquifers to their pre-operational state, and the 

16 restoration process, likewise, cannot be assumed 

17 to be fully restored. The permeability 

18 characteristics of the host rock and changes in 

19 the hydrologic properties in those rocks during 

20 extraction and in restoration processes can have 

21 long-term, long-term effects. 

22 So, once again, we support the 
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1 application of the proposed rules to the Crow 

2 Butte operation. In some cases, mills have 

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

4 is our feeling that the lixiviant continues, even 

5 if a decision is made to stop extracting uranium. 

6 And it's our view that stopping the extraction 

7 cycle must be interpreted as an end to the 

8 operational phase, and should trigger initiation 

9 of the restoration phase. 

10 WNRC believes that the EPA should 

11 investigate these monitoring wells that have been 

12 on excursion status for many years. 

13 The proposed rules -- also, the EPA has 

14 sought advice from the Radiation Advisory 

15 Committee, and we support many of the 

16 recommendations that that committee has brought 

17 up, identifying indicators, defining background 

18 and groundwater conditions; very importantly, 

19 building in flexibility to modify the design and 

20 implementation of these monitoring programs as 

21 new information and new technologies become 

22 available. So, once again, we believe that the 
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1 RAC recommendations are good ones and should be 

2 incorporated. 

3 It is my contention that water and water 

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

5 be very careful about how we deal with those 

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

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

8 processing is an unforgiving kind of technology, 

9 and we have to be quiet careful with it. 

10 In finality then, it is wonderful for us 

11 to have vast visions, but it is inappropriate for 

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

13 MR. PEAKE: I have a question, an 

14 additional clarification. 

15 In your comments, you had mentioned 

16 something about excursion status. Could you put 

17 that a little bit more in context to what you 

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

19 your comments. 

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

21 what you're asking, but -- 

22 MR. PEAKE: If you could just go back to 
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1 the comments where you were mentioning excursion. 

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

3 the operations and standby. 

4 MR. TAMARAK: Right. There are different 

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

6 definitions to when a particular well is being 

7 monitored and when it sits on a standby mode, 

8 then it's not currently involved in a restoration 

9 process. Okay? 

10 And it's our feeling that a standby mode 

11 should immediately initiate a restoration to that 

12 particular well and monitoring that follows with 

13 that. Is that clear? 

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

15 MR. TAMARAK: Yeah, sometimes they're 

16 confusing, even for me -- some confusing 

17 definitions of what is considered an active mine 

18 and what isn't. 

19 MR. PEAKE: Okay, thank you. 

20 (Discussion off the record) 

21 MR. DYE: Our next speaker will be Edward 

22 Starr. And please, as the others have done, 
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1 spell your name and state who you're representing 

2 for the court report. 

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

4 I'm from the Pine Ridge Reservation just right 

5 across the state line. 

6 You know, today I wanted to just come and 

7 make some statements about our water 

8 contamination that's happening on the res. I 

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

10 miles from here along the White River. They call 

11 it Maka Izita, smoking earth, because it was 

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

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

14 Izita (phonetic). 

15 And my grandma used to tell me stories 

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

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

18 comes right through the Crawford Crow Butte. The 

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

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

21 but I had to take -- go through radiation 

22 treatment to kind of put it in remission. 
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1 But that's not what -- I'm a part-time 

2 instructor with all the Lakota colleges. And 

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

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

5 testing the water at different times. 

6 And they're monitoring -- first, the 

7 readings, like selenium and -- well, they 

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

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

10 But lately, the readings were increasing, and 

11 they're wondering what that is. 

12 Then, I heard about the mining going on 

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

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

15 were increasing, so I think it was just three 

16 months ago, they were testing the tap water. 

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

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

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

20 something happening, I guess. 

21 And they work -- like the Indian Health 

22 Service and the OST Sewer and Water resource -- 
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1 they all work together to try to monitor the 

2 water system. And I think the concern about 

3 tailings -- like in Edgemont who had some 

4 tailings -- uranium tailings at Igloo, South 

5 Dakota that usually, the wind comes this way, 

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

7 (sic). 

8 In 1981, there was a series of SIDS, 

9 Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. A lot of babies 

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

11 happening. And at the hospital, the doctors were 

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

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

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

15 something that was kind of covered over at that 

16 time. 

17 And I think all of this area is part of 

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

19 to consider that portion of the 1868 treaty; that 

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

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

22 people. 
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1 And every day, we face the genocide, 

2 extermination, and this uranium that they're 

3 digging, mining is another contribution to that. 

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

5 consideration. 

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

7 to the next speaker. 

8 MR. STARR: Okay. 

9 MR. DYE: Thank you. 

10 MR. STARR: Thank you. 

11 MR. DYE: Next is Buffalo Bruce. 

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

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

14 like to thank you for agreeing to conduct this 

15 hearing where the action is, here in Dawes 

16 County, Nebraska. I have a packet here with 

17 comments from the Western Nebraska Research 

18 Council, which I'll be giving you. 

19 It's the comments from the senior 

20 intervener regarding uranium in-situ extraction 

21 in the United States, Western Nebraska Resources 

22 Council. 
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1 We commend your approach for effective 

2 aquifer quality rehabilitation, but believe the 

3 proposed standards do not go far enough. With 

4 water becoming so rare a commodity, western 

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

6 greater depth than ever before. 

7 These documents clearly outline the solid 

8 credibility of the 1989 Whistleblower's Concern 

9 Summary detailing the presence of faults and 

10 fault lines throughout the Crow Butte mining area 

11 with current scientists with brief 

12 recommendations from the current research and the 

13 expert opinions on the geological setting. 

14 I'm going to cut my comments short, 

15 because there are a lot of folks here that are 

16 more scientifically -- have better scientific 

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

18 you so much for your time and allowing me to 

19 testify on this today. That's all. 

20 MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thanks. 

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

22 I'm going to ask you to please spell your name 
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1 and who you represent. 

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

3 I'm from the Pine Ridge Indian reservation from 

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

5 this at the last deal. 

6 But all the strip mining that's been 

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

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

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

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

11 radium -- everything that you have taken from 

12 mother earth, you have turned around. You have 

13 poisoned my people. You poisoned my 

14 grandchildren, and you're doing it today. 

15 But yet, you always want to find a better 

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

17 have destroyed something from mother earth, and 

18 you turn around with your greatest science, who 

19 is the most intelligent people in the world -- 

20 supposed to be. Look what you are all doing 

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

22 across this world. 
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1 You are destroying my people. You are 

2 destroying the water that comes from my people. 

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

4 that they had touched and left behind has brought 

5 nothing but death, cancer in this world that you 

6 call the United States of America. 

7 And the most talented -- you're supposed 

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

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

10 not let this continue to happen. Everything you 

11 have left behind, you have left death. 

12 And they said the Indian wars is over? 

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

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

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

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

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

18 shall remain, because this is going to continue 

19 on. 

20 Because all of your multi-million dollar 

21 corporations -- you don't care about nothing 

22 else, just as long as you've got that big old fat 
28 

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

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

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

4 destroy that, too. 

5 Ever since tar -- found tar. Look how 

6 many millions and billions of people -- your 

7 people of all nationalities have killed -- 

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

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

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

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

12 going to be left for our next generation, our 

13 grandchildren? And you okay it? 

14 Start right off with these multi-million 

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

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

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

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

19 this war, like I said. 

20 They said the Indian wars are not over. 

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

22 is sacred. And if you can't see that, what's 
29 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

10 always has been. 

11 And how much more damage are you going to 

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

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

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

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

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

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

18 you remember this. Every animal -- everything 

19 that exists in this world, in this universe needs 

20 water to survive. Thank you. 

21 (Discussion off the record) 

22 MR. DYE: Next speaker is Tonya Stands. 
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1 MS. STANDS: Hello. My name is Tonya 

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

3 am enrolled Ogallala Sioux tribal member, fourth 

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

5 from many different bands in the (Indiscernible 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

14 So, this whole process of extracting from 

15 this aquifer, you know. And what is extremely 

16 interesting about the whole aquifer system 

17 underneath the Black Hills, it ties back in to 

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

19 referring to the 1868 and 1851 treaties? 

20 That area that our land goes to seeds 

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

22 these aquifers reach out into our people, and 
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1 they're such -- our ceremonies and our connection 

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

3 experience genocide? You know? Extreme 

4 genocide. 

5 And it's still not recognized by this 

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

7 We got pushed onto a reservation, but our natural 

8 culture roam land, indigenous roam land is 

9 underneath this ground. So with that, they have 

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

11 this nice little handout. 

12 And when you look at this picture on 

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

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

15 And it drills into these aquifers. And where we 

16 come from as Ogallala people on the Pine Ridge 

17 Indian reservation, there is a whole area that we 

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

19 like extremely holy. You know? 

20 And we use that clay that they're going 

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

22 it's like so sacred. You know? We eat it. We 
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1 ingest it. You know? It's a part of our 

2 ceremonies. 

3 And so when you start messing with those 

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

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

6 and where these deposits of uranium are. You 

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

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

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

10 know? 

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

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

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

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

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

16 brilliant? You know? 

17 You're going to contaminate that whole 

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

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

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

21 And we have dances, we have ceremonies 

22 where those -- they call it spedda oyakaye 
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1 (phonetic), because we come from Wind Cave. We 

2 have that connection to the buffalo. And our 

3 culture is almost -- you know, total polar 

4 opposite from this culture, this American 

5 culture. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

13 that you understand this. And back to the 

14 buffalo, the buffalos do this dance, and they 

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

16 those aquifers come back up, and those outcrops 

17 go all the way to Spirit Lake. 

18 You know, we have Dakota people up there 

19 that speak a different dialect. They still get 

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

21 affecting us. You know? You talk about 

22 continual genocide? You're still at it. You 
34 

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1 know? 

2 How do we escape this? You know, when 

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

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

5 understand that. You know? 

6 When you talk about you know, our treaty 

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

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

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

10 no reverence or respect to our culture and our 

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

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

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

14 we have no rights. 

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

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

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

18 (Discussion off the record) 

19 (Applause) 

20 MR. DYE: Dave Carlson, next speaker. 

21 MR. CARLSON: My name is David Carlson. 

22 That's C-A-R-L-S-O-N, and I'm speaking for 
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1 myself. I'm a retired program specialist with 

2 the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality. 

3 I was employed in the underground injection 

4 control program for 23 years. 

5 During my employment, I worked with the 

6 in-situ leach uranium mine located in Crawford, 

7 Nebraska. I monitored well construction, 

8 mechanical integrity tests and water sampling in 

9 monitor wells in and around the mines from the 

10 time the mine went into commercial production in 

11 1991 until my retirement, in 2011. 

12 During this time, not only was the state 

13 responsible for monitoring the mining company, 

14 but also, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and 

15 the Environmental Protection Agency had 

16 oversight. 

17 My family has been located in Dawes 

18 County for over 135 years. While protecting the 

19 environment and water quality is very important, 

20 regulating businesses out of business is not. 

21 Currently regulations are quite adequate. 

22 Requiring groundwater monitoring for an 
36 

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1 additional 30 years will put a great and somewhat 

2 useless burden on mining, and prevent many ISL 

3 operations from staying in business. Our 

4 president is all for renewable resources, for 

5 energy generation to reduce CO2 emissions. 

6 While wind and solar energy is good, it 

7 will never totally replace fossil fuels. With 

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

9 the use of high CO2 emission fossil fuels could 

10 be reduced. With more expensive, useless 

11 regulations tied to uranium mining, the continued 

12 development of nuclear energy could be 

13 threatened. 

14 I strongly urge the EPA to look very 

15 closely at the added economic burden to both the 

16 mining companies, the local communities by adding 

17 all the additional water monitoring. Also, they 

18 need to take a close look at any benefits from 

19 additional monitoring. 

20 Does scientific evidence indicate a need 

21 for more monitoring? Do you have scientific 

22 evidence that currently, monitoring is 
37 

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1 inadequate? I hope you will consider these 

2 questions. I thank you for your consideration. 

3 MR. DYE: Thank you. 

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

5 this -- 

6 MR. DYE: Okay, thank you. 

7 MR. CARLSON: -- if you like. 

8 (Discussion off the record) 

9 MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you. 

10 MR. DYE: Next speaker is Roland Skinner. 

11 MR. SKINNER: I'm Roland Skinner, S-K-I12 N-N-E-R. I retired a year ago as the manager of 

13 Northwest Real Public Power District. That's the 

14 real electric that serves the northwest corner of 

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

16 since its beginning. 

17 I wanted to speak with you about the 

18 value that they brought to the electrical system 

19 in this part of the world. Prior to their 

20 existence, we had a very small, bold and 

21 antiquated substation near Whitney, with no 

22 growth to support increasing of that capacity of 
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1 replacing of the substation. 

2 Crow Butte came in. They paid for the 

3 replacement substation, four times' capacity, 

4 strengthened the electrical grid from basically 

5 Chadron west to Crawford, south to Marsland 

6 immensely. Because of the existed capacity 

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

8 three phase line south to Marsland, which tied in 

9 with our substation south of Chadron at Dunlap. 

10 Now, those two substations can support 

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

12 capacity, it's increased the service quality in 

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

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

15 Flats, which is south of Hay Springs. 

16 We can back feed through substations. 

17 We're eventually trying to close the loop around 

18 the western half of our system, where from 

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

20 is all. And that will support things. 

21 In addition to that, the existence of the 

22 mine allowed for a full line crew in the Crawford 
39 

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1 area, with equipment. The derricks and the 

2 bucket trucks -- that brought the second line 

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

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

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

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

7 east, to support rebuilding of the lines, shorten 

8 the outages significantly. 

9 So, it affected both the electrical grid 

10 and the manpower opportunities. On top of that, 

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

12 send one crew to help others in the state, 

13 actually in a four state area around here to help 

14 other rural electrics that had problems with 

15 storms, et cetera. 

16 Because of the capacity at the Crawford 

17 substation now, we interconnected with the real 

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

19 we can support clear to the state line and 

20 actually, beyond electrically. They can support 

21 us, as well, if we have storms. 

22 We're part of a real electric grid across 
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1 the nation with a national association that has a 

2 safety program. There's 990 some real electrics 

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

4 operate approximately half of their electric 

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

6 strong safety record and safety program. 

7 But we are reaccredited by that program 

8 every three years; have been, since our 

9 beginning. Our scores rank in the upper echelon 

10 in the nation, so we recognize a strong safety 

11 program. 

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

13 years without a disabling injury in a very 

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

15 work closely with the safety department at Crow 

16 Butte Resources. They set literally, thousands 

17 of wells in and around our many lines in their 

18 project without ever making contact with our 

19 14,400 volt lines. 

20 So, we know that they have a strong 

21 safety program. They insisted we follow their 

22 safety rules, as well. So, I'd like to support 
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1 Crow Butte Resources for what it's brought 

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

3 from a safety program, because I recognize it as 

4 a good safety program like our own. 

5 Thank you. Appreciate it. 

6 MR. PEAKE: Thank you. 

7 MR. DYE: Next speaker, Webb Johnson. 

8 And just a reminder to everybody, spell your name 

9 and say who you represent for the court reporter. 

10 MR. JOHNSON: My name is Webb Johnson, J11 O-H-N-S-O-N. I am a Dawes County Commissioner 

12 for District Number 3, which includes the Crow 

13 Butte Mine. 

14 The mine provides a substantial amount of 

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

16 paid almost 11 percent of the total taxes 

17 collected for the county. 

