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*Court upholds EPA ruling that mine site is on Navajo land *Mine would be subject to Clean Safe Drinking Water rules LOS ANGELES, April 17 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday upheld a 2007 finding by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that the site of a uranium mine that Hydro Resources Inc plans to operate is on Navajo Nation land and subject to Safe Drinking Water Act regulations. Hydro Resources (HRI) plans to operate the underground injection mine on a 160-acre (65-hectare) site it owns in McKinley County, New Mexico, a few miles from Church Rock.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver has upheld a 2007 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of the Interior decision that Hydro Resources Inc.'s Churchrock Section 8 mine site is located in "Indian Country." HRI challenged the decision last May before the Court of Appeals. The decision means that HRI will have to obtain an underground injection control permit from epa rather than the New Mexico Environment Department before it can move forward with its plans for in-situ leach uranium mining in Section 8. Navajo Nation Department of Justice, Churchrock Chapter, New Mexico Environmental Law Center, Southwest Research Information Center and Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining all participated in the matter, filing comments on the proposed determination in 2006.

Entergy Northeast, the company that owns and operates the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Buchanan, may consider cost-benefit analysis with reviewing technology at the plant. The issue at hand was environmentalist organizations' call for the plant to convert to a closed-cycle cooling system, which they maintain would draw far fewer fish into the system and reduce the fish kill by over 95 percent. The Riverkeeper group fought for the closed cooling system. Hudson Riverkeeper and organization President Alex Matthiessen said they are pleased that the court "agreed that EPA is not required to use cost-benefit analysis and left it up to EPA on remand to decide to what extent, if any, cost benefit analysis should be used in regulating cooling water intake structures."

The U.S. Department of Energy has agreed to resume toxic waste cleanup at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday. The settlement, reached on Tuesday, follows the epa's demand in January that the Energy Department immediately restart cleanup at the site or face escalating fines. The epa said the DOE also agreed to pay a $165,000 fine, despite an agency spokesman's earlier assertions that it would appeal the fines as "unjustified." "I'm very, very pleased that we reached this settlement," said Kathy Setian, an epa remedial project manager assigned to the lab. "But I'm very disappointed that we had to take it to the point that we had to take it."

The U.S. Department of Energy has applied to the Environmental Protection Agency to recertify its nuclear waste repository near Carlsbad. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, which turns 10 on Thursday, must seek recertification every five years to demonstrate that it complies with epa regulations for disposing of radioactive waste. WIPP, excavated in salt beds 2,150 feet below the surface of the southern New Mexico desert, is designed for waste generated by the nation's defense work - largely such things as plutonium-contaminated rags, tools or clothing. The epa first certified WIPP in May 1998, with the first 5-year certification period dating from March 26, 1999, when WIPP received its first shipment of waste. AddThis Social Bookmark Button Unrated You must be logged in to rate this story. Login or register Comments Terms of Use: We welcome your participation in our community. Please keep your comments civil and on point. You must be at least 13 years of age to post comments. By submitting a comment, you agree to these Terms of Service You must be logged in to leave a comment. Login or register Leave a comment @ Controls (Powered by JS-Kit) See all comments Close windowBranding NM Nuclear Waste Dump Seeks Recertification Leave a comment Leave a comment as: [logout] Loading... OpenID: Loading... Login: Password: Loading... Haloscan login: Haloscan password: Loading... Login: Password: Re-type Password: Nickname (required): Send replies to email: (if provided, email will not be displayed or shared) Avatars management: No avatars uploaded. Please use the form below to add avatars. Upload new avatar: Rating: Comment: Add pictures (Powered by JS-kit) (Spam filtering by Akismet) Leave a comment @ Controls (Powered by JS-Kit) Close window

"The Environmental Protection Agency is setting the stage for upcoming negotiations with a strong message to the Department of Energy: Don't let the focus on demolition of old buildings in Oak Ridge stall or deter efforts to reduce pollution in the environment. "epa is concerned that DOE . . . is placing too much emphasis on building demolition activities in lieu of contaminated environmental media cleanup," epa's Franklin E. Hill wrote in a Feb. 9 letter to DOE's Oak Ridge office. "Significant levels of contamination in environmental media continue to migrate uncontrolled in groundwater and surface water, and in some cases beyond the boundaries of the ORR (Oak Ridge Reservation). This is viewed as a significant risk and should be addressed earlier than what DOE . . has recently indicated.""

"The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has approved a new component to clean-up efforts at the U.S. Department of Energy's former Gaseous Diffusion Plant. On Tuesday, the state epa said it has approved plans from the U.S. Department of Energy that will allow proper cleanup and, in some cases, tearing down of buildings that were used to produce enriched uranium until 2001. Currently, the Department of Energy is conducting cleanup of soil and water at the site under a 1989 agreement, but the new agreement allows it to begin decontamination and decommissioning work in the buildings on the site as well. The Energy department committed $303 million in cleanup funds for 2010, and an additional $118 million was awarded from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown's office said $500 million is set aside for cleanup efforts in the 2011 Energy department budget."

"A uranium mine north of the Grand Canyon is operating in violation of the law, and its owner could face thousands of dollars in fines as a result, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said. The agency issued a notice of violation this week to Denison Mines Corp. for its Arizona 1 Mine, which is about 20 miles from the Grand Canyon's northern border. The EPA said Denison failed to notify the agency as to when it would resume mining and that it did not secure the necessary federal approval before ventilating the mine or testing emissions."

