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Meeting With Powertech Leaves Many Angry and Frustrated

July 24, 2007 by strongwindsahead

Meeting With Powertech Leaves Many Angry and Frustrated

http://www.nunnglow.com/

At a meeting in Nunn, Colorado on July 19th, northern Colorado residents got a chance to meet with Powertech staff and voice their concerns about Powertech proposed uranium mine near Nunn. Many of us, while amused at Powertech attempt to turn the session into an informal public relations fest complete with cookies and lemonade, came away angry and frustrated at Powertech's inability to provide accurate and consistent answers to our questions or assurance that their proposed mining operation will not cause irreparable damage to our water and land.

In addition to concerned landowners and citizens this event was attended by various county and state lawmakers. It was also covered by Fort Collins and Greeley newspapers and both the Denver papers.

Here are some excerpts and quotes from citizens attending this meeting as reported in the above newspaper articles:

"This feels like a dog-and-pony show to me," said Larry Williams, who lives near Nunn. "You ask a question and they tell you to talk to someone else. Then you get an answer but you don't get a lot of specifics."

Some information presented by company officials and their consultants was contradictory, said Christy Staab, who operates an equine rescue center off Weld County Road 102. "It's more listening to what they don't say," Staab said. "If they want this community to be open and receptive to them and to their plan, they need to be open and honest and not give empty promises and sidestep the issues and give ambiguous answers."

"They're just saying, 'It's a safe process, and just trust us,'" said Daryl Burkhart, who lives between Nunn and Wellington, close to the site. "I don't trust anybody that wants to get rich."

When Dick Clement, President and CEO of Powertech told Gerrit Voschel"If I were mining toothpaste out there, nobody would care," Voschel countered:"Yes, but toothpaste doesn't kill me. It doesn't give my kids cancer 25 years down the road."

State Rep. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, said he was skeptical of any plan that gave more rights to the mineral owners or the surface owners. Working out a plan that everyone would accept would not be easy, he said. "We've got to strike a balance that's fair to all," he said.

"This is like taking a jar of marbles and pouring it on the floor," said Alex Rovang, 26, who drove from Fort Collins to attend. "The information is so scattered, there is no central focus."

The main concern, Nunn board member Dan Rapelje said, is whether the proposed uranium mine would contaminate the aquifer that runs through a big swath of northern Colorado into Nebraska. About 27,000 agricultural wells depend on the aquifer for their water supply. Uranium mining could free other radioactive elements, such as thorium and radium, and toxic metals, such as lead and cadmium, which could find their way into the aquifer and make the water too radioactive to use, Rapelje said.

"We don't want them here at all," said Shari Hiibel, who, with her husband, bought 70 acres in Nunn two years ago for a horse stable. "But there is no way we want to live here now," Hiibel said.

"We have repeatedly asked Powertech for one example of a uranium mine that did not pollute," said resident Robin Davis, "and they don't seem to have any examples to give us."

It is also interesting to note some of the comments to the The Tribune article:

by Anonymous on Friday, July 20 @ 06:10:13 PDT
As funny as that may sound to you, I live in Nunn and what is most troubling is the fact that the communities that could be affected by this project are sitting very quiet, if you think the ground water in Greeley would be safe with the Uranium project in Nunn, well good luck with that brilliant assumption, get involved, it is your water too. If you know of another water source lets hear about it!

by Anonymous on Friday, July 20 @ 07:27:26 PDT
Oh my gosh, I moved here from the LA area where one of the biggest aircraft companies contaminated the wells there with hexavalent chromiun and who knows what else. They paid out millions to the citizens after it was found out. Don't let it happen here, many people died and many live with Cancer and other problems. By the way, the aircraft company moved out of California.

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