18 (Discussion off the record) 

19 MR. JOHNSON: Since 2010, they have paid 

20 over 960,000 in taxes to the county. 

21 The mine also pays taxes to the Crawford 

22 school system. This is a small school with a 
42 

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1 limited tax base. The valuation of the mine 

2 represents about 28 percent of the total tax base 

3 for the school on a five year average. 

4 The closing of the mine would have a huge 

5 impact on the Crawford schools, and Dawes County 

6 would also be affected. 

7 Crow Butte has been a valuable neighbor, 

8 as they provide quality jobs to keep people in 

9 the county. They purchase from local businesses, 

10 donate to local organizations, and they even put 

11 up a new building in the Crawford City Park to 

12 replace the building that was destroyed by a 

13 flood. 

14 Dawes County has a dominant agriculture 

15 base. We need some industry to help us 

16 diversify. Crow Butte fills the need and fits in 

17 well with the ag sector. Ag people depend on 

18 land and water to survive. They are closely 

19 guarding these elements. Crow Butte is also 

20 mindful of these elements. 

21 To suggest a 30 year monitoring 

22 requirement will place a severe hardship on Crow 
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1 Butte. The options for Crow Butte are very 

2 limited with total shut down being at the top of 

3 the options list. 

4 We ask that you please come up with a 

5 decent compromise to help the United States to 

6 become energy independent. So, thank you. 

7 MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you. 

8 MR. PEAKE: Thank you. 

9 MR. DYE: Next speaker is Nancy Kile. 

10 (Pause) 

11 MS. KILE: Good afternoon. My name is 

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

13 this important public hearing within the Pine 

14 Ridge, and welcome to the Nebraska panhandle. 

15 Please accept these as my comments to the formal 

16 hearing record. 

17 I am a Sioux County resident who lives 

18 west of Fort Robinson State Park on the White 

19 River Road. Our home is located about the same 

20 distance from the head waters of the White River 

21 as we are from Camecos, Crow Butte Resources, in22 situ leach milling and mining operation. 
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1 I returned to the area after living in 

2 the Black Hills for 26 years. What little I 

3 heard about the Crow Butte yellow cake operation 

4 was mostly public relations fluff. Hard working 

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

6 debate about jobs, when faced with deepening 

7 rural poverty. 

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

9 in Crawford, caring for my terminally ill mother. 

10 Mom was a citizen of Crawford since the early 

11 1940s. She was diagnosed with lung cancer in 

12 2004 and died nine months later. 

13 During that time period, one of the many 

14 Crow Butte resources documented violations was an 

15 undetected poisonous spill into the ground -- the 

16 underground source of drinking water that lasted 

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

18 through March 31, 2006. 

19 I think about neighbors, my peers and my 

20 schoolmates that treated with cancer. Some 

21 treated successfully, but others died early in 

22 their lives. 
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1 A few years back, during a Crow Butte 

2 yellowcake expansion application period, Crawford 

3 residents were saying the mine is doing us a 

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

5 is said that gardeners did not like the results 

6 that third party water tests provided. 

7 I am frustrated with Crow Butte 

8 Resources' waste handling and reclamation 

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

10 There is not much critical thought and pushback 

11 about what is happening to the water, the soils 

12 and our peoples. 

13 Because of my questioning and talking 

14 about the uranium practices and impacts after the 

15 recent hydrochloric acid spill, I was denied 

16 access to the mine by public relations personnel. 

17 You might imagine my surprise, because before 

18 that particular spill, I was invited by community 

19 leaders to sit as an advisor with the Kickstart 

20 Crawford Community Group. 

21 I also feel worried about information 

22 that reveals that at least 1 of the 8,000 Crow 
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1 Butte resource wells has been sealed with 

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

3 square peg does not fit in a round hole. 

4 Up north, near the South Dakota border, 

5 some people are saying they want the economic 

6 advantages uranium mining and milling components 

7 boast about. The economic advantaged up there 

8 must be talking about tax relief and school 

9 funding, because Crawford is dilapidating. The 

10 water works infrastructure is giving way, and 

11 costly repairs are undertaken to keep the city 

12 water system functioning for a high poverty and 

13 declining population. 

14 Throughout the Pine Ridge, both town and 

15 rural citizens have come together to talk about 

16 revitalizing community for a prosperous future, 

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

18 course, a time honored rural tradition. 

19 Food transportation is the most costly 

20 carbon footprint society undertakes. Individuals 

21 and communities in my region are thinking about 

22 re-localizing food supplies. Traditionally, 
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1 ranching is our work. We have the beef and the 

2 bison. 

3 Extending our growing season with 

4 greenhouses by enacting small acreage food 

5 sourcing is a value added piece toward a 

6 sustainable future for us. We cannot do any of 

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

8 wrapping up. 

9 High pressure injection and extraction 

10 mining of uranium, oil and gas is happening in 

11 Nebraska panhandle as we speak. When tectonic 

12 stability is changed and movement occurs, it 

13 allows poison correction water to further 

14 contaminate our regional groundwater, then who is 

15 accountable? 

16 Please, do enact uranium monitoring 

17 timelines that extend far into the future to 

18 ensure that foreign owned Cameco is accountable 

19 to the people who remain living on the land that 

20 the uranium industry exploits for profit. 

21 Thank you. 

22 MR. DYE: Thank you. 
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1 (Applause) 

2 MR. DYE: Larry Teahon is our next 

3 speaker. 

4 MR. TEAHON: Good afternoon. My name is 

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

6 manager of Safety Health Environmental Quality, a 

7 Chemical Resources Crow Butte in-situ mine near 

8 Crawford, Nebraska. 

9 In April, Crow Butte marked 24 years of 

10 commercial operation. As is the case with all 

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

12 planning and testing preceded commercial 

13 production to assure the environment and human 

14 health and safety would be protected. 

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

16 neighbor's well. Contaminants for our mining 

17 operation have never been detected downstream in 

18 surface waters. 

19 Mining unit one, which is the heart of 

20 our operation, was signed off as fully restored 

21 concerning ground water quality back in 2003. 

22 This mine units remains stable, 12 years later. 
49 

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1 Our employees' commitment to excellence 

2 starts with safety. We recently surpassed eight 

3 years without a lost time injury, representing 

4 more than one million hours' work. Modern in5 situ uranium mines have operated responsibly to 

6 protect the environment and to ensure the safety 

7 of their workers and the public. 

8 Significant studies concerning 

9 groundwater quality, with results that would 

10 argue against the lengthy monitoring proposed in 

11 this rule have either recently been published, or 

12 soon will be, by the following institutions: The 

13 South Dakota School of Mines, Colorado State 

14 University, University of Wyoming, and the Los 

15 Alamos National Laboratory. 

16 Some of these studies were partially 

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

18 proposed rule claims that there is little 

19 research into groundwater restoration. This is 

20 not the case. 

21 It is a concern that the proposed EPA 

22 rule is not based on science and did not include 
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1 participation of the industry directly involved. 

2 In the past rulemakings, for example, proposed 

3 rule changes to 40 CFR Part 61 Subpart W, 

4 concerning radon floods from evaporation ponds, 

5 the industry was given an opportunity to make 

6 meaningful contributions in reviewing the rule 

7 and working towards a final version that is truly 

8 effective. This has not been the case thus far 

9 in this instance. 

10 EPA has proposed a rule with no 

11 quantifiable benefits to human health, safety and 

12 the environment. We ask that research recently 

13 completed and underway be taken into account, 

14 before this rule is finalized and made effective. 

15 Thank you for your time. 

16 MR. PEAKE: Thank you. 

17 MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you. 

18 MR. DYE: The next speaker is Jake 

19 Stewart. 

20 MR. STEWART: I'm Jake Stewart, S-T-E-W21 A-R-T, I am here on behalf of Dawes County 

22 Commissioners here in Chadron. 
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1 I am giving testimony today as a Dawes 

2 County Commissioner in charge of protecting the 

3 rights of property owners and business operators, 

4 alike. 

5 Today, I speak to the board against 

6 extended regulations being considered by the EPA 

7 for in-situ mining operations. 

8 Chemical and Crow Butte resources have 

9 maintained a safe and responsible mining process 

10 while upholding meticulous and strict regulations 

11 by the EPA since their beginning. 

12 The mission of the EPA is to protect 

13 human health and the environment. The EPA 

14 efforts to reduce environmental risk are based on 

15 the best available scientific information and are 

16 enforced fairly and effectively. 

17 Environmental Protection Policies 

18 concerning natural resources, human health, 

19 economic growth, energy, agriculture and industry 

20 play a vital role in establishing and making our 

21 communities and ecosystems diverse, sustainable, 

22 and economically productive. 
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1 The existing standards incorporate 

2 groundwater protection requirements applicable to 

3 hazardous waste management units. With these 

4 conditions and a clean and safe process already 

5 in observance at Crow Butte Resources, the solid 

6 proof and existing standards have been met and 

7 will continue to be met, leaving Crow Butte among 

8 the top leaders in the uranium mining industry 

9 for safety and environmental standards. 

10 Aspects of the new regulations seem to be 

11 unclear. We're discussing different mining 

12 techniques. Crow Butte Resources is currently 

13 working in an exempt aquifer, specifically 

14 because of the natural uranium and radium content 

15 that has existed before mining began. 

16 Well field testing is already in place at 

17 Crow Butte Resources and continues to assure 

18 water quality, due to the regulations currently 

19 enforced by the NDEQ, NRC and the EPA. 

20 There may be technical approaches better 

21 suited for these particular types of facilities, 

22 like Crow Butte Resources that operate at such a 
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1 high level of competency. Crow Butte Operations 

2 continues to develop new approaches toward being 

3 good stewards of the land, while protecting the 

4 groundwater and health of local and surrounding 

5 communities. 

6 The new regulations to extend well field 

7 monitoring for decades on ISR facilities are 

8 unmerited. The placement of these regulations 

9 will have devastating effects on our local 

10 economy and the entire ISR mining industry. 

11 Thank you. 

12 (Pause) 

13 MR. DYE: Next speaker is Ed Harvey. 

14 MR. HARVEY: Good afternoon. Thank you 

15 for inviting us here. My name is Edward Harvey, 

16 H-A-R-V-E-Y. I'm speaking for myself. 

17 I have some issues to discuss. First is 

18 mill tailings. There is no physical difference 

19 in the mill tailings pile and in the above ground 

20 uranium milling site, and the underground 

21 dissolved sandstone at an in-situ mining site. 

22 The main difference is isolation from the 
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1 groundwater aquifer. 

2 Mining should be banned at any site where 

3 migration and existing aquifers in isolation from 

4 the adjacent is not aquifers. Given the premise 

5 that in-situ mining requires a fractured rock 

6 formation, isolation of the mining site from the 

7 rest of the aquifer system is not easily assumed. 

8 Strict compliance with the existing clean 

9 water standards must be required from all areas 

10 not directly involved with the active mining. 

11 All operations should be stopped immediately 

12 until any spills, releases or excursions are 

13 remediated to pre-mining conditions for all 

14 involved areas. 

15 Daily reports of all monitoring wells 

16 must be required to minimize the environmental 

17 damage associated with excursions. In-situ 

18 mining must be held to the same standards as any 

19 other commercial enterprise associated with 

20 radioactive materials. 

21 Assurance bond levels should be 

22 consistent with documented remediation costs at 
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1 lone sites such as the Navajo Nation cleanup 

2 efforts in New Mexico, the Edgemont, South Dakota 

3 military remediation, et cetera. 

4 The major source of documented 

5 environmental damage and human health problems in 

6 this country from radioactive materials is the 

7 uranium mining industry. 

8 Migration. Flow data which infers very 

9 little migration rates, yet provides for very 

10 high flow rates for mining operations is at best, 

11 suspect. The premise that the aquifer is 

12 stressed in the mine area by pumping totally 

13 ignores the stress caused by existing municipal 

14 and domestic wells in the aquifer. 

15 No studies have been done to address the 

16 changes in flows caused by the introduction of 

17 mining fluids into the surrounding formations. 

18 We know that these fluids cause increased flow 

19 rates in the mining zone. 

20 Precise mapping of the mining zones needs 

21 to be accomplished to identify all faults and 

22 fractures in the area prior to the mining. 
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1 Without this information, probable pathways from 

2 migration remain unknown. 

3 Sampling. Baseline samples taken and 

4 analyzed by an EPA certified facility need to be 

5 taken at all wells and springs within 20 miles of 

6 the proposed mining area. Baseline samples need 

7 to be taken in all drainage pathways that flow 

8 through or out of the proposed mining area. Any 

9 non-compliance areas must be remediated prior to 

10 mining operations. 

11 Baseline samples, both soil and air, need 

12 to be taken in all areas where mining effluents 

13 will be applied to the ground surface. This will 

14 provide a database for accurately tracking any 

15 migration of contamination from the mining 

16 operations. The practice of diluting effluents 

17 with high quality water for discharged limit 

18 compliance must be banned. 

19 Unique tracers need to be added to all 

20 mining fluids to facilitate positive 

21 identification of the contamination sources. 

22 Quarterly sampling should be required in all 
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1 areas to provide timely warning, shall release 

2 occur. 

3 When the mining occurs in an area which 

4 supplies agricultural products for human or 

5 livestock consumption, all products must be 

6 sampled to assure that our food supply remains 

7 uncontaminated. Wildlife should also be sampled 

8 for the same concerns. 

9 Compliance. Rules and fines need to be 

10 established which will assure the mining 

11 operation which will assure the mining operation 

12 meets all existing clean air and water standards 

13 for all areas outside the immediate mining area 

14 as defined by the location of site monitoring 

15 wells. 

16 Fines should be at least twice the cost 

17 of compliance and negate any economic advantage 

18 for non-compliance. Operations must be stopped 

19 until all spills, excursions, et cetera, are 

20 remediated. 

21 A program must be implemented which 

22 addresses the causes of incidents and remedial 
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1 actions to minimize repeated same or similar 

2 incidents. A database of all known incidents and 

3 their causes needs to be created to identify 

4 substandard materials and processes. 

5 The yellowcake recovery's facility must 

6 be required to meet all clean air and water 

7 standards. The industry must again be held to 

8 the same standards as all other industries 

9 handling radioactive materials. 

10 Recent data shows that fluid injection 

11 into rock formation causes earthquakes. Deep 

12 well injection should not be allowed in any area 

13 where there are known faults or it is 

14 geologically active, and again, dilution is not 

15 an acceptable method to obtain compliance to 

16 rules. Thank you. 

17 MR. DYE: For the next speaker, just a 

18 reminder to everybody -- 

19 (Applause) 

20 MR. DYE: -- state your name and spell it 

21 and who you represent. Susan Henderson is next. 

22 MS. HENDERSON: Thank you so much for the 
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1 opportunity to talk with you about this project 

2 and your proposed rule changes. 

3 I am a cattle rancher, and I've come from 

4 a long line of cattle ranchers. I am from the 

5 Edgemont, South Dakota area. My family has 

6 ranched there since 1902. My grandfather built 

7 one of the first dams in the area, and he wrote 

8 back to Scotland, this was an inhospitable area. 

9 The creeks dried up. 

10 And then, he began, a long history of our 

11 family of attempting to develop water on our 

12 property. I currently own and operate the 8,000 

13 acre cattle ranch that he founded. 

14 I want to caution you about not 

15 regulating things and protect water in the 

16 American West. The American West is the bread 

17 basket of this country. Without underground 

18 water, ranches such as mine, smaller operations 

19 and larger ones, cannot survive. Period. 

