Moab wird saubergemacht

[eubank]

Habe ich gerade bekommen:

GREAT NEWS!
Colorado River saved from radioactive waste
 
A note from our Executive Director:
Good news ought to be shared, and there is a wonderful development in the last few days that is worth celebrating.

Atlas Tailings, Moab, Utah. You may have seen the news item Wednesday about the Energy Department's decision to move a huge pile of uranium-tainted tailings (mining refuse) from the banks of the Colorado River near Moab. You may not know that it was an Earthjustice lawsuit that started the long process that led to this fine result.

Uranium was mined in the Moab area in the 1950s and processed at a mill near town. The Atlas Corporation took over the mill in 1962 and operated it until 1998, when it went bankrupt, leaving behind a pile of tailings that covers more than 100 acres to a depth of about 75 feet and weighs an estimated 11.5 million tons. The tailings pile contains radioactive and toxic material that is slowly leaking into the Colorado River, the source of drinking water for 25 million people.

In the late '90s, with the demise of Atlas, responsibility for the pile fell to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. That agency proposed putting a cap on the pile in hopes of sealing it from the elements. This prompted a lawsuit handled by Earthjustice attorneys Susan Daggett and Robert Wiygul on behalf of the Grand Canyon Trust, the Sierra Club, Grand County, Utah, and several Moab outfitters. The legal claim involved endangered river fish, which were, and still are, suffering mightily from the toxins leaking from the pile into the river. The lawsuit succeeded in forcing the Fish and Wildlife Service to reexamine the NRC's decision to cap the pile rather than move it. Congress then got into the act. Responsibility for the pile was transferred to the Energy Department. That agency was ordered to figure out what to do with the tailings, including maybe moving them to a safer place.

Wednesday's announcement from the Energy Department comes as the preferred alternative in an environmental impact study. Congress must appropriate funds -- as much as $400 million -- to pay for the move, but the department seems confident that Congress will do so. More details available here:

  "Move tailings, DOE says" (Deseret News, 4/7/05)
  "Energy Department to move Moab tailings" (Daily Herald, 4/7/05)

I'm happy to share the good news with you -- it's your support that makes this happen!

Sincerely,


Buck Parker
Executive Director
buckparker@earthjustice.org