[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 96 (Monday, May 19, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27031-27033]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-12434]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Energy Information Administration


Notice of Intent To Release Information About Uranium Mines and 
Properties in the United States to Other Federal Agencies for Official 
Uses

AGENCY: Energy Information Administration (EIA), Department of Energy 
(DOE).

ACTION: Notice of intent to release information about uranium mines and 
properties in the United States to other Federal government agencies 
for official uses.

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SUMMARY: The Energy Information Administration (EIA) is notifying the 
public of its intent to release, upon request from Federal government 
agencies for official uses, information about uranium mines and 
properties in the United States. The information is considered 
confidential. Information that may be released includes: (1) The U.S. 
Uranium Mines and Properties Database containing information about 
former uranium mines and properties that were active in the period 
1940-1983; and (2) Uranium Mining and Processing Survey Information 
collected during the period 1971-2001. Currently, EIA has requests from 
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of 
Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for uranium mines and 
properties information. The EPA request is for information from both 
the Uranium Mines and Properties Database and from Uranium Mining and 
Processing Survey Information about decommissioned, abandoned, closed 
or inactive uranium mines, transfer stations, tailings, and leases 
located in Northeastern Arizona, Northwestern New Mexico, and 
Southeastern Utah on Navajo Nation tribal lands, Navajo fee lands, and 
Navajo allotted lands. The BLM request is for information in the 
Uranium Mines and Properties Database. Laws, including the 
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, 
require that the Department provide the requested information to the 
EPA and BLM.

DATES: EIA plans to release uranium mines and properties information to 
other Federal agencies for their official uses on or after June 20, 
2003. Comments must be filed by June 13, 2003. If you anticipate 
difficulty in submitting comments within that period, contact the 
person listed below as soon as possible.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be directed to Luther Smith. To ensure 
receipt of the comments by the due date, submission is recommended by 
FAX (202-287-1934) or e-mail at ([email protected]). 
Alternatively, you may use the following mailing address: Luther Smith, 
EI-52/L'Enfant Plaza Building, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 
Independence Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20585-1615. Mr. Smith may also be 
contacted by telephone at (202) 287-1728.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
should be directed to Mr. Smith at the address listed above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background
II. Current Actions

I. Background

    The Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974 (Pub. L. 93-275, 15 
U.S.C. 761 et seq.) and the DOE Organization Act (Pub. L. 95-91, 42 
U.S.C. 7101 et seq.) require the EIA to carry out a centralized, 
comprehensive, and unified energy information program. These laws also 
require EIA to disclose trade secrets and confidential statistical 
information to other Federal government departments, agencies, and 
officials for official use upon request.
    In carrying out its mission, the EIA collects, compiles, and 
analyzes information on energy resources, production, demand, 
technology, and related economic and statistical information. The 
information is used to assess and report on the energy situation of the 
United States.
    The EIA provides the public and Federal agencies with opportunity 
to comment on the energy-information projects conducted by EIA. EIA 
also, as appropriate, requests comments on important issues relevant to 
dissemination of its energy information. Comments received assist EIA 
in responding to requests for the energy information it has compiled 
from various sources.
    The Uranium Mines and Properties Database information is based on 
the Federal government's Uranium Concentrate Procurement Program (1947-
1970) and the related Uranium Ore Reserve Program (1947-1983). 
Throughout these programs, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and 
successive Federal agencies obtained private-industry information that 
was needed to assure the success of the concentrate procurement and ore 
reserve programs. The AEC, Energy Research and Development 
Administration (ERDA), and DOE staff engineers and geologists also 
regularly monitored private-industry activities to assure the 
capability to prepare timely internal reports on uranium exploration, 
mining, reserves, concentrate production, and important industry 
activities. It is EIA's view that information requested in conjunction 
with these programs was provided to the Federal government with the 
understanding that it would be treated

