Tribes and environmentalists say the country’s last operational uranium mill has become a low-cost industrial waste dump that could imperil land and groundwater in the Colorado River Basin and at nearby Bears Ears National Monument.
They want it to close or be subject to stricter regulations to avoid a catastrophic incident like the 2015 Gold King mine spill, which contaminated both the Animas River and the nearby San Juan River.
A report issued by the Grand Canyon Trust March 15 said the White Mesa Mill in southeastern Utah, which opened in 1980 to extract uranium from mined ore, had been converted into a lower-cost alternative to a highly regulated toxic waste facility using what the trust calls a “radioactive Midas touch,” a licensed “alternative feed” mill that reprocesses used ore and low-level waste to extract more uranium and rare earths.
GET WET! 