20 I have developed a natural spring on our 

21 property that's been in operation that my father 

22 fixed up in the 1930s, and I have a 1,700 foot 
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1 deep well. If I didn't have those two sources of 

2 water, I would have to close my operation down in 

3 three days. Period. 

4 Now, the problem that we have is that we 

5 will not be able to fix this if we wreck it. If 

6 we wreck water in the American West, and there's 

7 a vast amount of information that indicates that 

8 that is happening, we cannot recover from it. We 

9 will simply have to close down agriculture as we 

10 now know it. I would remind you that in South 

11 Dakota, we pay 60 percent of the tax in our 

12 state. We are the biggest business in South 

13 Dakota. 

14 I would call your attention to the 

15 National Research Defense Council report, I guess 

16 I would call that. It's a 300 page report. It's 

17 called "The Dirty Little Secret of Uranium 

18 Mining." And it talks about what has happened to 

19 these communities that have engaged in uranium 

20 mining since the 1950s, when we first looked for 

21 uranium to build bombs. 

22 And I would remind you that we have a 
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1 great many companies from out of the country. 

2 The one operating in my ranch is financed out of 

3 China and Australia through Canada. And these 

4 companies are neither responsible nor qualified. 

5 There was just a report in the paper last 

6 week, saying that the Dewey Burdock operation is 

7 -- that company is nearly bankrupt; that it had a 

8 $6.3 million cash shortfall last year. 

9 Now, I would urge you to put these 

10 monitoring requirements that you have proposed 

11 into operation, but not allow the operators 

12 themselves to do the monitoring. You've got to 

13 provide for a way for this to be financed and 

14 done by outside third parties or the states, or 

15 somebody responsible, because we can't trust 

16 these people. 

17 And if you look at what has happened to 

18 the Christiansen Ranch and the Smith Highland, 

19 and you know, the water problems in Gillette, 

20 Wyoming and on and on, the problems in Texas, you 

21 will notice that this is not working. We are not 

22 able to run these ISL operations safely, and we 
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1 have to do that, or we will lose the small towns. 

2 We will lose agricultural, and we will lose 

3 ranching. And we can't afford to do that. 

4 So, if you want to have beef steaks in 

5 your barbecues, you have to develop plans to 

6 protect the water. And that's all there is to 

7 it. If you don't do this, we're going to lose 

8 the economic health and safety of our country. 

9 And we shouldn't be allowing the Russians 

10 to come in here and become the largest operator 

11 of a company called Uranium One in the west. We 

12 shouldn't be allowing this stuff. 

13 So, I want you to think carefully about 

14 what you're doing. I want you to implement all 

15 the rules you can think of. And I want you to 

16 figure out how to enforce it. And then, I want 

17 these penalties huge, so when these people break 

18 these rules, it breaks their company, just the 

19 way they'd like to break mine. 

20 Thank you. 

21 (Hoots from audience - applause) 

22 MR. DYE: For those that have spoken and 
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1 those that are going to speak, whether you have a 

2 prepared statement you want to leave, or if you 

3 just want to leave your notes for your 

4 presentation, we'll take those, as well, just to 

5 make sure we get everything correct. 

6 MS. HENDERSON: Did you get my name 

7 spelled? 

8 MALE SPEAKER: No, I don't think so. 

9 MS. HENDERSON: Oh, Susan Henderson. H10 E-N-D-E-R-S-O-N. 

11 MR. DYE: Next speaker is Mary Donahue. 

12 MS. DONAHUE: Hello. My name is Mary 

13 Donahue, D-O-N-A-H-U-E, and I am a resident of 

14 Dawes County. And I'd like to revisit some of 

15 the language in the summary and the medical 

16 information research concerned with this. 

17 It is stated in the summary for the 

18 proposed rule change that uranium in-situ 

19 recovery, ISR, "has a greater potential to 

20 directly affect groundwater than does 

21 conventional milling." 

22 The summary also discusses, "the human 
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1 health risks that could result from exposures to 

2 radionuclides in well water used for drinking and 

3 agriculture in areas located down gradient from 

4 an ISR. Because radionuclides are human 

5 carcinogens, the main health risk averted would 

6 be cancer." 

7 And this is from the EPA web site. 

8 "Intakes of uranium exceeding EPA's standards can 

9 lead to increased cancer risk, liver damage or 

10 both. Long-term chronic intakes of uranium 

11 isotopes in food, water or air can lead to 

12 internal irradiation and/or chemical toxicity." 

13 We know these mining products and 

14 byproducts cause cancer. Drilled wells in the 

15 last one hundred years which have not been 

16 properly capped can act as conduits for these 

17 hazardous substances. 

18 The act of ISR mobilizes material and 

19 water underground that wasn't moved around or 

20 altered previously by human activity. There is 

21 no one hundred percent surety that damage cannot 

22 occur to groundwater supplies. The majority of 
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1 residents in the area receive their drinking 

2 water from these supplies. 

3 This is a quote from the EPA's site on 

4 radiation. "Most people are not exposed to 

5 dangerous levels of uranium. However, people who 

6 live near uranium mining areas or near government 

7 weapons facilities or certain industrial 

8 facilities may have increased exposure to 

9 uranium, especially if their water is from a 

10 private well. 

11 Simply returning the water to original 

12 standards does not guarantee that the aquifers 

13 will remain stable, since it has been inherently 

14 changed and disturbed. Additional monitoring 

15 will increase the assurance that the aquifer may 

16 be stable. 

17 Monitoring for as long as it takes to 

18 show that there are no further changes is 

19 prudent. Uranium has a long radioactive half20 life. U238 is 4.47 billion years. U235 is 700 

21 million years. U234 is 246,000 years. 

22 Monitoring for an additional 30 years is 
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1 minimal compared to this. To assure long-term 

2 stability, when we are talking about crucial, 

3 life-giving water sources that once contaminated, 

4 can never be returned to their original state, 

5 the residents of this area deserve, as this 

6 uranium mining company brochure, which was 

7 inserted in our Chadron Record Newspaper this 

8 week states, "a program that ensures water and 

9 good lands available for generations to come." 

10 Thank you. 

11 (Applause) 

12 MR. PEAKE: Thank you. If you have 

13 information that you have read from, and you 

14 don't mind giving it to us, if you could do that 

15 either here or out at the desk, that would help -

16 - 

17 MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you. 

18 MR. PEAKE: -- our person taking the -- 

19 doing the transcripts just make sure that we 

20 capture what you're saying accurately. So, thank 

21 you. 

22 MR. DYE: Next speaker is Deb Cottier. 
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1 (Pause) 

2 MS. COTTIER: Hello. My name is Deb 

3 Cottier, C-O-T-T-I-E-R, and I'm the executive 

4 director of the Nebraska Northwest Development 

5 Corporation, which is a countywide economic 

6 development organization here in Chadron covering 

7 Dawes County. 

8 I'm here today to speak in opposition of 

9 proposed rules to further expand and lengthen the 

10 groundwater monitoring process surrounding in11 situ uranium mines. 

12 I believe everyone speaking here today 

13 wants the same thing, safe operations for the 

14 environment, for the people who live and work in 

15 the proximity of a uranium mine. 

16 I believe we already have that in place 

17 in this country, specifically at the Crow Butte 

18 Resources Mine, owned by Cameco near Crawford, 

19 Nebraska. 

20 For the EPA to propose additional 

21 monitoring requirements above and beyond those 

22 already agreed upon and satisfied in the past, 
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1 without any more scientific proof that they are 

2 needed is over reaching and unfair. 

3 Modern is the key. Modern in-situ mining 

4 has been proven to be safe for workers and the 

5 public. For an industry that utilizes highly 

6 regulated processes and inputs, the Crow Butte 

7 mine has a great safety record, while taking the 

8 issue of environmental safety very seriously. 

9 These additional monitoring requirements 

10 have not been proven to have any quantifiable 

11 beneficial impact on the safety of people or the 

12 environment, but to add significantly to the 

13 higher costs the company would have to undertake 

14 to operate the mine. 

15 One has to ask, what has prompted the new 

16 rules being proposed. Any proposed rules, at a 

17 minimum, should be delayed until their impact can 

18 be studied and all factors be considered. Crow 

19 Butte Resources has operated in a transparent, 

20 responsible way from day one. 

21 For more than 25 years, they have 

22 followed the law and have been model corporate 
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1 citizens. Dawes County would be hard pressed to 

2 find a more responsive, involved company 

3 operating in our area today. 

4 Besides the obvious impact of payroll and 

5 income taxes paid, Crow Butte resources 

6 contributes to the local economy by their strict 

7 buy local policy. Many more jobs than those 

8 employed at the mine depend on this business. 

9 The citizens of Crawford and Dawes County as a 

10 whole could not have a more conscientious 

11 neighbor. 

12 As the entity in Dawes County with some 

13 responsibility for recruiting and retaining 

14 businesses and jobs, the Nebraska Northwest 

15 Development Corporation urges the EPA to delay 

16 any new rules until they can be researched, 

17 studied and evaluated by the scientific 

18 community. 

19 This business deserves to operate on a 

20 level playing field with other businesses in the 

21 state. Thank you. 

22 MR. PEAKE: Thank you. 
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1 MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you. 

2 MR. DYE: Next is Richard Tanther? 

3 MR. TAEDTER: Taedter. 

4 MR. DYE: Okay, thank you. (Laughter) 

5 (Discussion off the record) 

6 MR. TAEDTER: I'm Richard Taedter. I'm 

7 the superintendent of schools for Crawford, 

8 Nebraska. T-A-E-D-T-E-R. 

9 Good afternoon. I'm Richard Taedter, and 

10 I serve as the superintendent of schools for 

11 Crawford, Nebraska. I am here this afternoon to 

12 speak in opposition to the proposal of the EPA's 

13 involvement in groundwater monitoring which is to 

14 last for decades for in-situ uranium mines. 

15 Let me make it very clear that I am not 

16 opposed to parameters, regulations and monitoring 

17 to ensure in-situ uranium mines operate in a safe 

18 and effective manner. In fact, it is my 

19 understanding that one of the main purposes of 

20 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the NRC, is to 

21 protect the environment and ensure public safety, 

22 and this includes monitoring of underground water 
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1 aquifers. 

2 In addition, it is my understanding that 

3 the Nebraska Department of Educational Quality , 

4 the NDEQ, functions in a similar manner, albeit 

5 at the state level as the federal nuclearatory 

6 (sic) -- regulatory commission. 

7 Thus, a federal agency, the NRC and the 

8 state agency, the NDEQ, both have responsibility 

9 and accountability to ensure safety protocols 

10 exist, are utilized in safety parameters in these 

11 strict compliance regulations. 

12 Should the EPA become involved, this 

13 would constitute a federal agency working over 

14 another federal agency, the NRC, and a state 

15 agency, the NDEQ. This is a great example of an 

16 inversely proportionate situation, and by this, I 

17 mean, the more federal and state entities 

18 involved, the less effective the oversight. 

19 Some people wrongly believe more 

20 oversight is synonymous with better oversight. I 

21 respectfully disagree, for when two agencies 

22 share oversight duties, the opportunity for both 
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1 of them to grow lax, increases. 

2 At the risk of oversimplification, a 

3 possible scenario might see Agency A believing 

4 Agency B was monitoring a specific area, and 

5 Agency B believed Agency A was monitoring the 

6 same area. And as a result, no monitoring 

7 existed at all. 

8 This dual monitoring creates a gap, and 

9 it is simply a matter of when, not if, a problem 

10 occurs. Furthermore, this duplicity and 

11 oversight lessens accountability. Should 

12 something problematic occur, the NRC points its 

13 finger at the EPA, and the EPA points its finger 

14 at the NRC. 

15 However, if one federal agency is fully 

16 and solely in charge, no gaps in monitoring 

17 exist, and as a result, this agency is held fully 

18 accountable. 

19 To summarize, monitoring quality and 

20 accountability are compromised when duplicity in 

21 coverage exists. Allow me to address this topic 

22 from my position as a resident of Crawford who 
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1 serves as the superintendent of schools. 

2 Cameco has a strong safety record which 

3 extends back over 20 years. Cameco's operation 

4 constitutes 30 percent of the Crawford tax base, 

5 so Cameco's presence has a significant impact 

6 both upon the town and the school district 

7 funding. 

8 Many spouses and parents of the Crawford 

9 students are employed by Cameco. Crawford Public 

10 Schools has reduced staff and expenditures to the 

11 bare minimum. The loss of the Crow Butte mine 

12 would be a catastrophic blow to the Crawford 

13 public school system. 

14 In addition, Cameco has donated several 

15 thousands of dollars in equipment to Crawford 

16 public schools, contributed to the town of 

17 Crawford via the construction of a park pavilion, 

18 and assisted with the fire department. 

19 The local business generated either 

20 directly or indirectly from the Crow Butte 

21 operation significantly impacts every aspect of 

22 Crawford and its school system. 
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1 An aspect I deal with as a school 

2 superintendent is standardized testing. Allow me 

3 to use standardized testing as an analogy to the 

4 topic at hand. Each spring, students in Nebraska 

5 take the Nebraska State Achievement Test, and 

6 this data largely determines, rightly or wrongly, 

7 how a district, a school and each student is 

8 performing. 

9 This assessment process is monitored by 

10 the Nebraska Department of Education, which is 

11 overseen in some ways by the U.S. Department of 

12 Education. This is a clean, direct system. 

13 Local, monitored by state with minimal federal 

14 oversight. 

15 Suppose another federal agency should 

16 decide to enter the educational picture, and as a 

17 result, another set of tasks are not required to 

18 be completed by our students. Tests that largely 

19 assess the same facts, concepts and skills as the 

20 current test. 

21 This duplicity in testing is asinine and 

22 is a waste of instructional time and taxpayer 
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1 money. So too, is the duplicity of federal 

2 mounting of groundwater for in-situ uranium 

3 mines. 

4 As for health concerns expressed today 

5 correlation does not imply causation. If this 

6 panel does not understand the concept thought 

7 correlation does not imply causation, time should 

8 be spent reviewing this scientific and 

9 statistical truth. 

10 I just turned 50 last fall, and for 

11 decades, I have listened to politicians and 

12 presidential candidates use -- 

13 (Bell rings) 

14 MR. TAEDTER: I'm almost done. 

15 Use similar government as a platform. 

16 And instead of smaller, more effective and more 

17 efficient government, we have created the 

18 opposite. A bureaucratic mess that grows thicker 

19 and stickier each year. 

20 I support federal oversight. I do not 

21 support duplicity of federal oversight. The 

22 EPA's involvement in an area already well 
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1 regulated and monitored by the NRC is a problem 

2 looking for a solution. As both a Crawford 

3 resident and an employee, I'm opposed to the 

4 proposed involvement of the EPA in this matter. 

5 Thank you. 

6 MR. PEAKE: Thank you. 

7 MR. DYE: Does have number 18? 

8 MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you. 

9 MR. DYE: I wasn't sure if he gave the 

10 card. He didn't catch the name. So, next 

11 speaker is Beins Wade. 

12 MR. BEINS: Good afternoon. My name is 

13 Wade Beins. That's B-E-I-N-S. I'm testifying 

14 today as an individual, and not as an official 

15 representative of any company. I'm a geologist 

16 with 20 years of experience in the uranium 

17 industry. 

