For Immediate Release
(Thursday, January 24, 2008): For More Information:
Art Dohmann, Chairman of URAC: 361-564-7082
Raulie Irwin, Spokesperson of URAC: 361-645-2115
Claire Barnhart, Goliad Chamber of Commerce, 361-645-3563
Donna Hoffman, Sierra Club, 512-477-1729 or 512-299-5776
Comments by Venice Scheurich, Corpus
Christi, Texas
January 24, 2008 Re Permit # URO3075
Office of the Chief Clerk, TCEQ
Mail Code MC-105
P.O. Box 13087
Austin, TX 78711-3087
COMMENT:
Dan Kelley, investigative reporter for the Corpus Christi Caller- Times, examined 32 permits from closed South Texas in situ uranium mines and found that in all cases, TCEQ allowed the mining companies, upon their request, to lower the groundwater restoration standard significantly rather than required them to continue to follow the standard which was agreed to in the original permit. Clearly, TCEQ’s regulations allowed for this “relief” to be granted legally during the relatively recent past.
QUESTION:
Have regulations now been changed so that this will no longer be legally possible?
If the answer is “yes,” explain how the granting of relaxed standards (described in Dan Kelley’s report of November 5, 2006, in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times) will no longer be possible under these new regulations.
If the answer is “no,” how does TCEQ plan to avoid relaxing the standards for groundwater restoration when a uranium mining company makes such a request in the future?
Venice Scheurich
Conservation Chair
Coastal Bend Sierra Club
P.O. Box 10101
Corpus Christi, TX 78460
Ph. 361-241-4289; 361-960-4289 jave241@sbcglobal.net