It was back to court for Nevada Friday when Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto filed a federal lawsuit asking judges to throw out new radiation limits for the Yucca Mountain project. The radiation exposure standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency will fail to protect Nevadans "from cancer-causing radioactive contamination" if nuclear waste is buried at the site, Masto said. Nevada's official position has been to fight the politically unpopular Yucca project at every turn. It was widely expected that state officials would return to court to challenge the latest EPA regulation that was issued Sept. 30.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) has yet to formally release its preliminary decision on setting a national standard for perchlorate in drinking water, but recent news coverage on EPA's draft document has made the agency's intentions well known. What has not been included in the recent coverage is that this preliminary decision on perchlorate is based on a review of the best available science, which spans more than five decades, as well as EPA's own guidelines. As such, the public should understand this draft determination represents a well-considered, scientifically-based and reasonable approach which takes into account perchlorate regulations that other states have already implemented.

he U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is billing San Bernardino County nearly a half-million dollars to pay for removing vintage aircraft gauges adorned with radioactive-laced paint from a hangar at Chino Airport. The county, which owns and operates the airport, and the federal agency made the agreement official last week although the cleanup was conducted in 2005, said Taly Jolish, assistant regional counsel for the EPA.

The EPA will drill test holes looking for uranium-contaminated waste that villagers fear is a threat to their downstream springs. A dump near Tuba City that has been leaching low levels of radioactive waste into the shallow aquifer finally is getting some federal attention, if not an actual cleanup yet. The Environmental Protection Agency plans to fence off a remaining section of an old dump, near two Hopi villages, and test for hot spots of radioactivity close by. This includes one area where the agency says uranium levels in the water exceed what's federally considered safe for drinking water by eight times. Local villagers who believe their downstream springs are threatened have long sought a total excavation of the dump. Uranium-related waste found in the testing will be removed with heavy equipment beginning in October, and 263 new testing holes will be dug to search for more.

Proposed Approval of the Central Characterization Project's Remote-Handled Transuranic Waste Characterization Program at General Electric Vallecitos Nuclear Center AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency. ACTION: Notice of availability; opening of public comment period. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) is announcing the availability of, and soliciting public comments for 45 days on, the proposed approval of the radioactive, remote-handled (RH), transuranic (TRU) waste characterization program implemented by the Central Characterization Project (CCP) at General Electric Vallecitos Nuclear Center in Sunol, California. This waste is intended for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico.

Uranium Resources Inc. and Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency began a weeklong assessment Monday of Section 17 in Churchrock where its subsidiary, Hydro Resources Inc., has proposed in situ mining of uranium. Rick Van Horn, chief operating officer for URI/HRI, said Tuesday that the two entities are looking at what the radiation values are and how they impact the air, soils, and water in the area of Section 17. As part of the field work, background levels will be established under the review of Navajo EPA. "We have people that are looking over our shoulders providing oversight on-site, real time, and that will be part of the data set that we collect," Van Horn said.

"The Environmental Protection Agency has tested the air for contaminants at a 310-acre federal complex in south Kansas City that houses facilities for the General Services Administration and the Department of Energy. Chris Whitley, a spokesman for the epa's regional office in Kansas City, Kan., would not say what the agency was testing for, but said results were likely in the next day or two. "It's premature for us to talk about that for now," Whitley said Wednesday. Recent air tests conducted for the GSA at the Bannister Federal Complex detected trichloroethylene, or TCE, an industrial solvent and likely carcinogen. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources said the tests did not completely conform with testing protocols and recommended that they be redone. Whitley said the agency's Feb. 4-7 tests at the site in south Kansas City focused on a building housing a day-care center and another with GSA property manageme"

Speakers at Nunn meeting share opinions about proposed uranium mine and pump test NUNN - Standing before a crowd of more than 100 people Monday night, Fort Collins resident Diane Marschke said she doesn't think it matters if Powertech USA's proposed Centennial Project uranium mine pollutes the water. "When people hear there's a uranium mine 10 miles away, they aren't going to come here," she said. Marschke and about 15 others confronted U.S. Environ-mental Protection Agency officials at the Nunn Community Center with their opinions about a proposed water pump test that will tell Powertech if its in situ leaching method of uranium mining is viable in the area. To conduct the test, the company needs a "Class V" permit from the EPA, which will allow Powertech to pump water out of the uranium-containing Fox Hills aquifer, store it, then reinject the water back into the aquifer. The permit will not allow the company to mine for uranium.

Speakers at Nunn meeting share opinions about proposed uranium mine and pump test NUNN - Standing before a crowd of more than 100 people Monday night, Fort Collins resident Diane Marschke said she doesn't think it matters if Powertech USA's proposed Centennial Project uranium mine pollutes the water. "When people hear there's a uranium mine 10 miles away, they aren't going to come here," she said. Marschke and about 15 others confronted U.S. Environ-mental Protection Agency officials at the Nunn Community Center with their opinions about a proposed water pump test that will tell Powertech if its in situ leaching method of uranium mining is viable in the area. To conduct the test, the company needs a "Class V" permit from the EPA, which will allow Powertech to pump water out of the uranium-containing Fox Hills aquifer, store it, then reinject the water back into the aquifer. The permit will not allow the company to mine for uranium.