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DENVER—Environmental groups have filed a federal lawsuit claiming that a program clearing the way for uranium mines in western Colorado is illegal.
The lawsuit says the U.S. Department of Energy’s environmental analysis of the leasing program on federal land last year was inadequate. The groups want the court to make DOE do a more thorough analysis of the impacts of past uranium mining and potential impacts of new mines.
The area covers 42 square miles in the Uravan Mineral Belt, a major uranium producing area in the 1940s and 1950s. Rising uranium prices have spurred a flurry of lease applications.
DOE officials didn’t immediately return a phone call for comment on the lawsuit.
