The Bureau of Land Management has just released an Environmental Impact Statement on an industrial-scale uranium mining project in the northern Red Desert, planned for lands that are part of a sage grouse Core Area that has been designated under state policy.
“Sage grouse Core Areas should be handled with kids gloves, and this is exactly the kind of industrial project that the Core Area concept was designed to prevent,” said Erik Molvar, Wildlife Biologist with Biodiversity Conservation Alliance.
The project spans 4,254 acres, not all of which would be actively mined. It is an in situ leaching project, in which acids and other solvents called “lixiviant” would be injected underground using a dense array of wells spaced 75 to 150 feet apart, to dissolve the uranium which would then be pumped back to the surface. Monitoring wells will be placed around the perimeter of the operation to document “excursions,” during which plumes of uranium-contaminated groundwater exit the project area.
According to State of Wyoming Executive Order 2011-5, “New development or land uses within Core Population Areas should be authorized or conducted only when it can be demonstrated that the activity will not cause declines in Greater Sage-Grouse populations.”
“Sage grouse Core Areas should be handled with kids gloves, and this is exactly the kind of industrial project that the Core Area concept was designed to prevent,” said Erik Molvar, Wildlife Biologist with Biodiversity Conservation Alliance.
The project spans 4,254 acres, not all of which would be actively mined. It is an in situ leaching project, in which acids and other solvents called “lixiviant” would be injected underground using a dense array of wells spaced 75 to 150 feet apart, to dissolve the uranium which would then be pumped back to the surface. Monitoring wells will be placed around the perimeter of the operation to document “excursions,” during which plumes of uranium-contaminated groundwater exit the project area.
According to State of Wyoming Executive Order 2011-5, “New development or land uses within Core Population Areas should be authorized or conducted only when it can be demonstrated that the activity will not cause declines in Greater Sage-Grouse populations.”
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