State environmental commissioners voted Tuesday to grant authorize for a uranium mine 13 miles north of Goliad. The 2-0 vote by the Texas Commission on Environmental excellence moves Uranium Energy Corp. a step closer to production in the future mine but has worried some area residents who fear their drinking water could become contaminated. The commissioners’ conclusion comes despite an administrative law judge’s suggestion in September that further tests be conducted to determine whether mining could cause contaminants to seep through a responsibility line and into an aquifer used for drinking water.
Under inquiring Tuesday from commission Chairman Bryan Shaw, Judge Richard Wilfong clarified that such tests are not essential until UEC seeks permits to mine closer to the fault line. The company’s allow covers an area about 2,000 feet away from the error, said Monica Jacobs, an attorney for UEC. The uranium deposit span a 1.8-square mile area north of Goliad, but UEC’s preliminary allowable operations will cover about 36 acres, Jacobs said. Requests for future allow would require additional testing and endorsement from the commission, give commissioners another chance to appraisal the fault issue, she said.
Jim Blackburn, an attorney representing Goliad County, which has protest the future mine, said commissioners aren’t probable to reject future permits if the company previously has invested in mining operations. “Basically you have got a judge who made fact findings that said he could not say groundwater was secluded based on what he heard. That’s his job, to hear the case and understand the facts, and the commissioner just blew right past him,” Blackburn said. The future mine would involve pumping a solution of water, bicarbonate, sodium hydroxide and oxygen or hydrogen peroxide into the layer of earth enclose the uranium ore.
Under inquiring Tuesday from commission Chairman Bryan Shaw, Judge Richard Wilfong clarified that such tests are not essential until UEC seeks permits to mine closer to the fault line. The company’s allow covers an area about 2,000 feet away from the error, said Monica Jacobs, an attorney for UEC. The uranium deposit span a 1.8-square mile area north of Goliad, but UEC’s preliminary allowable operations will cover about 36 acres, Jacobs said. Requests for future allow would require additional testing and endorsement from the commission, give commissioners another chance to appraisal the fault issue, she said.
Jim Blackburn, an attorney representing Goliad County, which has protest the future mine, said commissioners aren’t probable to reject future permits if the company previously has invested in mining operations. “Basically you have got a judge who made fact findings that said he could not say groundwater was secluded based on what he heard. That’s his job, to hear the case and understand the facts, and the commissioner just blew right past him,” Blackburn said. The future mine would involve pumping a solution of water, bicarbonate, sodium hydroxide and oxygen or hydrogen peroxide into the layer of earth enclose the uranium ore.
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