[[Page 27032]]

as confidential and not publicly released.
    Management of the Uranium Concentrate Procurement Program, formerly 
under the Manhattan Engineer District of the Army Corps of Engineers, 
was transferred by early 1947 to the AEC as a key responsibility. The 
AEC's critical mission included the acquisition of uranium concentrates 
to meet defense needs and the development of a domestic uranium ore 
reserves base adequate to meet the future demand as then foreseen. The 
AEC began in 1947 a major program for uranium exploration and 
development of a domestic uranium mining industry. The program was 
designed to utilize the full-scale participation of mining-industry 
firms, small miners, and private prospectors, and its success required 
that exploration activities were maintained at a high level. Through 
financial incentives issued by the AEC, private industry was encouraged 
to explore for uranium deposits. The AEC also conducted exploration 
projects for uranium in selected areas and made the results from those 
projects available to the private sector. These actions succeeded in 
stimulating a rapid rate of private industry participation by providing 
supporting services and information to the private sector. During the 
Uranium Concentrate Procurement Program, the AEC and successive 
agencies issued announcements that redirected the program or 
established new incentives as required to achieve the long term goals 
of the concentrate procurement effort. These announcements, in varying 
degree, altered the Federal government's informational requirements for 
the on-going uranium procurement and ore reserve programs.
    The Uranium Ore Reserve Program was complementary to the Uranium 
Concentrate Procurement Program. The Uranium Ore Reserve Program dealt 
initially with the quantity and quality of uranium reserves on mining 
properties tributary to uranium mills, from which the AEC had 
contracted to buy uranium concentrates. The mills were to be amortized 
by the Government, generally in a short time period. AEC's 
responsibility was to assure that sufficient uranium ore to feed the 
mills existed on the tributary properties so the Government reasonably 
could expect to receive the amounts of uranium concentrate specified in 
the milling contracts and to assure that identified reserves were 
adequate for amortization of the milling projects proposed by industry 
firms.
    The Uranium Ore Reserve Program's prime objective was collection of 
current and accurate information at that time on the supply of uranium 
ores in the Western United States. Assessment of the ore reserves for 
uranium deposits on individual properties required independent 
calculation of reserves by Federal government agency mining engineers. 
For this purpose, drill-hole and other engineering data for a large 
number of properties were made available to the government agencies by 
the mining companies.
    In addition to quantitative data regarding ore reserves, data were 
also obtained about the deposits' physical locations, ownership, 
geological and geochemical characteristics, mining problems, and mining 
costs. Data were also routinely obtained about industry activities, 
including acquisition of land for uranium exploration, exploration and 
development activities, mine production of uranium ore, milling of ore, 
the costs associated with these activities, and the processing of 
uranium ore and production of concentrate. Data and costs for other 
activities were also obtained. The data for each uranium mine and 
property were compiled into an individual file (record). The files for 
all U.S. mines and properties (1940-1983) make up the database. The 
files may also contain official letters and documents, notes, and other 
specific information prepared by the government agency staff.
    The government's uranium ore reserve effort, which began early in 
the Uranium Concentrate Procurement Program, was continued after 1970 
when the procurement program was ended. Estimates of domestic uranium 
ore reserves and potential (undiscovered) resources made by the ERDA 
and DOE under the Uranium Ore Reserve Program were published annually 
by those agencies into early 1983.
    Across all records in the mines and properties database, the 
quantity and quality of data, subject-matter, type of information, its 
relative completeness, and similarity of the information are variable. 
Some records contain a large amount of detailed, company and property-
specific information, whereas other records contain more limited 
information. For the Uranium Mines and Properties Database, the list of 
identification codes for mine/property names contains about 8,700 ID-
code/name combinations that were assigned for recording and tracking 
the mines and properties data. That number is believed to represent an 
approximate upper limit for the total number of records (files) created 
for uranium mine and property data during the Federal government 
programs.
    The Uranium Mines and Properties Database contains historical, 
confidential information about the domestic uranium industry (1940-
1983) that relates to, but is not limited to, the ownership of uranium 
mines and properties, ore reserves, mine development, mining 
operations, and ore and uranium concentrate production. The historical 
information is potentially helpful to other Federal agencies in 
reclamation projects at former uranium mine sites, processing sites, 
and related sites. Such uses may include, but are not limited to, 
documenting the history and nature of former site use and activities, 
determining the outlines of former mine (open pit and underground) 
areas and workings, and to potentially relocate sites of surface 
exploration boreholes.
    The information obtained by the EIA in its Uranium Mining and 
Processing Surveys is submitted by domestic uranium mining and milling 
firms. The information is analyzed and disseminated by the EIA as non-
company-specific information in a variety of printed and electronic-
media products that are used by analysts and policymakers in the 
government and the private sector. (EIA's uranium information is 
available on its web site at http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/newuran.html.) The uranium industry information obtained in EIA's 
uranium surveys is not integrated with the U.S. Uranium Mines and 
Properties Database (1947-1983).
    In addition to information obtained on its Uranium Mining and 
Processing Surveys, the EIA uses information contained in the Uranium 
Mines and Properties Database to annually prepare estimates of the 
domestic uranium ore reserve situation. The estimates of U.S. ore 
reserves made by the EIA are published annually in the ``Uranium 
Industry Annual'' report series (1985-2001); submitted to the Congress, 
the U.S. Department of Energy, and other Federal agencies as required; 
and periodically submitted to the Nuclear Energy Agency of the 
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and to the 
International Atomic Energy Agency.