18 In EPA's informational brochure, the 

19 notice for proposed rulemaking -- it's been 

20 written that the proposed new rule would 

21 establish groundwater restoration goals and 

22 monitoring requirements at ISR facilities. 
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1 The proposed rule will require 

2 characterization of groundwater chemistry before 

3 beginning the radium recovery operations. The 

4 proposal also sets forth requirements to meet 

5 restoration goals for 13 groundwater constituents 

6 such as arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, 

7 uranium and others. 

8 The proposed rule would require that 

9 uranium operators monitor the groundwater for 30 

10 years after, after demonstrating that they 

11 cleaned up the groundwater chemistry and that 

12 it's restored and stable. 

13 To read through the EPA informational 

14 brochure, the public could be led to believe that 

15 uranium operators do not take pre-mining baseline 

16 water quality samples, but they do not restore 

17 groundwater impacted during mining, and that they 

18 do not monitor that groundwater for stabilization 

19 after the restoration phase is finished. 

20 Such a perception of the present day 

21 uranium industry is not only misleading, it is 

22 blatantly false. As one can expect, mining 
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1 operations are subject to the oversight of 

2 numerous federal and state government agencies, 

3 include the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the 

4 EPA, OSHA, the Department of Transportation, the 

5 Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality and 

6 Nebraska Department of Natural Resources. 

7 The various permits and licenses that are 

8 required to operate a modern day mining facility 

9 must be approved prior to that operation going 

10 into startup phase. In fact, years of baseline 

11 quality data for water quality, water level 

12 measurements, soil samples, air quality 

13 measurements, geologic research, archaeological 

14 reviews, hydrologic monitoring, environmental 

15 impact studies, operational plans, restoration 

16 and reclamation plans are part of every single 

17 permit that is submitted for government approval. 

18 Once the approval to operate has been 

19 given, additional baseline water quality samples 

20 are obtained from wells that are located every 

21 four acres across the operating well field. 

22 Those wells and the water quality in those wells 
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1 are used to determine the parameters that will be 

2 used for later restoration. 

3 Groundwater is restored back to these 

4 pre--mining levels during the restoration phase, 

5 and then monitored for a minimum of one year of 

6 stability. The 30 year monitoring period is 

7 proposed by this new rule that would go into 

8 effect after the groundwater has been restored, 

9 and after it has already demonstrated stability 

10 is excessive. 

11 I ask the question, if the groundwater 

12 has been signed off by the regulators as being 

13 restored and stable, then what are we monitoring 

14 for, for these 30 years? This proposed change 

15 appears to be an attempt to delay final 

16 reclamation and decommissioning. Why? Why would 

17 EPA want to do this? 

18 And I believe it's because they wish to 

19 drag the process out for an additional 30 years, 

20 knowing that it is expensive and cost prohibitive 

21 to the producer. On the surface, the proposed 

22 rule has the appearance of improving 
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1 environmental protection, but in reality, does 

2 very little change the existing rules that are 

3 already in effect. 

4 Instead, it appears that the primary 

5 effect of the of the proposed rule would be to 

6 burden uranium producers with an additional 30 

7 years of needles monitoring and excessive 

8 practices that make further development of mines 

9 in the United States cost prohibitive and 

10 unpredictable. 

11 Under these uncertain conditions, the 

12 U.S.' uranium production in this country might 

13 well cease to exist. This proposed rule should 

14 not be adopted in its current form. Thank you. 

15 MR. DYE: Thank you. Next speaker is 

16 Bruce Ellison. 

17 MR. ELLISON: Good afternoon. My name is 

18 Bruce Ellison. I am an attorney based in South 

19 Dakota. 

20 I want to begin by thanking you for 

21 having these hearings, and I want to thank you 

22 for your proposed rules. And as I will comment, 
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1 I think they are a step in the right direction, 

2 but they don't go far enough to protect our 

3 water. 

4 I also want to -- for purposes of 

5 disclosure, I am a pro bono or volunteer attorney 

6 representing a human rights group and individuals 

7 from Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. As one of 

8 the previous speakers spoke to, the Crawford Mine 

9 -- they mine the White River formation. 

10 The White River flows through the 

11 northern part of the current mine site. They 

12 want to mine on the other side, too. That river 

13 then flows up through the Pine Ridge Indian 

14 Reservation, and recharges the (Inaudible) 

15 formation, which provides 60 percent of the 

16 drinking water for the people of Pine Ridge. 

17 I also represent the Clean Water Alliance 

18 in actions in front of the Nuclear Regulatory 

19 Commission as well, out of the Dewey Burdock 

20 Project in the Southern Hills. I am not paid to 

21 be here, unlike, I suspect, some company 

22 representatives or people who don't want to say 
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1 that they're speaking on behalf of the company. 

2 I'm here as a father and as a 

3 grandfather, and I'm here because I want my 

4 grandchildren and their grandchildren to have 

5 what little water we have, to be in the best 

6 quality shape that it could possibly be in. 

7 I am here before based upon my eight 

8 years' of experience in litigating matters in 

9 front of state agencies and the Nuclear 

10 Regulatory Commission, and soon, EPA on the Dewey 

11 Burdock Project. Rather than there being enough 

12 control and oversight, I would say that there has 

13 been way too little, from what I have seen. 

14 Basically, what I've heard today is that 

15 you should not have these rules, because it costs 

16 the company too much. And that basically, if you 

17 have these rules that would better protect the 

18 water, that somehow, these companies would then 

19 leave; the same excuse they give whenever a state 

20 says, how about a bond? 

21 Like in Wyoming, where Cameco was not 

22 doing its job in reclaiming. And the Wyoming VEQ 
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1 came in and said it's going to cost $150 million 

2 to reclaim this area you're not reclaiming 

3 according to your promises, your permits, your 

4 obligations. And Cameco said, oh, that's too 

5 expensive. We can't afford that kind of a bond. 

6 So they got the bond down to 70, $80 million. 

7 Who picks up the rest of that tab, 

8 assuming that $150 million would actually restore 

9 the water? Your regulations actually go in the 

10 right direction that regard. 

11 Now, with regard to baseline, I like the 

12 idea of pre-mining, but in the southern hills, we 

13 pre pre-mining. In other words, if Dewey Burdock 

14 wants to come in and mine an area that there's 

15 been mining, surface mining, shaft mining before, 

16 and that water has already been contaminated. 

17 I would urge that your baseline go to any 

18 pre-mining activity that has ever been in the 

19 area, because if the true purpose of the EPA, 

20 which I believe it is, is to protect the 

21 environment, then we need to get our drinking 

22 water the best quality it can. And if a foreign 
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1 company wants to come into our communities for 

2 their profit, sprinkle around a few jobs, a park 

3 in addition to a school, those are all good 

4 things. We all desperately need those, 

5 especially in the poor communities. 

6 But if they want to come in and make 

7 their millions and millions of dollars, they 

8 should not be unwilling to pay for whatever 

9 regulations would be imposed that truly, in fact, 

10 protect the water. 

11 If the uranium industry was really 

12 concerned about protecting the water, why, in 

13 South Dakota, when the DENR twice rejected an ISL 

14 company's permit applications, it stripped the 

15 DENR of its authority for the legislature. 

16 I'm never going to get close to what I 

17 wanted to try and talk about today, but I do want 

18 to urge the baseline be broader. I also want to 

19 suggest this. The baseline of a well field: Is 

20 a well field five wells, seven wells? Is it a 

21 combination of 500 of those units? 

22 And in any given aquifers, especially the 
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1 Inyan Kara in the Southern Hills and even the one 

2 here, you have a lot of variation in flows and in 

3 the quality of water, maybe a hundred feet from a 

4 port area, you have drinking quality water. 

5 So, what is going to be the baseline? Is 

6 it the best water within ever a proposed well 

7 field? Or, what about if you have a well field 

8 that starts out with 20 of these 5 or 7 unit 

9 things? And that's what they test. And then all 

10 of the sudden, they say, well, we're going to 

11 expand it to 500. So, where is the baseline, and 

12 how are you going to ensure that it gets back 

13 there? 

14 I heard that the NRC is being touted as 

15 this wonderful agency, and I'll wrap this up 

16 quick. I have never been more disappointed as a 

17 lawyer, as a citizen of the United States, than 

18 watching the NRC in action lately. 

19 They take everything that the company 

20 says, and without doing their own independent 

21 analyses of samples and whatnot. If the company 

22 says, here's our data, trust us, they say okay, 
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1 we will. Here's our models. Yeah, they don't 

2 show any of the real problems with the faults and 

3 the fractures, but trust us, it's not a problem. 

4 And the NRC says, not a problem. Here's your 

5 license. 

6 That's what we're dealing with right now. 

7 The NRC in the Dewey Burdock project said you 

8 folks, the EPA, are the ones who are going to do 

9 the serious water quality studies. And you are 

10 the ones who determine the fast three wells and 

11 the deep injection wells, if they are allowed, 

12 and I would hope that you don't allow those. 

13 But yes, sir. I thank you for your time. 

14 Your work is important. We depend upon you to 

15 protect our water for our future generations, and 

16 not for those who would take a job -- and I 

17 understand needing a job for 10, 15, 20 years. 

18 It's not enough for our grandchildren. Thank 

19 you. 

20 (Applause) 

21 MR. DYE: The next speaker is Phil Curd. 

22 MR. CURD: My name is Phillip Curd, C-U-
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1 R-D. I'm representing myself. 

2 The way I understand this, the EPA has 

3 proposed a rule to extend the monitoring time 

4 that uranium operations must wait to approve 

5 registration of mined areas from one year 

6 stability to 30 years. 

7 If this rule change is not based on 

8 scientific proof to support this rule change, 

9 then I am opposed to this rule change. I may be 

10 wrong, but I think there's three sources of 

11 carbon-free energy, or carbon-free. And that's 

12 nuclear, and that's solar and that's wind power. 

13 If we take away the nuclear, then we have wind 

14 and solar. If you're a bat, a bird or a bald 

15 eagle, you're left with solar. 

16 MR. DYE: The next speaker is Charmaine 

17 White Face. 

18 MS. WHITE FACE: My name is Charmaine 

19 White Face, C-H-A-R-M-A-I-N-E. White Face, two 

20 words, just like it sounds. 

21 I am not sick. My immune system is real 

22 weak (clears throat) from going into too many 
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1 abandoned uranium mines up in South Dakota. 

2 There's 272. I am the coordinator for Defenders 

3 of the Black Hills, and I will leave this with 

4 you. It's more of a summary of my remarks. I'm 

5 also a scientist -- a physical scientist and a 

6 biologist. 

7 The following are the comments of the 

8 Defenders of the Black Hills to the proposed new 

9 subpart of 40 CFR and the 192 that would 

10 establish groundwater restoration goals and 

11 monitoring requirements at ISR facilities. 

12 Number 1: Authority of the U.S. 

13 Environmental Protection Agency. The United 

14 States Environmental Protection Agency does not 

15 have any legal authority to operate within the 

16 confines of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty 

17 territory as outlined in the treaty, which 

18 includes all of Western South Dakota and parts of 

19 North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Nebraska. And 

20 I have the legal citations in here. 

21 To presume to do is not only a violation 

22 of Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution, but also, 
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1 a violation of federal law, the March 3rd act of 

2 1871. Furthermore, the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty 

3 was upheld recently in two federal cases, Elk 

4 versus the United States and Richard versus the 

5 United States, thereby affirming the statement 

6 that the United States Environmental Protection 

7 Agency does not have legal authority to operate 

8 within the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty territory. 

9 There can be no selective enforcement of 

10 only one article of an agreement or a treaty. 

11 Therefore, the entire treaty is enforceable. The 

12 following comments which I will be giving are 

13 more based on scientific information; are not a 

14 waiver of the rights given to the people of the 

15 Great Sioux Nation in the articles from the 1868 

16 Fort Laramie Treaty, but are provided only as 

17 comments on ISR facilities, and that means all 

18 ISR facilities, not just Crow Butte. Many ISR 

19 facilities are currently illegally trespassing 

20 and operating within the confines of the 1868 

21 Fort Laramie Treaty territory. 

22 Number 2: Inadequate groundwater 
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1 constituents. It is commendable that the EPA has 

2 listed 13 groundwater constituents for their ISR 

3 determination, both before, beginning and after 

4 ending operations. However, this number is 

5 inadequate, and also needs to include all 

6 radionuclides, including all the decay products 

7 of uranium 238, a/k/a naturally occurring 

8 uranium. 

9 Thorium, as the first decay product of 

10 uranium 238, also occurs in natural systems. 

11 However, EPA, at present, does not monitor or 

12 regulate such thorium. (See EPA Radionuclides 

13 and Drinking Water, A Small Entity, Compliance 

14 Guide, page 16) It's listed in there and it says 

15 EPA, made an error. Therefore, all radionuclides 

16 present before beginning ISR operations must be 

17 determined, including their extent, location and 

18 amount. 

19 Number 2 (sic): Confining areas around 

20 uranium or thorium deposits. The confining 

21 geologic layers must completely surround the 

22 formation containing the deposit to be mined. 
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1 Having only horizontal confining layers will not 

2 ensure the lixiviant and dissolved product will 

3 not move to an area used for human and 

4 agricultural purposes. Vertical confining 

5 boundaries must also contain the product to be 

6 mined. 

7 Furthermore, the confining layers must 

8 not be affected by the lixiviant. They must be 

9 impermeable to the lixiviant or the dissolving 

10 agent. The confining boundaries must be able to 

11 totally enclose the product and lixiviant. 

12 Number two secondary -- or number three, 

13 secondary: Secondary porosity of an aquifer can 

14 occur in a number of ways, including previous 

15 bore holes, fracturing within geologic layers, 

16 the actual characteristics of the geologic 

17 layers, such as shale, and fracturing caused by 

18 earthquakes, allowing the lixiviant and product 

19 to spread further than anticipated. 

20 Prior to the beginning of any ISR 

21 operation, the issue of secondary porosity needs 

22 to be studied for an area at least 200 miles in 
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1 radius from the mine site, and the possibility of 

2 contaminating such areas with excursions 

3 determined. 

4 Number 4: Adjacent aquifer 

5 contamination. Exploratory bore holes, Breccia 

6 pipes in certain geologic formations and faults 

7 from prior earthquakes can cause contamination 

8 and cross contamination from adjacent aquifers. 

9 Such contamination must be taken into 

10 consideration when determining groundwater 

11 chemistry, prior to beginning alterations of an 

12 ISR operation. 

13 The direction of groundwater flow and the 

14 rate of groundwater flow must also be taken into 

15 consideration before any operation is allowed to 

16 proceed, as well as well pressure pull from 

17 surrounding wells, where there are huge, huge 

18 draw downs of water, such as the Pine Ridge 

19 Reservation has huge -- five huge wells that draw 

20 into the (Inaudible) aquifer which Crow Butte 

21 happens to mine into. 

22 Independent monitoring should also occur. 
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1 We have been studying -- through Defenders, we 

2 have been studying all of the uranium in the 

3 Northern Great Plains region for the last 12 

4 years, and so, I will give this to you. It 

5 contains a lot more information than I am able to 

6 give right now, and I will probably be sending 

7 another one before the May 27th deadline with 

8 more scientific backup to these comments. 

