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The Montrose County Commission will soon begin its review of a proposed uranium mill in the county's West End. The proposed Piñon Ridge mill won a unanimous recommendation Wednesday from the county planning commission, culminating a series of meetings that extended late into the night on two occasions before the commission vote. The county commission is expected to conduct a public hearing in the West End within 30 days of the planning commission vote. Opponents of the plan were joined Wednesday by actress Darryl Hannah, who maintains a home in nearby San Miguel County, and told a reporter for the Montrose Daily Press that she was "pretty concerned about short-term thinking leading to a disaster." Opponents have cited fears that the mill could pose a threat to public health, while supporters have cited the potential for economic growth and higher-wage hiring from the mill and nearby mining. The Piñon Ridge Mill would sit on 880 acres about 12 miles from Paradox and 7 miles east of Bedrock on land that now is zoned for agriculture. Energy Fuels is pursuing an aggressive schedule that officials hope will see construction begin in 2011 and the possibility of production in 2012.

Colorado local cable channels coverage of debate moderated by the local League of Women Voters.

The uranium industry was born on the west end of Energy Alley, the run from Green River, Utah, to Rifle. It has burst into bloom and sputtered to obscurity more than once. Like the half-lives by which radiation is judged to decay, though, the industry never has died. Two companies are burrowing into the red bluffs and canyons of western Colorado and eastern Utah to dig out uranium and start the process of generating electricity. Although the history of the uranium industry in the region goes back to Madame Curie and her discoveries in the late 19th century, the supply is far from played out. Miners dug out about 250 million pounds of uranium for the World II and Cold War efforts, said George Glasier, president and CEO of Energy Fuels Inc., a Canadian, publicly traded company.

The uranium industry was born on the west end of Energy Alley, the run from Green River, Utah, to Rifle. It has burst into bloom and sputtered to obscurity more than once. Like the half-lives by which radiation is judged to decay, though, the industry never has died. Two companies are burrowing into the red bluffs and canyons of western Colorado and eastern Utah to dig out uranium and start the process of generating electricity. Although the history of the uranium industry in the region goes back to Madame Curie and her discoveries in the late 19th century, the supply is far from played out. Miners dug out about 250 million pounds of uranium for the World II and Cold War efforts, said George Glasier, president and CEO of Energy Fuels Inc., a Canadian, publicly traded company.

"ENVIRONMENT Agency chiefs have concluded a wind farm planned for Oswaldtwistle Moor would have no affect on nuclear waste buried nearby. Hyndburn Borough Council invited the agency to comment on the planning application after residents raised concerns that disturbing a mine formerly used as a dumping site would release radioactivity. "

"Energy Fuels Inc.'s $150 million uranium mill could be operating in early 2012, perhaps as prices for uranium begin to rise again, Energy Fuels President George Glasier said Saturday. "Uranium is back in favor," Glasier told the Colorado Plateau Section of the Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration Inc. Energy Fuels' Piñon Ridge mill in the west end of Montrose County is being evaluated by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Energy Fuels also is looking to establish long-term contracts that will help it to establish the revenue stream needed to gain financing for the mill, Glasier said."

Greek conservationists from the Greek NGO, Archipelagos, work to protect endangered common dolphins and monk seals and also the region's marine ecosystems from the effects of overfishing, shipping, and the military. Dr Anastasia Miliou, manager and head scientist from Archipelagos Institute of Marine and Environmental Research of the Aegean Sea, based on the Greek island of Samos in the eastern Aegean, explains about seals, uranium deposits and sonar * Digg it * Buzz up * Share on facebook (6) * Tweet this (14) * Guardian Weekly, Friday 30 October 2009 09.00 GMT * Article history Monk seal An endangered monk seal. Photograph: Phil Mislinski/Getty Images The Mediterranean monk seal is the world's rarest and most endangered marine mammal. Its population is less than 450 and one of the most important remaining populations survives in the Aegean region. We are urging fishing communities and authorities to understand that the marine biodiversity needs to be conserved, not only for the sake of productive marine ecosystems or the endangered species, but also for the benefit of human communities, whose livelihood depends on the health and productivity of the seas."

