[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 1195-1196]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



              MOVE RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM COLORADO RIVER

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 19, 1999

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, ten and a half million 
tons of toxic wastes generated by the now-defunct Atlas Mine are stored 
in a tailings pond located immediately adjacent to the Colorado River 
near Moab, Utah. These tailings are radioactive and contain high 
concentrations of ammonia, arsenic, lead, vanadium, selenium, mercury, 
molybdenum, nickel, and other toxic metals left by the leaching process 
used to separate uranium from ore.
  The tailings pond, built in the 1950's, is not lined, and as a 
result, these radioactive and toxic wastes are seeping down through the 
aquifer into the Colorado River. Water from

[[Page 1196]]

the Colorado River makes up a significant part of the drinking water 
supply for Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Tucson, and 
is used additionally to irrigate hundreds of thousands of acres of 
agricultural lands. Moreover, the tailings pond, which has been 
designated as critical habitat for four endangered species, is situated 
between Canyonlands and Arches National Parks.
  Leaving a huge, leaking tailings pile adjacent to the Colorado River 
does not make sense. In the event of flood, the Colorado River could 
easily be contaminated. Lacking regulatory and financial alternatives, 
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is ready to approve the Atlas 
Corporation's inadequate plan to reclaim the site by simply placing a 
dirt cap over the top of the pile rather than by requiring removal to a 
safer location. This plan will not stop contamination of the Colorado 
River, which is expected to continue for hundreds of years.
  Moving the tailings will remove the source of the contamination. By 
placing the tailings in a more modern and technologically safe 
situation, the threats from earthquakes, high water, flooding will be 
eliminated. In every similar case under the jurisdiction of the 
Department of Energy, uranium tailings have been moved away from 
riverbeds to lined and protected areas. Sadly, the NRC has seems 
determined to perpetuate rather than resolve this dangerous situation 
in the case of the Atlas site.
  The National Park Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, the 
Fish and Wildlife Service, and many state and local government agencies 
have all expressed concerns about the quality of scientific data and 
information upon which NRC decisions have been based.
  Today, Representatives Filner, Pelosi, Gutierrez, and I are 
introducing legislation to require the Department of Energy to move the 
tailings to a safe location. Once this has been accomplished, the 
Attorney General would be charged with ascertaining the extent of the 
Atlas Corporation liability, and its parent companies, to secure 
reimbursement as appropriate.

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