9 Thank you very much. 

10 MR. DYE: Thank you. 

11 MR. PEAKE: Thank you. 

12 (Applause) 

13 MR. DYE: Next speaker is Gordon Gray. 

14 (Discussion off the record) 

15 MR. GRAY: My name is Gardner Gray, G-R16 A-Y. I live just south of Pringle, in South 

17 Dakota, and I'm here representing myself. 

18 And I was going to say some things, but 

19 everybody -- many other people have already 

20 stolen what I was going to say, so I'm going to 

21 wing this a little bit and try to be as 

22 controlled as I can. 
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1 First of all, the medical community will 

2 say that there's no safe level of radiation. So, 

3 by setting limits that are not zero, other than 

4 zero, we are not safe from the contaminants. 

5 Environment protection. The important 

6 words there are protection of the environment, 

7 obviously. And you have already acknowledged 

8 that the water in the west is important. We are 

9 high desert here. We don't get a lot of rain, 

10 and so what water we can get, most of which is 

11 underground, obviously, it needs to be protected 

12 from environmental damage. 

13 You've also acknowledged that all water 

14 in the west is important and needs to be 

15 protected. That's why we're here, so that your 

16 new regulations will go further than has 

17 previously been experienced. 

18 Contamination is, as you know, an 

19 integral part of ISL mining. It cannot be done 

20 without contamination. The very process of 

21 removing safely -- naturally safely stored 

22 uranium, putting that into solution, it also 
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1 releases all of the other chemicals and poisons 

2 and contaminants that you so clearly outlined in 

3 your opening statements from vanadium and cadmium 

4 and chromium and arsenic, ad nauseam. 

5 So, we know that that's an integral part. 

6 The issue is, how far do we go to clean it up? 

7 Now, let's say that we have a hundred glasses of 

8 water, and only one of them, or maybe five or 

9 contaminated with a poison that will kill you. It 

10 might be immediate, but it will kill you. Who is 

11 going to want to make that choice? Who is going 

12 to make, well, if I get that one, then I'm going 

13 to die? 

14 Some of the outfits in Texas who have not 

15 been able to clean up, and they'll say, well, 

16 it's unreasonable. I can't afford it, like the 

17 150 million in Wyoming. I can't afford. Well, 

18 then, how about 70? Well, can you afford 70? 

19 In Texas, they've had outfits that said, 

20 I can't clean it up. Lower your standards. So, 

21 the state lowers the standards. And then, it 

22 becomes public that this outfit met the standards 
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1 that were proposed and required by the government 

2 agencies, when in fact, they haven't. The 

3 standards had to be lowered in order for them to 

4 get a passing grade. This kind of inadequacy is 

5 rampant in this industry. 

6 The NRC doesn't require any cleanup. And 

7 in fact, the EPA doesn't. The NRC only requires 

8 that the mining outfits reduce the contamination 

9 to as low as reasonably achievable -- as low as 

10 reasonable achievable, which is -- all they have 

11 to do is say, it's unreasonable for me to spend 

12 any more money. And lo and behold, out the door 

13 they go, and they don't have to. Then, the cost 

14 of this clean up is borne by the local and state 

15 taxpayers. 

16 The United States -- USGS has clearly 

17 stated that there hasn't been any ISL operation 

18 in this country that has ever been remediated to 

19 baseline. Not one. 

20 Now, you have heard testimony that Crow 

21 Butte's been cleaned up and is remediated, and 

22 the ones in Texas have met all of the standards, 
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1 et cetera, et cetera. But as I said, you can't 

2 clean this up. How do you de-radiate uranium? 

3 You have to wait four and a half billion years to 

4 even get to a half line. 

5 How do you de-radiate and how do you de6 poison arsenic? If you have arsenic in your 

7 system, chances are, you're going to die. Why 

8 would we risk that kind of scenario? It doesn't 

9 make sense. It's irrational to trade, for no 

10 cost of the water, by the way, which equals 

11 billions of gallons of usable water -- it's 

12 insane to say, I will trade a few jobs for a few 

13 months and a few dollars in taxes for what I used 

14 to have as usable, clean water. 

15 Thank you very much. 

16 (Applause) 

17 MR. DYE: Next speaker is Reno Red Cloud. 

18 (Pause) 

19 MR. RED CLOUD: Yeah, my name is Reno Red 

20 Cloud. My last name spelled is R--E--D, C--L--O21 -U--D. And I represent the Oglala Sioux Tribe, 

22 Natural Resource and Regulatory Agency. 
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1 And today, I wanted to just give my 

2 history and you know, my background. I worked in 

3 water, too. I am from the Pine Ridge 

4 reservation, the lost Sioux tribe. I'm the 

5 great, great grandson of Chief Red Cloud. 

6 (Clears throat) 

7 I have been working in water -- I've been 

8 a water -- certified water operator for 35 years, 

9 so I do have a background in sampling water, 

10 mainly on what to save drinking water (sic). I 

11 have to work for the tribe for 35 years. 

12 I've worked for the public water systems 

13 with the OST Water and Sewer Company, and I 

14 worked for the Mini Latoni (phonetic) Water 

15 Project for 16 years, so, I do I have a 

16 background, and I am a class 3 water achievement, 

17 water distribution operator still currently. So, 

18 I still hold certifications. 

19 But today, I wanted to just give you 

20 know, my input that I think there should be 

21 stricter laws, regulations for compliance for the 

22 mining -- in-situ mining going on in Crow Butte. 
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1 The White River does go through our 

2 reservation, and we do have the White River and 

3 the Cheyenne River, and there are deep concerns 

4 of -- like the Cheyenne River being polluted, 

5 too, and the White River -- I would hate to see 

6 it ever, you know, get fully contaminated with 

7 uranium. 

8 But I'd like to just emphasize the Safe 

9 Drinking Water Act -- Clean Water Act. I would 

10 like to see the EPA emphasize source water 

11 protection, protecting our ground to surface 

12 waters. Maybe stricter regulations of that 

13 itself. 

14 But one of my questions is, if there is 

15 ever a radioactive emergency on the reservation, 

16 does Cameco have an emergency response plan? Or 

17 you know, whether -- if we did get a slug , who 

18 would pay for the cleanup? 

19 I just would like the EPA's assurance for 

20 protecting our water resources. We do have -- we 

21 are on the High Plains Aquifer. You have the 

22 Arikaree, the overall aquifer. It would be very, 
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1 very detrimental to see the overall or the 

2 Arikaree every contaminated, and that is just a 

3 concern I have, because of the vast users of 

4 water from South Dakota clear to Texas. You 

5 know? 

6 But I have a concern, and sometimes, when 

7 you think about, with water, with the Ogallala 

8 Sioux Tribe, water is life to us. It's part of 

9 our culture. So, it's a -- and then with my 

10 previous experience, I worked -- there is water 

11 quality problems on the reservation, and there 

12 was a Congressional act in 1988 called the Mini 

13 Watoni (phonetic) Water Project. 

14 I don't know if you guys are familiar 

15 with it, but it's taking source water from the 

16 Missouri River, and it's moving it to the Pine 

17 Ridge reservation. It's a combination of wells 

18 and source water -- I mean, source water – 

19 treated source water over in Fort Pierre, South 

20 Dakota. 

21 But it is a congressional act, and it 

22 addresses our water quality issues on the Pine 
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1 Ridge Reservation, and it goes to the Roosevelt 

2 Reservation in Lower Brule, so -- and it helps 

3 nine West River counties, too. 

4 But just today, I just want to express my 

5 concern, that I do believe that uranium mining 

6 needs stricter laws and regulations and 

7 compliance, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, 

8 somewhat annual. The more monitoring the better, 

9 you know, for -- as my experience at being a 

10 water operator, you've got to assure your people 

11 and the public that you're providing them a good 

12 quality water system. 

13 That's just mainly what I wanted to say 

14 today. Thank you. 

15 (Applause) 

16 MR. DYE: The next listed speaker is Ina 

17 Winter. 

18 MS. WINTER: Thank you. 

19 (Pause) 

20 MS. WINTER: Thank you for the 

21 opportunity to speak on this important issue. I22 -N-A, Winter, just like the season, and only one 
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1 of them. I have several points to make. A lot 

2 of them overlap with previous comments. 

3 The first one is water quality. I am a 

4 retired civil engineer, so I understand some 

5 technical issues. This is not my field, though. 

6 I was able to attend a lecture at South Dakota 

7 School of Mines and Technology. From a mining 

8 engineer, who talked about the chemicals used in 

9 the process, I was stunned -- stunned at the 

10 number of -- just categories of chemicals. 

11 We're talking about surfactants, all 

12 kinds of agents to do different things. And 

13 then, there's a list of -- under each one of 

14 those categories, individual chemicals that they 

15 can use. And he also said that when you inject 

16 these, you also try to pull them out -- clean 

17 them with solvents or however that's done. He 

18 said that it's impossible to get all of it back 

19 out. So, water quality is a big concern for me. 

20 Also, water quantity. While the water is being 

21 used by the mine, it's not being able to be used 

22 by others. 
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1 In this juncture of human history, where 

2 we are -- there's a lot of people. We have a 

3 high water use. We just can't afford to give up 

4 any water to non-essential purposes. And I 

5 believe that uranium mining is non-essential. I 

6 believe there's technology in the future that 

7 will surpass the power generation needed from 

8 uranium. 

9 So, water quantity. The other thing is 

10 that we have some climate change going on, and 

11 there is a recent prediction that -- I think it 

12 was like an 80 percent chance in the last half of 

13 the century that there will be a mega-draught in 

14 this part of the country. We can't afford to 

15 lose any water. So, water quantity, as well as 

16 quality is a concern. 

17 Geologic stability. I'm not qualified to 

18 say much about that, except that I understand 

19 that fracking, which is a related process, is 

20 under suspicion for stimulating earthquakes in 

21 areas that aren't used to having those. So, 

22 that's a huge concern of mine, because of not 
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1 only the surface effects on infrastructure and 

2 structures that aren't in areas that have 

3 regulations that cover that, but also, because of 

4 the opportunity to further contaminate 

5 groundwater. 

6 Now, here's one area that I would really 

7 urge you to consider, and that is, regulatory 

8 enforcement. There needs to be teeth in the 

9 regulations. The companies need to understand 

10 that they are being watched, and they cannot 

11 provide you with the information you need to make 

12 those decisions. 

13 I have worked in the field. I know that 

14 profit is a strong motivation for individuals in 

15 companies to spin the facts in their favor, and 

16 there's a lot of ways to do that. And maybe, I 

17 can propose that a third party company be 

18 certified by the EPA or other regulatory 

19 agencies, and that the mining companies can then 

20 hire them. But there has to be some really good 

21 teeth in the regulations and oversight. 

22 And then finally, I want to talk a little 
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1 bit about risk analysis. And again, profit is a 

2 strong motivator. There's nothing wrong with 

3 profit. It's a nice thing for people to be able 

4 to look forward to. But when you're regulating, 

5 you need to regulate the relative risks between 

6 health, impacts to the public. 

7 And what I mean is, say, let's see, 

8 chlorine in water. Okay, that's not exactly 

9 safe, but it's necessary, because the risks of 

10 not doing that are greater. So, instead of -- 

11 I'm sorry, I'm kind of babbling on this point, 

12 but I think it is important. 

13 Rather than number of jobs and economic 

14 activity that's generated, you should really look 

15 at the relative health risks. If it's important 

16 for individuals in a mining area to take on 

17 health risks, there should be a good solid 

18 benefit to the communities, to the people as a 

19 whole. Thank you. 

20 MR. DYE: Thank you. 

21 (Applause) 

22 MR. DYE: This is all of the listed 
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1 speakers that we have for this session. Does 

2 anybody new that has spoken yet, want to say 

3 anything? 

4 (No response heard) 

5 MR. DYE: Okay. Then has anybody that's 

6 already spoken want to come up again to say 

7 anything new, and not a rebuttal to anybody else? 

8 (Discussion off the record) 

9 MR. DYE: Come right up, ma'am. 

10 MS. PETERSON: My name is Sarah Peterson, 

11 P-E-T-E-R-S-O-N. 

12 I have prepared something, but again, it 

13 pretty much goes in line with most people -- 

14 people have already said, so I'd like to just hit 

15 some different points. 

16 I was upon -- I first became aware of 

17 radioactivity and death as a result of 

18 radioactivity in the '70s, at the Rocky Flats 

19 Nuclear Power -- it wasn't a power plant. It was 

20 an arms plant between Colden and Boulder, 

21 Colorado. 

22 I had friends graduate from high school 
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1 that got very, very good jobs there, and I 

2 watched them turn yellow and green and gray, and 

3 then, they died. The whole time, the EPA, the 

4 Defense Department and the NRC was saying there 

5 is no radioactivity at this facility at all. 

6 Yet, this continued to happen. 

7 And I would hate to see history repeat 

8 itself. You know, if we don't learn from our 

9 history, we are doomed to repeat it. When Rocky 

10 Flats was finally closed, the EPA came in and did 

11 the tests, and this was all underground bunkers, 

12 where the plutonium triggers were made for the 

13 nuclear bomb. And people were working in the 

14 glove boxes to put these together. This is 

15 underground in cement bunkers. 

16 The plan was to clean up what they could, 

17 and again, I don't know of any way of cleaning up 

18 radioactivity. And if you do, please tell me, 

19 because (laughs) I am not aware of this. 

20 The land above what was Rocky Flats 

21 Nuclear Weapons Plant was going to be -- this was 

22 the whole big plan. They were going to have a 
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1 big open space for day use. They were going to 

2 have ponds and playgrounds and picnic areas. 

3 And after the underground area was -- I 

4 don't know, filled in with concrete -- I'm not 

5 sure what they did, the land above that facility 

6 -- the EPA decided, with the tests that had been 

7 done, that the ground was too radioactive for day 

8 use. 

9 And that came after the damage had been 

10 done. And I see a lot of damage in this country 

11 being done by foreign corporations coming in. 

12 And we are giving them our water. This is our 

13 water. 

14 We are giving them our water to pollute 

15 and kill us. You know? We don't have water 

16 around here, and don't let this last snow storm 

17 fool you any. You know? We're still below the 

18 average for the year. You know? We get these 

19 spurts of water, and in the meantime, everything 

20 dries out. 

21 The EPA -- that's what I have to say 

22 about this. This is very dangerous, and I wish 
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1 that you would study your history. 

2 The Dewey Burdock area has been mined, as 

3 it was said. It is already contaminated. 

4 Powertech said that there were 3,000 bore holes -

5 - that's exploration bore holes, which the 

6 industry calls punching holes in the ground. As 

7 far as I'm concerned, the earth protects us from 

8 the uranium. The minute we punch holes into our 

9 mother, that's opening it up for snow and rain to 

10 go down. And that radioactivity and the other 

11 heavy metals are carried down with the water into 

12 our aquifers. 

13 The actuality of the number of bore holes 

14 that have been punched into the ground at the 

15 Dewey Burdock area is over 7,000. 

16 Azarga/Powertech, once again, put down a number 

17 that was not accurate, and it has been accepted 

18 until we got the Tennessee Valley authority's 

19 historical information on that. 

20 Thank you. And I will give you what I 

21 had written, but you also have it up there. 

22 MR. DYE: Thank you. 
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1 (Discussion off the record) 

2 MR. DYE: Anyone else? 

3 (Applause) 

4 MALE SPEAKER: I will -- 

5 MR. DYE: Please state your name again 

6 and spell it, so I have it. 

7 MR. ELLISON: Bruce Ellison. E-L-L-I-S8 O-N. I'm just going to zero in on two areas of 

9 your proposed regulations. 

