Foreign ownership of Crow Butte mine is challenged: NRC agrees to hearings on mine’s license renewal
By GEORGE LEDBETTER, Record Editor
Opponents of renewal of the operating license for the Crow Butte in situ leach (ISL) uranium mine near Crawford will be allowed to argue their case before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a three member panel of NRC judges has ruled.
In a ruling released Friday, Nov. 21, the NRC judges granted status as ‘intervenors’ in the license renewal proceedings to five individuals and five groups, including some of the same people and organizations who are opposing a proposed expansion of the mine to an area just north of Crawford.
Among the objections raised to the mine’s expansion and the license renewal are the ownership of Crow Butte by Cameco, a Canadian corporation, and the potential for contamination of underground water supplies by the ISL uranium mining process.
The NRC decision followed a two-day hearing in Chadron at the end of September, and calls for submission of written briefs on two issues relating to the foreign ownership of the mine in the next 30 days, but doesn’t set a schedule for additional proceedings.
The individuals granted intervenor status include Debra White Plume, Beatrice Long Visitor Holy Bear, Joe American Horse, Sr. and Chadron residents Thomas Cook and Loretta Cook, Organizations that will be allowed to take part in the proceedings include the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Western Nebraska Resource Council, Owe Aku/Bring Back the Way, and two family groups, the Afraid of Bear/Cook Tiwahe and the American Horse Tiospaye.
In a news release, White Plume, who is from Pine Ridge, S.D., said the panel’s decision is “a huge victory for us. I am glad that the court ruled in our favor but I also know that we still have a lot of work ahead of us.” Keep reading →