lmost four years after saying they would examine the site, federal officials are still unsure whether they will clean up the radioactive legacy of their atomic weapons program. From 1943 to 1952, Joslyn Manufacturing and Supply Co. used its plant at 2400 Taylor St. to mill radioactive uranium into fuel rods for atomic power plants. The plant has changed hands several times since then; it is now owned by Valbruna Slater Stainless, a subsidiary of Italy-based Acciaierie Valbruna SpA.

TOKYO, May 26 (Reuters) - Japanese utility Kansai Electric Power Co (9503.T: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday its joint venture with two other Japanese utilities and a trading house would participate in a project to explore for uranium in South Australia.

Norwood, Colo - Energy Fuels Resources, a company proposing a uranium mill project in Paradox Valley, didn't have to come to the people of San Miguel County to present its plans. And after taking barbed questions and angry comments for an hour and a half on Wednesday, it may have wished they hadn't. The company hopes to build the mill on 880 private acres between Naturita and Paradox, in Montrose County

Chinese state-owned power producer China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Co. Ltd has agreed a takeover bid for Australian uranium explorer Energy Metals (EME.AX), the Australian company said on Tuesday. Under the deal, the Chinese firm will buy up to 70 percent of Energy Metals for A$1.02 per share and underwrite a 1-for-9 rights issue by the Australian firm at 90 cents a share. Energy Metals's 40 percent shareholder, Jindalee Resources (JRL.AX) Ltd, intends to accept the Chinese bid, in the absence of a superior offer, Energy Metals said. Energy Metals shares last traded at 86 cents a share, giving it market value of about A$100 million ($86 million). ($1=1.169 Australian Dollar) (Reporting by Mark Bendeich; Editing by Jonathan Standing)

- Montrose County Planning Director Steve White said Thursday that he would not postpone a May 19 Montrose County Planning Commission public hearing on the Energy Fuels Pinon Ridge uranium mill special use permit. White received a request for hearing postponement and permit denial from the Durango-based Energy Mineral Law Center (EMLC). EMLC attorney Travis Stills, on behalf of mill-opponents Paradox Valley Sustainability Association, e-mailed White a letter on May 13 requesting the action and stated that,"in addition to the milling facility, the special use permit under consideration could allow a series of specially designed byproduct disposal impoundments for purposes of perpetual disposal and storage of hazardous radioactive wastes, a use which is explicitly prohibited in the Agricultural Zone."

"Throughout a long public process concerning the approval of what could be the nation's first new uranium mill constructed in nearly three decades, project supporters have largely rejected arguments made by opponents as being overly emotional and lacking in sound, scientific substance. But that criticism may have lost some of its sting last week when scientists hired by local environmental group Sheep Mountain Alliance to examine parts of a 15-volume radioactive materials license application submitted to state regulators last fall by Energy Fuels Resources Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Toronto-based Energy Fuels Inc., presented their findings during two public meetings held in Telluride and Ophir."

"Colorado Governor Bill Ritter stood by the banks of the Arkansas River near a neighborhood contaminated by a uranium mill today and signed legislation that will force uranium mills to clean up existing messes before launching new projects. "This just gives us a better hold on the milling process," Ritter said before signing the bill, a bipartisan measure sponsored by Rep. Buffie McFadyen, and Sens. Ken Kester and Bob Bacon. Greenwood Village based Cotter Corp. operates the mill that became a Superfund cleanup site in 1984. During the statehouse battle over the law, Cotter vice president John Hamrick said the legislation would kill Cotter's proposed project to refurbish the mill and haul 12.5 million tons of uranium ore from New Mexico for processing. Hamrick on Tuesday declined to comment on the status on any future project."