10 I applaud the requirement of the return 

11 to baseline. I'm very concerned about the idea 

12 that if it can't be achieved, whatever that 

13 means, that you can give an excuse to 

14 contaminate. 

15 The regulations -- this should all be 

16 able to be foreseen. We've gone from agencies 

17 that required a whole lot of testing up front 

18 before licenses were issued to agencies that 

19 simply say, well, you promise that you'll do your 

20 test, and if there's a problem, we'll deal with 

21 it later. That's kind of backwards, I would 

22 submit. 
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1 There should be a pretty limited area of 

2 excuses given by the EPA to allow for any 

3 increases in the levels of the elements and 

4 minerals that are being monitored, that are being 

5 of concerned, and an explanation as to why that 

6 wasn't known up front. Because otherwise, there 

7 isn't an ISL company, I would submit to you, in 

8 this country, that isn't going to come back and 

9 say, well, we can't do the baseline because they 

10 technologically can't do it, and then go for 

11 higher. 

12 So, you've got a good start by returning 

13 to baseline, because that's more than even South 

14 Dakota requires anymore, but don't let the 

15 companies get away by coming in and just saying, 

16 well, we can't do it. So okay, you can do higher 

17 levels. 

18 The other thing I want to address -- and 

19 a fact in point, we heard that Crow Butte Mine 

20 One was signed off. Yes, it is. The uranium and 

21 the arsenic levels are 10 times that they were 

22 baseline. Ten times what they were baseline. 
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1 That's according to the USGS study that was done 

2 a few years ago. 

3 So, that to me, says what you are 

4 attempting to address could have prevented that 

5 increase with careful oversight. Now, 30 years 

6 of monitoring. I applaud that. The questions 

7 that I would ask you to consider are, will the 

8 company post a bond for 30 years? How are you 

9 going to get them to do that? If the company 

10 goes bankrupt or just simply ceases to exist, 

11 then who pays for that? 

12 So, I applaud the 30 year monitoring. I 

13 think it's at a minimum. We know some of these 

14 aquifers move slowly. You know, once you shut 

15 the pumps off, everything starts to flow down 

16 flow. So, if 40 years from now or 50 years from 

17 now, if somebody starts to impact wells, because 

18 the matter wasn't cleaned up, up front, that's a 

19 problem. 

20 Who's going to be responsible for it? 

21 Who's going to give us back our water? So, I 

22 would urge you that when you look at the 30 
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1 years, how is it realistically going to be 

2 monitored? Please don't have the company do it. 

3 You guys have got to do it. You've got to. 

4 And I heard a suggestion of hiring a 

5 third party company. As long as it is truly an 

6 independent company and doesn't simply become the 

7 right arm or the left arm of the ISL operator, 

8 which too often happens with these so-called 

9 independent operations. 

10 So, I again thank you for holding these 

11 hearings. I thank you for your suggestions. 

12 Please go further than you have with protecting 

13 our water. You've got a great start. Since the 

14 NRC is advocating its responsibility to you 

15 folks, we are depending upon you. 

16 Thank you. 

17 MR. PEAKE: I have a question for you. 

18 MR. ELLISON: Yes, sir. 

19 MR. PEAKE: Were you -- you didn't say 

20 the words, but were you alluding to the 

21 provisions for the alternative concentration 

22 limits, the ACLs? 
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1 MR. ELLISON: Yes. Yes. In other words, 

2 for example, in the NRC or within the state of 

3 South Dakota, the same basic approach. Well, we 

4 want you to get back to baseline, but if you 

5 can't, let us know. We'll give you alternative 

6 levels to reach. 

7 South Dakota, even after the company came 

8 in and bought our legislature changed things to 

9 the point that even if you can't meet that first 

10 additional level, come back again. We'll give 

11 you a higher level. 

12 The most expensive part of this -- an ISL 

13 operation is reclamation. What you are 

14 attempting to do is to hold the company somewhat 

15 accountable -- much more than they have been for 

16 that heavy cost. And that's where the problem 

17 with the bankruptcy is. We've got Superfund 

18 sites in the Black Hill because companies went 

19 bankrupt. The bonds were insufficient. 

20 Don't -- we'll need more. We need 

21 whatever little water we have. So, yes, the 

22 alternative figures -- I understand there may be 
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1 some circumstances that this mining is allowed, 

2 but that's going to be necessary. But it should 

3 be the exception, rather than the rule. And my 

4 concern is, is that the way the rules are 

5 proposed, it too easily allows for it to become 

6 the rule because that's the way the industries 

7 have been used to operating since ISL operations 

8 began. 

9 Thank you. Did that answer your 

10 question, sir? 

11 MR. PEAKE: Yes, it did. 

12 MR. ELLISON: All right. Thank you. 

13 MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you. 

14 (Applause) 

15 MR. DYE: Anybody else in the room to 

16 speak? Yes, ma'am. One again, will you state 

17 your name and spell it please. 

18 MS. HENDERSON: Hi. My name is Susan 

19 Henderson. H-E-N-D-E-R-S-O-N. I am the cattle 

20 rancher from the Edgemont area. 

21 I just wanted to say that the USGS report 

22 that Mr. Ellison was referring to, I looked at 
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1 that, and it showed, of course, that the arsenic 

2 and uranium levels had increased ten-fold. And 

3 so, I thought, well, how can this be? 

4 So, I called up the NDEQ in Lincoln, 

5 Nebraska, and they said, well, we're very upset 

6 about this, but the company managed to get these 

7 levels changed before the project began. So, 

8 technically, they're in compliance. I can't do 

9 anything about it. I'd like to do something 

10 about it, because we're really worried about it. 

11 So, what needs to happen here is we need 

12 to have tremendous oversight, and Mr. Ellison 

13 made a comment about our legislature. There is a 

14 substantial number of the hundred members of the 

15 South Dakota legislature that bought stock in 

16 Powertech/Azarga. 

17 There a substantial number of county 

18 commissioners in Fall River County that bought 

19 stock in Powertech/Azartga. They bought it at -- 

20 from six to $10. It's now trading at -- Azarga 

21 is trading at about 38 cents a share. The latest 

22 takeover from Azarga, you had to put in 10 shares 
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1 of Powertech to get that. 

2 So, your $10 investment has gone from ten 

3 bucks to three and a half cents. And there are a 

4 lot of powerful people in South Dakota that want 

5 to have this company succeed somehow, so that 

6 they can get their money back. And you know 

7 what? We can't afford this. The environment 

8 can't afford it. Agriculture can't afford it. 

9 Cities and towns can't afford it. No one can 

10 afford these relationships. 

11 Thank you. 

12 MR. DYE: Thank you. 

13 (Applause) 

14 MR. DYE: Anyone else in the room? Yes, 

15 sir? 

16 (Discussion off the record) 

17 MR. GRAY: I promise I won't overstay my 

18 invitation. We've had reference to -- 

19 MR. DYE: Please state your name. 

20 MR. GRAY: Oh, I'm sorry. Gardner Gray, 

21 G--R--A--Y. 

22 We've had testimony that says that the 
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1 science that is out there proves that these kind 

2 of ISL operations are safe and benign. 

3 Powertech/Azarga will tell you that. 

4 Well, what is the science? If you look 

5 at company science, they will say it's safe and 

6 benign. Well, we know that's not true. If you 

7 take independent science, Dr. Stone, Dr. Rahm 

8 (phonetic) from School of Mines, highly respected 

9 individuals, they will tell you something 

10 different. They will tell you that there is 

11 transmissibility between aquifers of water. It 

12 can go up. It can go down. 

13 What's the process, and why is it 

14 contaminating? Well, if you take from a safe, 

15 natural storage, uranium, and you put that into 

16 solution, it also puts all those other chemicals 

17 into solution. And when you take out a one to 

18 three percent bleed in order to kind of power 

19 this operation, you take out one to three percent 

20 of not just the lixiviant, but of these 

21 chemicals. 

22 Now, what do we do with those chemicals? 
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1 This bleed is contaminated. It is, because 

2 that's the nature of the beast. Once it's 

3 contaminated, they take one to three percent, 

4 call the bleed, and they have three options to do 

5 this at Dewey Burdock. 

6 One is to put it into the deadwood 

7 aquifer. That will make that aquifer unusable. 

8 The other is they will put it into the Minnelusa, 

9 an aquifer that is already in use by a great many 

10 people in the Southern Hills. Well, if you 

11 contaminate that with radioactive material, 

12 including arsenic, et cetera, et cetera, then 

13 that one becomes unusable. 

14 Well, there's only four down there. The 

15 other two are the Madison and in the Inyan Kara. 

16 Well, the Inyan Cara is the main aquifer from 

17 which they want to take this uranium. 

18 Well, if they put all that stuff into 

19 solution, then that part of the aquifer will be 

20 unusable. So, that leaves the Madison. We had 

21 four. Now we're down to one. And this is the 

22 science. 
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1 The science says that the Madison will 

2 most likely get contaminated because of the 

3 fissures and the cracks and the movement of the 

4 earth. This is a small, but it is an earthquake 

5 area. We've had two or three in the last 20 

6 years or so -- 25 years. 

7 So, this poison can go from one place to 

8 another, and you can't clean it up, which is why 

9 the NRC doesn't require it. And by your own 

10 admission at your introductory comments, was that 

11 you’ve tried to get as safe as possible. Well, 

12 that's not getting it safe. If you have it as 

13 low as reasonably achievable, that is not safe. 

14 The science says it's not safe. 

15 The opponents to your changes, which I, 

16 too, as well as most of us here, applaud -- well 

17 now, see, I just spaced out. I forgot what I was 

18 going to say. Oh, somebody's glass is up here. 

19 So, just very quickly, the science says 

20 this is bad news. What we've done is traded that 

21 science for some money. And I don't want to 

22 receive money if it's going to risk my 
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1 grandchildren's' water supply. I don't want to 

2 take some extra little tax money or a little 

3 money from the state, and the state builds a 

4 park, or the state does this with this mining 

5 money, at the risk of -- any risk; 1 percent 

6 chance of it happening. 

7 We know it's going to be contaminated. 

8 We just don't know to what extent it's going to 

9 be contaminated. And so, that's -- when I said 

10 take one glass out of a hundred, is that the one 

11 that's contaminated? If it's a 1 percent chance, 

12 you have a 1 percent chance of drinking that 

13 contaminated water. I don't want to take that 

14 chance. 

15 I've been in situations where I had a 

16 50/50 chance of getting through. And it's not 

17 fun. But there was still a 50 percent chance 

18 that I might not make it. 

19 Well, even if it's five percent, even if 

20 it's one percent, is it rational or fair to the 

21 public, fair to wildlife, who need the water? Is 

22 it fair to a lot of these companies to get away 
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1 with this? 

2 If you include in your discussions what 

3 Colorado did when Powertech wanted some ISL money 

4 down there, they said absolutely, you can mine. 

5 All you have to do is guarantee us that you can 

6 clean up the water. Just give us that one 

7 guarantee. Prove it to us,that you can do it, 

8 and then, give us a list of a few more in the 

9 country that have accomplished that, and you can 

10 mine. We only care about the quality of the 

11 water the quantity. Make it safe. Make it safe. 

12 If they cannot do it safely, if -- true 

13 safely -- remove those contaminants. If they 

14 can't remove them, then you must deny their 

15 application. You cannot allow them to 

16 contaminate the water. It's too precious. Thank 

17 you. 

18 MR. DYE: Anyone else that wants to say 

19 something new that's not a rebuttal? 

20 MR. HOLLENBECK: I'm Mark Hollenbeck, H21 O-L-L-E-N-B-E-C-K. I'm the project manager for 

22 the Dewey Burdock Project, but I'm here on my own 
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1 accord. 

2 As you may be aware, the NRC 

3 commissioners asked their staff to look into this 

4 issue as to whether or not there was 

5 contamination caused by in-situ. The NRC staff 

6 has a memo to their commissioners. It's a well 

7 circulated memo. 

8 The staff is unaware of any situation 

9 indicating that the quality of groundwater in 

10 nearby Water Walk supply well has been degraded, 

11 the use of a water supply well has been 

12 discontinued, or a well has been relocated 

13 because of the impacts attributed to an ISR 

14 facility. 

15 And at our hearing in Rapid City, the 

16 science experts from the other side were 

17 repeatedly asked if they had any evidence to the 

18 contrary. They had none. I think there's been a 

19 misconception perpetrated here that this water 

20 that we're mining in, whether it's uranium or 

21 it’s pristine water. It is not. 

22 It is not usable water today. The radium 
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1 in that water is up to 1,200 times drinking water 

2 standards. Now, radium, if you drink it, looks 

3 like calcium to your body and it goes into your 

4 bones. Uranium, for the most part, passes 

5 through. This is a reduced environment, is why 

6 the uranium is there, and so there's very little 

7 uranium in the water. 

8 There is a lot of radium in the water. 

9 And every one of these that I've looked at that 

10 has been restored, the radium, which is the more 

11 hazardous constituent, has been reduced. The 

12 uranium has increased, but when you increase it 

13 from a drinking water standard just slightly or 

14 even 10 times, when it is very low, there isn't 

15 much reduction. 

16 The reduction in radium improves the 

17 quality of water. I would say that this hearing 

18 or this rule that someone else said, is kind of 

19 searching for a problem. When the NRC staff 

20 hasn't been able to find a problem, I'm not sure 

21 what the EPA is looking for. 

22 And then, the other issue is on baseline 
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1 -- on returning this water to baseline. Any 

2 reclamation project, returning whatever it is 

3 you're working on to a usable condition after 

4 you're done is the goal. There is not a single 

5 city in the United States that I'm aware of that 

6 returns their water to baseline. 

7 There is nobody that returns -- I'm still 

8 waiting for the first project that's returned to 

9 baseline. If you go and affect something, you're 

10 not going to return it to baseline, or you 

11 wouldn't have had an effect on it. And so, we 

12 want to return it to its usable condition as it 

13 is today. And that's the goal of any 

14 reclamation, whether it's surface mining or if 

15 it's a water project. The goal is to return it 

16 to a usable condition -- the same usable 

17 condition that it is today, and that has been 

18 successfully done. 

19 And I thank you for your time, for coming 

20 to this part of the country and hearing us. 

21 Thank you. 

22 MR. DYE: Anyone else with something new? 
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1 No rebuttals? All right. We'll go in recess, 

2 see if any more speakers show up. If not, we'll 

3 be in recess until four o'clock. 

4 [Recess taken] 

5 MR. DYE: We'll go ahead and get back in 

6 session. Is there anyone else that showed up 

7 that wants to speak? 

8 MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Do you have any 

9 questions? 

10 (Discussion off the record) 

11 MR. DYE: Since there's no further 

12 comments, I will conclude this public hearing. 

13 MALE SPEAKER: Whoa, whoa, please. 

14 MR. DYE: Whoa. Does somebody want to 

15 speak? I'm sorry. 

16 MR. HARVEY: My name again, is Edward 

17 Harvey. I'm from -- 

18 MS. ROSENCRANTZ: What was your name 

19 again? 

20 MR. HARVEY: Edward Harvey. H-A-R-V-E-Y. 

21 I would like to applaud you for opening 

22 this to us, and I would also like to applaud you 
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1 for extending the sample times in these areas. I 

2 think to me, it doesn't make much sense to 

3 monitor an above ground containment of a mill 

4 tailings pile for decades, and yet, the very same 

5 pile in the aquifer you're trying to protect in 

6 the first place, you're only going to monitor for 

7 a year. And it makes no sense. 

