Cattleman George Glasier sees the next nuclear era amid the blood-orange mesas of the Paradox Valley, the same Western range lands that hold a darker legacy from the last rush to pull uranium from the ground. Residents of this valley near the Four Corners region are getting an unimpeded view of the second uranium rush. Many are worried.
Glasier, a one-time mining executive-turned-rancher, wants to build a uranium mill on cattle-grazing land near his spread. It would be the country’s first in decades.
The land is not far from the toxic uranium mines, now mostly abandoned, that serve as a reminder of an industry born of the Cold War.
As the third global energy shock begins to drastically alter national economies, a potential shift in U.S. energy policy has moved to the forefront of the upcoming presidential election.
Barack Obama and John McCain are crossing the country this week, with Obama blasting Republican energy policies and McCain advocating a large expansion of nuclear power.
McCain on Tuesday became the first presidential candidate in recent memory to tour a nuclear plant. His energy proposals include building 45 nuclear power plants by 2030.
Glasier also says the time to return to nuclear power is now and that he believes the Paradox Valley, 230 miles southwest of Denver, is well placed to reap the rewards.
But the nation’s turn toward nuclear energy is worrisome to many, and in particular in the Paradox Valley, it is the plan drafted by Glasier’s Energy Fuels Inc.
The company has two mines that are close to being fully permitted, five parcels with existing but closed mines, about 45,000 acres yet to be explored plus the 1,000-acre Paradox Valley mill site. All of its properties are in Colorado, Utah and Arizona.
The proposed uranium mill would cost as much as $150 million to build, money that Glasier is still trying to raise. The company hopes to begin construction by 2010.
A website has sprung up in opposition to the plan, and some residents are forming groups.
Anna Cotter, 72, moved to the area in 1955 when the uranium industry was booming. Her husband sold mining machinery, and her relatives worked the mines.
But the valley has changed since then, she said: “I personally don’t want that going on again.”
From the 1940s through the Cold War, miners using Geiger counters staked out claims in areas with large uranium reserves, such as Uravan; Ticaboo, Utah; and Grants, N.M.
There was little to no government oversight of mines or mills, said Glasier, who spent 14 years working for a large U.S. uranium producer.
Miners in the 1900s would toss aside uranium, which had no value next to the steel-hardening vanadium that they sought.
“They didn’t have regulations on how you dispose of waste and all these things in those days,” Glasier said. “So they didn’t build these mills with any of the environmental protections. Regulations today are tighter on uranium mills than probably any other chemical plant in world.”
Only one conventional uranium mill remains in operation today, near Blanding, Utah.
There has since been a resurgence of support for nuclear power — a 15 percent increase in the world’s known recoverable uranium resources, according to the World Nuclear Association.
In meetings to sell his plan, residents have vented their fears and sometimes their anger on Glasier.
“If they take a look at technical protections built into this mill, they’ll realize virtually this thing is benign when it comes to environment,” he said.