II. Current Actions

    The EIA is notifying the public of its intent to release, upon 
request from Federal government agencies for official use, information 
about uranium mines and properties in United States. The information is 
considered confidential. Information that may be released includes: (1) 
The U.S. Uranium Mines and Properties Database containing information 
about uranium mines and

[[Page 27033]]

properties that were active in the period 1940-1983; and (2) Uranium 
Mining and Processing Survey Information collected during the period 
1971-2001. Currently, EIA has requests from the Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Interior's Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM) for uranium mines and properties information. The EPA 
request is for information from both the Uranium Mines and Properties 
Database and from Uranium Mining and Processing Survey Information on 
decommissioned, abandoned, closed or inactive uranium mines, transfer 
stations, tailings, and leases located in Northeastern Arizona, 
Northwestern New Mexico, and Southeastern Utah on Navajo Nation tribal 
lands, Navajo fee lands, and Navajo allotted lands. The BLM request is 
for information in the Uranium Mines and Properties Database.
    Release of the information to other Federal agencies is consistent 
with the Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974 (Pub. L. 93-275, 15 
U.S.C. 761 et seq.) and the DOE Organization Act (Pub. L. 95-91, 42 
U.S.C. 7101 et seq.) requirements for EIA to make trade secrets and 
confidential statistical information available to other Federal 
government departments, agencies, and officials for official use upon 
request. The information was provided to the Department of Energy, 
predecessor Federal agencies, and the EIA, with an understanding that 
the information would be treated as confidential and would not be 
publicly released in identifiable form. EIA would release the 
information to other Federal agencies in individually-identifiable 
format for official uses and with a stipulation that those agencies 
preserve the information's confidentiality.
    For the Uranium Mines and Properties Database, the particular types 
of information that would be released to other Federal agencies upon 
request may include, but are not limited to, the following: name for 
the mine operator/owner; beginning date and ending date for mining 
operations; total production from the mine; mining methods; nature and 
extent of the surface plant; number of employees who worked at the mine 
and period; mills to which the mined ore was shipped; historical 
photographs of the mine during the time it was in operation; maps that 
show mine workings in plan view, the pit walls and bottoms for open pit 
mines, and the location and extent of any underground mine workings; 
and drill-site locations for surface boreholes.
    For the Uranium Mining and Processing Survey Information, the 
particular types of information that would be released to other Federal 
agencies upon request may include, but are not limited to, exploration, 
development, reserves, production, milling, processing, and employment 
information collected in the years 1971-1981 by the DOE and predecessor 
agencies and in the period 1982-2001 by the EIA from domestic uranium 
industry companies on the ``Annual Uranium Exploration Survey,'' (Form 
EIA-717 and predecessor forms for 1971-1984), and Schedule A (Uranium 
Raw Materials Activities) of the ``Uranium Industry Annual Survey,'' 
(Form EIA-858 for 1984-2001.)
    The release of uranium mines and properties information to other 
Federal agencies for their official uses will not expand uranium 
industry data that will be provided in EIA's information products. The 
EIA will continue to maintain the confidentiality of information 
collected on its survey forms and will continue to use its disclosure 
rules, which are designed to protect confidential data, and withhold 
sensitive data from publication in individually-identifiable form. EIA 
will also require that any Federal agencies receiving confidential 
information from EIA will treat the information appropriately.

    Statutory Authority: Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974 
(Pub. L. 93-275, 15 U.S.C. 761 et seq.) and the DOE Organization Act 
(Pub. L. 95-91, 42 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.).

    Issued in Washington, DC, on May 13, 2003.
Jay H. Casselberry,
Agency Clearance Officer, Statistics and Methods Group, Energy 
Information Administration.
[FR Doc. 03-12434 Filed 5-16-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P