8 So, I think your 30 year is a very good 

9 start on how long this should really be done. 

10 Thank you. 

11 MR. DYE: All right, thank you. 

12 MR. HARVEY: You all have a great time, 

13 and I hope you enjoyed your stay here. 

14 MR. DYE: If there are no further 

15 comments, I will conclude this public hearing 

16 session. Officially closed at 4:00 p.m. 

17 [Whereupon, at 4:00 p.m., the Public 

18 Hearing, Session 1, was adjourned.] 

19 P R O C E E D I N G S 

20 Session 2 

21 MR. DYE: -- are Ingrid Rosencrantz from 

22 Tom Peake from the Office of Radiation and Indoor 
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1 Air. This hearing is now in session. Please, 

2 everyone make sure and put your cell phones on 

3 silent, if you would. 

4 We are all here today to listen and 

5 receive your comments on EPA's proposed revisions 

6 to Health and Environmental Protection Standards 

7 for Uranium and Thorium Mill Tailings, also known 

8 as 40 CFR Part 192. 

9 EPA is proposing to revise the rule by 

10 adding an additional Subpart F to explicitly 

11 address groundwater protection at uranium in-situ 

12 recovery operations. EPA announced this proposed 

13 rule in the Federal Register on January 26th, 

14 2015. The comment period started on that date, 

15 and it has been extended to May 27th, 2015. 

16 In a moment, Ingrid will explain in more 

17 detail what was proposed in that notice, but 

18 before I turn it over to Ingrid, let me explain a 

19 little bit about how this hearing will work. 

20 There were two sessions today, one this 

21 afternoon from 1 to 4, and this one, from 6 to 8. 

22 Please be sure you have checked in at the 
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1 registration desk even if you are not planning to 

2 speak today. 

3 I will call the scheduled speakers to the 

4 podium. When it is your turn to speak, please 

5 state your name, spelling your last name for the 

6 court reporter, and your affiliation, before you 

7 begin your testimony. And I want to apologize 

8 now if I mispronounce anybody's name. I'll do 

9 the best I can. Your comments will be 

10 transcribed and included in the record of 

11 comments on the proposed rule. 

12 In order to ensure everyone has the 

13 opportunity to speak, and to ensure fairness, 

14 please limit your testimony to five minutes. 

15 We'll have the timer going. The yellow light 

16 will come on when you have one minute left to 

17 speak, and then, the red light, when your time is 

18 up. At that time, you will be asked to complete 

19 your testimony. 

20 If you have more to say after your five 

21 minutes are up, and you would like to speak again 

22 with information that is new and discrete from 
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1 your previous testimony, and it is not a rebuttal 

2 to someone else's testimony, we'll be happy to 

3 have you speak again. 

4 Please sign up to speak again at the 

5 registration desk and you will then be called 

6 again after the other speakers. After you finish 

7 your testimony, members of the panel may ask 

8 clarifying questions. We are not here today to 

9 answer any questions about the proposed rule. If 

10 you have any questions about the process, please 

11 find one of the EPA representatives after the 

12 hearing. 

13 If you have written copies of your 

14 testimony or supporting documentation or notes, 

15 please give a copy to our staff at the 

16 registration table. This will be helpful as we 

17 prepare the transcript. 

18 If you have any additional comments you 

19 would like to make, you can submit them in 

20 writing. Those comments must be received by 5 

21 p.m. on May 27th. 

22 Let me assure you that EPA gives just as 
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1 much consideration to comments that we receive in 

2 writing as we do to comments we receive at public 

3 hearings like this one. Instructions for 

4 submitting comments are included in a fact sheet 

5 at the registration table. You can pick up a 

6 copy at that table outside the door. 

7 If you would like to testify but have 

8 not yet registered to do so, please sign up at 

9 the registration table outside this room. Now, 

10 let me turn it over to Ingrid, who will summarize 

11 the proposed rule. 

12 MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you, Bob. 

13 Again, my name is Ingrid Rosencrantz, and 

14 I am the technical lead on this proposed 

15 rulemaking. As Bob said, I'm going to go through 

16 and share a bit more on the details involved in 

17 the rulemaking context. 

18 So basically, the proposal provides 

19 standards for NRC and NRC agreement states to use 

20 that direct that uranium in-situ facilities 

21 return groundwater to as close to pre-mining 

22 conditions as possible, and ensure that 
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1 geochemistry and flow of the groundwater remains 

2 stable over time. 

3 In-situ recovery is now the most common 

4 method for extracting uranium. There are no 

5 specific standards for this type of process, and 

6 NRC and NRC agreement states use the existing, 

7 more general standards under 40 CFR 192 to permit 

8 these facilities on an ad hoc basis. 

9 What we are proposing to do is to add an 

10 additional Subpart F that explicitly addresses, 

11 actually, groundwater protection, restoration and 

12 stability at in-situ recovery operations. We're 

13 proposing that groundwater be adequately 

14 characterized before operation begins; that after 

15 operations cease, the aquifer is restore to 

16 initial groundwater conditions, and that 

17 facilities ensure that post restoration 

18 groundwater conditions remain stable. 

19 Specifically, we're proposing groundwater 

20 protection standards be set for 13 constituents. 

21 These constituents include arsenic, barium, 

22 cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, selenium, 
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1 silver, nitrate as nitrogen, molybdenum, combined 

2 radium 226 and radium 228, total uranium and 

3 gross alpha particle activity, excluding radon 

4 and uranium. Basically, the standard would be 

5 set at the MCL or background, whichever is 

6 higher. 

7 To implement these standards, EPA is 

8 proposing monitoring requirements for all phases 

9 of the operation; both beginning before 

10 operations begin to establish baseline, during 

11 operations, during restoration and after 

12 restoration, to ensure that stability is 

13 continued. In addition, the proposal requires 

14 corrective action when it's necessary. 

15 That's the basic summary of the 

16 requirements of the proposed rule. Details can 

17 be found in the Federal Register notice. Many 

18 folks maybe have seen this. This is the actual 

19 proposal. 

20 And we're welcoming written comments as 

21 well as these verbal comments you'll be offering 

22 today. If folks would like to submit comments in 
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1 writing, you can go to www.regulations.gov, and 

2 the docket number is docket ID number EPA-HQ-OAR3 2012-0788. 

4 So, we welcome any comments you'd like to 

5 submit. I'll turn it back over to you then, Bob. 

6 That's it. Thank you. 

7 MR. DYE: Thank you, Ingrid. I'd like 

8 to now call the first scheduled speaker, Kathy 

9 Stokey. So as I said, please spell your name and 

10 state who you are representing for the court 

11 reporter. Yes, ma'am. 

12 MS. STOKEY: Kathy Stokey, K-A-T-H-Y, S13 T-O-K-E-Y, resident of Chadron. And I'd like to 

14 thank you for allowing me to make these comments. 

15 The Crow Butte uranium mining facility 

16 located about four miles east of the city of 

17 Crawford, Nebraska, has been a part of that 

18 community since 1989. This facility uses an in19 situ recovery process to extract uranium from the 

20 basal Chadron sandstone aquifers below the ground 

21 surface. Leaching solution enters the formations 

22 through the injection wells and flows to the 
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1 recovery wells. 

2 Uranium rich leaching solution is drawn 

3 from the recovery wells for processing into 

4 yellow cake at CBR Central Processing Plant. The 

5 Crow Butte uranium mining facility has proven to 

6 be a good neighbor to Crawford and the 

7 surrounding area. 

8 Crow Butte and Chemical Resources have 

9 given much back to the community. Examples of 

10 their generosity include their donation to the 

11 volunteer fire department in Crawford. Volunteer 

12 fire fighters are better prepared to respond to 

13 chemical fires and other toxic environments 

14 thanks to a donation of self-contained breathing 

15 apparatus that replace their outdated equipment. 

16 In 1991, the pavilion in the Crawford 

17 City Park was destroyed by fire. Chemical 

18 Resources donated the funds to replace that 

19 facility with an all weather building for use by 

20 community members, clubs and organizations. This 

21 facility has been a great addition to the town of 

22 Crawford. 
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1 Chemical Resources also provides math and 

2 science scholarships to graduating seniors. In 

3 2010, the Crawford High School received new 

4 computer-aided design, computer-aided 

5 manufacturing equipment to help prepare students 

6 for high tech jobs in industry. For a small 

7 school in a community of this size, this is a 

8 wonderful opportunity for these students that 

9 would not have been as fortunate without the 

10 generosity of Chemical Resources. 

11 Years ago, a retired local gentleman 

12 named Virgil Couch, began gathering used toys, 

13 lovingly repairing them and making them like new 

14 to donate them to children in the area who might 

15 otherwise have not received anything for 

16 Christmas. Mr. Couch eventually became too frail 

17 to continue this work, and later passed away. 

18 The community was in danger of losing a 

19 valuable and beloved holiday tradition. Chemical 

20 Resources' employees stepped in however, to 

21 create the Virgil Couch Toy Program, similar to 

22 the U.S. Marine Corps reserves Toys for Tots. 
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1 Employees and others in the community 

2 donate new toys and cash to assure no child in 

3 the area goes without a present at Christmas, and 

4 that Virgil Couch's name lives on in the work he 

5 loved. 

6 The Crow Butte uranium mining facility 

7 has provided many well paying jobs with excellent 

8 benefits to a community with a limited number of 

9 options for employment. These employees that 

10 live and work in this community take great pride 

11 in working for an employer that is concerned with 

12 maintaining an outside record of safety, keeping 

13 the environment safe for all who live there, and 

14 giving back to the community. 

15 The 40 CFR Part 192 rules are going to 

16 have a major effect on Crow Butte resources and 

17 the U.S. uranium extraction industry, its 

18 employees, the businesses that provide goods and 

19 services to this industry and the local 

20 communities where this industry is active. 

21 I believe the EPA has a responsibility to 

22 ensure that the concerns of various stakeholders 
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1 are not just considered, but analyzed and weighed 

2 in detail. All we are asking is that you delay 

3 the proposed rule until a proper economic 

4 analysis can be completed. 

5 And I've lived in this community for a 

6 long time. I know the people that work there -- 

7 have known them for most of their lives. They're 

8 good people, and they would never do anything to 

9 hurt the community or the groundwater or anything 

10 that has to do with the business. They're really 

11 good people, and I know that they're safe. Thank 

12 you. 

13 MR. DYE: Thank you. 

14 MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you. 

15 MR. DYE: Next speaker is Ralph Knode. 

16 MR. KNODE: My name is Ralph Knode, K-N17 O-D-E. First of all, I want to thank the EPA for 

18 taking the time to get outside of Washington, 

19 D.C. and come out and listen to people that are 

20 affected by the rulemaking that you're proposing 

21 today. 

22 The comments that I'm going to offer are 
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1 mine -- personal comments and my opinion. They 

2 have nothing to do with -- other than my own 

3 thoughts. I'm a land owner here in Dallas 

4 County, Nebraska. The White River, which you 

5 heard a lot about today, runs right through my 

6 farm. 

7 I irrigate my crops with water from the 

8 White River. My wife, my children, my 

9 grandchildren drink water from aquifers that are 

10 above and adjacent to where the mining has taken 

11 place for the last three decades. I have worked 

12 in the in-situ leach industry for over 30 years. 

13 I'm a geologist by training. I know what I'm 

14 talking about. 

15 I spent substantial time reviewing the 

16 proposed rulemaking, all 193 pages of it. And I 

17 looked at the letters from the scientific 

18 advisory board and their recommendations to the 

19 administrator of the EPA, and I've got a few 

20 comments that I'd like to make, some 

21 observations. 

22 One, and I'll get to this later, if 
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1 there's more time -- apparently, the EPA has no 

2 clue what's going on when we characterize 

3 baseline groundwater quality at uranium mines 

4 today. I listened to your statement twice today, 

5 and you give the impression that there is some 

6 gap in data collected. Well, you don't 

7 understand the process, then. 

8 But I digress. The EPA is required to 

9 perform a cost benefit analysis when they propose 

10 rulemaking. And they need to know what the costs 

11 and the benefits of that -- of the impact of that 

12 regulation would be. You were tasked with that. 

13 I've looked at the cost estimate provided 

14 in this rulemaking, and it is flawed beyond 

15 belief. It's my personal opinion you're probably 

16 off by an order of magnitude. So, when you say 

17 there's a dollar fifty per pound of cost 

18 associated with this rulemaking, I believe you're 

19 off by a factor of ten. And I looked and I 

20 looked and I looked for where there was a more 

21 representative analysis of this cost, and it's 

22 not there. 
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1 The benefits. You have two tables. You 

2 list the benefits. It's a possible this or a 

3 potential this. There's no concrete benefits 

4 that are cited. As a matter of fact, you can't -

5 - you say you can't quantify them. So, if you 

6 can't quantify a benefit, how can you do a cost 

7 benefit analysis? It's deeply flawed. 

8 Another point. There were many 

9 recommendations made by the scientific advisory 

10 board that it looks to me, like they went largely 

11 ignored by the EPA in this rulemaking process. A 

12 couple that I would point out. 

13 The EPA was advised that they should look 

14 at the -- and survey the extensive monitoring 

15 data that was available. The EPA says there is 

16 no data available. The state of Nebraska, the 

17 state of Wyoming, the state of Texas have huge, 

18 huge archives of groundwater quality that has 

19 been derived before, during and after uranium 

20 mining in all three states. I suggest you look 

21 at that. 

22 The other recommendation. The EPA should 
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1 expand the report -- the report being the 

2 proposed rulemaking, to discuss among other 

3 things, natural attenuation. So, I searched your 

4 document three times this morning to find the 

5 words natural attenuation. They are not even in 

6 there. How can we have this discussion without 

7 an understanding of natural attenuation that 

8 happens as groundwater moves? It's unbelievable. 

9 And the most egregious finding of all, 

10 the comment, and I quote from your document, 

11 "nevertheless, we believe there is sufficient 

12 information available to indicate practices are 

13 related to groundwater protection and ISR 

14 facilities have not been sufficiently rigorous to 

15 provide confidence either that groundwater is 

16 being restored appropriately, or that such 

17 restoration will persist into the reasonably 

18 foreseeable future." 

19 What's egregious about this? The fact 

20 that you support this comment with a footnote to 

21 a National Resource Defense Council document 

22 that's not a peer reviewed document, that -- it's 
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1 unbelievable that you would use a document like 

2 that to support your findings in this rulemaking. 

3 I cannot believe it. 

4 Okay. Finally, what I'm seeing is 

5 proposed rulemaking is carried out to the point 

6 of absurdity. This is an attempt by the EPA and 

7 others to halt uranium by its own methods. In 

8 doing this, you are denying my children, my 

9 grandchildren, my friends and my neighbors the 

10 right to earn a living, just like people have 

11 been doing for the last 30 years in Dawes County. 

12 If you want to know what's going on, take 

13 a look at the data that's available. There are 

14 many residents that live within a mile or less of 

15 the existing uranium mine. That water quality is 

16 there. It's there for the taking. 

17 This rulemaking is -- this is a matter of 

18 a solution looking for a problem. I strongly 

19 urge you to withdraw the proposed rulemaking. 

