Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Uranium cleanup deal angers Kleberg

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Thursday, November 2, 2000

Uranium cleanup deal angers Kleberg
Officials feel that aquifer is in danger
By Jeremy Schwartz
Caller-Times

George Gongora/Caller-Times

Kleberg County Commissioners are angry about an agreement that allows Uranium Resources Inc. to use part of its state-mandated $6 million cleanup bond to restore mining sites. URI has been operating on the brink of bankruptcy because of plunging prices.

KINGSVILLE - The Kleberg County Commissioners Court expressed its anger over a cleanup agreement between the state and a uranium mining company operating in Ricardo, voting unanimously Wednesday to appeal the deal in state court.
   Commissioners expressed fear that the restoration agreement would leave the Goliad Aquifer, Kingsville's source of drinking water, potentially contaminated by harmful heavy metals.
   The agreement, signed last month, allows Uranium Resources Inc. to use part of its state-mandated $6 million cleanup bond to restore mining sites in Ricardo and Duval County.
   Because of plummeting uranium prices, URI has been operating on the brink of bankruptcy for months and has halted its mining operations.
   The agreement forces URI to meet periodic performance goals in order for bond money to be released. It calls for $1.9 million to be spent in Duval County and $1.7 million in Kleberg County.
   In most cases, cleanup bonds, which are used to protect the state in case a mining company goes bankrupt, are released at the completion of cleanups or after a significant amount of restoration work is done.
   According to Kleberg County officials, the agreement does not provide enough safeguards to make sure the county's drinking water remains drinkable.
   Both the Kingsville City Commission and state Sen. Carlos Truan, D -Corpus Christi, have also condemned the agreement.
   In a 10-point list of concerns forwarded to the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission and the Texas Department of Health, commissioners asked for a third party to analyze the cost of cleaning up the sites and to increase the amount of money to be spent on restoring water quality.
   Commissioner David Rosse said there needs to be independent oversight of URI's cleanup efforts. "We feel (URI) is being allowed to grade their own homework," Rosse said. "We just want to feel safe that our aquifer will be restored completely."
   Rick Van Horn, URI senior vice president of operations in Kingsville, blamed the county's action on election-time agitating and argued that the agreement allows for the quickest and most thorough possible cleanup of the mines.
   The county also complained that periodic water tests will not check for arsenic, selenium, mercury or lead levels and asked that Texas A&M University-Kingsville's engineering department be allowed to conduct random water samples.
   Van Horn said it's unnecessary to conduct regular tests for those elements since tests on conductivity, Ph balance, sulfate and other elements reveal whether the water is being cleaned. Before the state signs off on the restoration, tests on selenium and arsenic are performed, Van Horn said.
   TNRCC officials said the deal was worked out to keep URI from declaring bankruptcy, which the agency said would have delayed and increased the cost of the restoration process.
   Dale Kohler, a team leader in TNRCC's Underground Injection Control and Radioactive Waste section, said the agency plans to continue meeting with county officials and didn't rule out using some of the county's 10 recommendations.
   "We have begged and pleaded with these state agencies to be part of the whole process," Rosse said. "The Goliad Aquifer is to Kleberg County what the Edwards Aquifer is to San Antonio and Austin. It should have the same protections."
   Kohler said there have been numerous public meetings to get the county's opinions over the years and that since January the TNRCC has sent the county quarterly reports on URI activity.
   While the county voted to file the appeal, it did not say how much money it would be willing to spend in the legal battle. Commissioners agreed to set a money limit at the next meeting.
   Van Horn said URI is hoping that in the next 18 months the price of uranium will rebound enough to make uranium mining profitable again. With those profits, URI would have more money to complete the restoration.
   "If the uranium price doesn't go up, we're probably in trouble," Van Horn said.
   State officials don't think the $6 million cleanup bond will be sufficient, Kohler said, and believe state money will be needed to completely restore the mining site, especially if the price of uranium doesn't rise.
   "But we don't foresee county money being used," Kohler said.

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