20 Thank you very much. 

21 MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you. 

22 MR. DYE: Thank you. 
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1 MR. PEAKE: Thank you. 

2 MR. DYE: Next speaker is Lillias Jones 

3 Jarding. 

4 MS. JARDING: That's Lillias, L-I-L-I-A5 S. The last name is J-A-R-D-I-N-G. 

6 Thank you for the opportunity to address 

7 you. I am Dr. Lillias Jarding of Rapid City, 

8 South Dakota. My PhD is in political science 

9 with an emphasis on environmental policy. I have 

10 done research on uranium mining and followed the 

11 industry for over 35 years. I have presented 

12 papers on uranium at professional conferences and 

13 been published in peer reviewed journals. 

14 My research indicates that the main 

15 concern here, which has been present since the 

16 industry began, is water. In the old days, many 

17 tons of mill tailings were left open to water, 

18 air and the public, and some of these tailings 

19 are still sitting, exposed, decades and billions 

20 of taxpayer dollars later. 

21 Radioactive mine wastes and pits were 

22 left open, including in the Black Hills, where 
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1 the EPA is currently studying one old mine under 

2 (Inaudible). Company after company went 

3 bankrupt. In the Black Hills, there are 169 old 

4 uranium mines and prospects, according to your 

5 agency. Only a handful have been reclaimed by 

6 the state. 

7 The modern uranium industry hasn't done 

8 any better. The CEO of a uranium company once 

9 told me that excursions are an expected aspect of 

10 in-situ mining, and the record indicates this is 

11 true. 

12 The Crow Butte mine near here has 

13 experienced 68 license violations and reportable 

14 incidents. In the last two years, there have 

15 been seven excursions. In the same time period, 

16 at Lost Creek mine in Wyoming, there have been at 

17 least five spills of mining fluids, one of which 

18 flowed outside the permit boundary. 

19 The water has never been returned to its 

20 pre-mining condition at any of the ISL operations 

21 I have studied. Common post-mining contaminates 

22 are tracked by the new rule. One additional that 
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1 should be added to your list is vanadium. 

2 My research indicates that the NRC is 

3 understaffed and outmaneuvered by uranium 

4 companies, or is simply a victim of 

5 administrative capture by the uranium industry. 

6 For South Dakota, NRC regulation is done 

7 from its Texas office, which covers 22 states. 

8 While only a few of these states have operating 

9 mines, the office only has two inspectors. It 

10 has to call in people from other distant 

11 locations to do inspections. 

12 Typically, when a company says that it 

13 has done mining, the NRC increases permissible 

14 pollutant limits and lets the companies close the 

15 mines without cleaning up the water. Over the 

16 past six decades, the uranium industry and the 

17 NRC have given us every reason to be concerned. 

18 The proposed rule is overdue, and EPA's standards 

19 need to be updated to address ISL operations, 

20 which have become the most common type of uranium 

21 extraction in the U.S. 

22 In the western states, water is our most 
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1 critical resource, and in the Black Hills, 

2 communities and ranches rely on groundwater. It 

3 needs to be protected to the highest standards. 

4 In South Dakota, we have one more reason for 

5 supporting EPA regulations such as this for all 

6 states. 

7 In 2011, legislation passed in South 

8 Dakota which suspended state regulation of ISL 

9 mining, leaving all activities except passive 

10 monitoring to federal authorities. If mining 

11 starts in South Dakota, state regulators could 

12 literally watch while companies engaged in any 

13 sort of problematic behavior, but would not be 

14 able to take enforcement action. 

15 While the company's argument for this 

16 change was that mining is overregulated, history 

17 shows the opposite. So, we are at the mercy at 

18 any of the 11 uranium companies that have shown 

19 an interest in the Black Hills, if federal 

20 regulators do not take an active role. We 

21 believe that the proposed rule allows the EPA to 

22 take a more active and welcome role in protecting 
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1 our groundwater. 

2 I wish to make one final point. Studies 

3 indicated as far back as the 1970s that 

4 groundwater quality can get worse after 

5 restoration is over. Clearly, monitoring must be 

6 done for a long time, given the essentially 

7 permanent characteristics of radioactivity. 

8 I think the proposed rules 30 year 

9 monitoring requirement is the minimum that should 

10 be required, and funding to do the monitoring 

11 should be collected as mining occurs, so that it 

12 can be completed without further burden to the 

13 taxpayer. 

14 These proposed rules are an important 

15 step forward. I urge the enactment of this new 

16 standard in its strongest form in all states. It 

17 is good policy. Thank you. 

18 MR. DYE: Thank you. 

19 MR. PEAKE: Can we have your statement? 

20 DR. JARDING: It’s sort of scratched up. 

21 I'll drop it off in the hall. 

22 MR. PEAKE: Okay. Just submit something 
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1 in writing. 

2 DR. JARDING: Okay. I will be. 

3 MR. PEAKE: Okay, thank you. 

4 MR. DYE: Next speaker, Gena Parkhurst. 

5 MS. PARKHURST: My name is Gena. It's 

6 spelled G--E--N--A. Last name, P-A-R-K-H-U-R-S7 T, and I'm representing myself. I live in Rapid 

8 City, South Dakota. 

9 Good evening, members of the EPA panel. 

10 I want to thank you for holding this hearing in 

11 Chadron, Nebraska. I do live in Rapid City, 

12 South Dakota, and while South Dakota has never 

13 had an ISL uranium mine, our state does have a 

14 history of open pit uranium mining. 

15 Currently, a company known as Powertech 

16 or Azarga, A-Z-A-R-G-A, is attempting to get the 

17 permits necessary to start an ISL uranium mine in 

18 southwestern South Dakota, and part of this 

19 project would take place on the actual site of 

20 two abandoned, open pit uranium mines that have 

21 not been cleaned up, and one of them is about a 

22 square mile in size, and is called the Darrow 
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1 Pits mine. 

2 What's more, the NRC, Nuclear Regulatory 

3 Commission, permitting process has revealed that 

4 there are about 7,500 old bore holes in the 

5 proposed project area. Geologist, Dr. Hannan, H6 A-N-N-A-N, LaGarry, L-a-G-A-R-R-Y, and a team of 

7 students determined that there is no reason to 

8 assume that this proposed mine would be able to 

9 confine mining solutions. 

10 I encourage you to strength the proposed 

11 rule so that it addresses such potential sources 

12 of groundwater pollution, because sadly, our 

13 state of South Dakota has given up regulation of 

14 such mines. So, we do need strong regulation in 

15 South Dakota, and this rule is a good start. 

16 I also encourage you to address spills, 

17 pond leaks and other sources of potential 

18 groundwater pollution, such as geological faults 

19 and fractures which abound in the Black Hills of 

20 South Dakota, where uranium is found. 

21 I also urge you to clarify how this rule 

22 will be implemented by a state like South Dakota 
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1 which has no regulations to speak of for ISL 

2 uranium mining. I urge you to ensure that the 

3 standards are implemented fully by enforcement. 

4 In conclusion, the proposed rule is a 

5 good start. However, it needs to be strengthened 

6 in certain areas. Thank you for your time. 

7 MR. DYE: Thank you. Next speaker 

8 Tatyana Novikova. 

9 Good evening. My name is Tatyana 

10 Novikova, T-A-T-Y-A-N-A, N-O-V-I-K-O-V-A. I 

11 thank you for giving me the floor. I represent 

12 myself. And I am a permanent resident of Black 

13 Hills, South Dakota. And I am an experienced 

14 environmental activist from Belarus. It's a 

15 European country, defending the environment and 

16 health of the citizens from the risks of Russian 

17 nuclear corporations and opposing the 

18 construction of nuclear power plants in Belarus. 

19 I know what is water and soil 

20 contamination because of Chernobyl. Chernobyl is 

21 the biggest radioactive accident in the history 

22 of nuclear power. 
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1 The contamination by radionuclides, the 

2 half-life of which is about thousands of years 

3 for people living on the land -- is forever. We 

4 do not know of a case in which the nuclear 

5 industry has cleaned up the pollution from 

6 dangerous leaks of radioactive materials into the 

7 environment or completely restored the land. 

8 This has not happened in any case of Chernobyl, 

9 nor in the case of Fukushima. 

10 Technology in-situ-leaching does not 

11 exclude the contamination by the radionuclides 

12 into the drinking water, including uranium 238, 

13 which is a strong carcinogen with a half life of 

14 about four billion years. There is no way, no 

15 technology to clean up the groundwater from this 

16 contamination. And an example of Wyoming, Willow 

17 Creek side of ISL shows that. 

18 That's why I am convinced that the only 

19 way to clean up the land from the deadly 

20 radionuclide contamination is to prevent deadly 

21 and irresponsible activity. 

22 The new regulation of the EPA's health 
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1 and environmental protection standards for 

2 uranium and thorium mill tailings is the first 

3 step in the right direction of protection of the 

4 natural resources such as drinking water. But 

5 this law has to have the necessary mechanisms of 

6 protection. 

7 In other words, it needs to be completed 

8 by the rules which address the problems of 

9 contamination and leaks; rules describing when 

10 and in which cases the extraction activity has to 

11 be stopped, as well as the conditions in which 

12 the permission for extraction can be denied. 

13 I think that our common aim as well as 

14 the aim of this new set of regulations is to 

15 protect the natural resources on which our life 

16 and health depends. That's why these regulations 

17 should not and could not respond to the poorly 

18 economic interest of industry, because doing so 

19 would confer the right to contaminate and kill. 

20 Thank you for your attention. 

21 MR. DYE: Thank you. 

22 MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you. 
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1 MR. DYE: Next speaker is Bob Tiensvold. 

2 MR. TIENSVOLD: My name is Bob Tiensvold, 

3 T-I-E-N-S-V-O-L-D. I am a mine manager at 

4 Chemical Resources Crow Butte operation in 

5 Crawford, Nebraska. 

6 Chemical Resources is America's largest 

7 uranium producer. This includes the Crow Butte 

8 in-situ uranium mine near Crawford. In addition, 

9 Chemical Resources has potential future growth 

10 sites in Nebraska which are also envisioned as 

11 in-situ operations. 

12 Chemical Resources is a United States 

13 corporation. We are a wholly owned subsidiary of 

14 Chemical Corporation of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, 

15 Canada. 

16 Chemicals production in Canada, 

17 Kazakhstan and the United States supplies about 

18 30 percent of the uranium needs of the United 

19 States nuclear power industry. Nuclear power 

20 accounts for nearly 1/5 of U.S. electricity and 

21 is America's largest source of emission free 

22 energy, far exceeding hydro, wind and solar 
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1 combined. 

2 We believe that the proposed rule, which 

3 features 30 years of monitoring, would have 

4 significant negative consequences to our company, 

5 our industry, rural communities, small businesses 

6 and the nation. These consequences would result 

7 from a rule as written that is not based on 

8 science and that offers no quantifiable benefits 

9 to the environment or human health and safety. 

10 Scientists and other professionals from 

11 our company, the uranium industry and academia 

12 will offer written testimony detailing our 

13 concerns. Let me offer these general 

14 observations: 

15 Modern in-situ uranium mines have 

16 operated responsibly to protect the environment 

17 and to assure the safety of their workers and the 

18 public. Our Crow Butte mine has been in 

19 commercial production for 24 years. During all 

20 of those years, we have protected the 

21 groundwater. 

22 Further, Chemical Resources' sites have 
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1 been made available to researchers for major 

2 universities and from Los Alamos National 

3 Laboratory for important groundwater studies, 

4 some of the work partially funded by the EPA, 

5 itself. Several of these studies were presented 

6 at the 2015 In-situ Recovery of Uranium Research 

7 symposium on April 21st at the University of 

8 Wyoming in Laramie. 

9 There were encouraging results that 

10 relate to the effectiveness of restoration. It 

11 concerns us that the latest research is not being 

12 taken into account in the proposed rule. The 

13 proposed EPA rule seeks to put in monitor 

14 requirements that are not based on science, and 

15 is being forward, when more good science is 

16 emerging. That would not support the rulemaking 

17 moving forward. 

18 We are equally concerned that the socio 

19 economic impacts of the proposed rule have not 

20 been examined. From an economic impact study by 

21 the University of Wyoming, we know that every 

22 Chemical Resources job in Nebraska creates 
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1 another 1.6 jobs in the state. 

2 The annual economic benefits to Nebraska, 

3 direct and indirect from chemical operations at 

4 full production include 191 jobs and $22.1 

5 million in payrolls, purchases, taxes, royalties, 

6 et cetera, every year. At present, jobs and 

7 production are down as the industry manages 

8 through a depressed market. 

9 The proposed rule would impose 30 years 

10 of additional costs to companies, including ours, 

11 threatening the viability of planned expansion 

12 and new development, even while the long-term 

13 need for uranium and nuclear energy remains 

14 strong. 

15 Jobs and tax revenue in Nebraska already 

16 have declined significantly as Crow Butte awaits 

17 approval of expansion sites necessary to maintain 

18 past production levels. The EPA itself concludes 

19 that US domestic uranium production will decrease 

20 with implementation of the proposed rule, because 

21 suppliers cannot pass the higher costs onto the 

22 market, which is dominated from production in 
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1 other countries. These higher costs threaten 

2 local jobs, tax revenues and small businesses. 

3 Chemical Resources respectfully requests 

4 the EPA delay the rule until science based 

5 proposals can be developed and social and 

6 economic factors can be appropriately considered. 

7 The consequences of a rash decision to implement 

8 quickly are too great to push ahead with a rule 

9 that is not based on science and that does not 

10 take into account all potential impacts. 

11 Thank you for coming to Chadron and to 

12 the other cities close to America's uranium 

13 production. 

14 MR. PEAKE: Thank you. I have question 

15 for you. 

16 MR. TIENSVOLD: Okay. 

17 MR. PEAKE: In the proposal, there is 

18 also the possibility to shorten the 30 years 

19 significantly with the combination of the 

20 stability monitoring and geochemical modeling. 

21 MR. TIENSVOLD: Mm-hmm. 

22 MR. PEAKE: Are you all going to have 
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1 comments on that -- 

2 MR. TIENSVOLD: Yes. 

3 MR. PEAKE: -- so that you're not solely 

4 locked into the 30 years? 

5 MR. TIENSVOLD: Yes. Yeah, that will be 

6 written comments supporting that. 

7 MR. PEAKE: Okay, thank you. 

8 MR. TIENSVOLD: Mm-hmm. 

9 MR. DYE: Thank you. 

10 MS. ROSENCRANTZ: Thank you. 

11 MR. DYE: The next speaker is Doug 

12 Leeling (phonetic). 

13 MR. LEELING: You can move to the next 

14 speaker. 

15 MR. DYE: You're the last one listed. 

16 MR. LEELING: I'm obviously not prepared. 

17 MR. DYE: Okay. 

18 MR. LEELING: I'll review the online. 

19 MR. DYE: Okay, that's fine. 

20 That is all the speakers that we have 

21 listed for this evening right now that are here. 

22 Does anybody that has spoken wish to speak? 
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1 (No response heard) 

2 MR. DYE: Okay. Is anybody that has 

3 spoken want to say more that would be new and not 

4 a rebuttal of something somebody else said? 

5 (No response heard) 

6 MR. DYE: Okay. In that case, we will 

7 recess until more speakers show up or until 8:00, 

8 whichever comes first. 

9 [Off the record - 6:37 p.m.] 

10 [On the record - 8:00 p.m.] 

11 MR. DYE: We will reconvene the hearing. 

12 If anyone in the audience would like to come 

13 forward to speak, please do so. 

14 At this time, if I have no more speakers 

15 come, we will end the hearing at 8:00. 

16 [Whereupon, at 8:00 p.m., the Public 

17 Hearing, Session 2, was adjourned.] 

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22