by Patrick Lohmann for Source NM
A board member of a Northern New Mexico conservation district who lives about five miles northwest of a proposed uranium mine is calling on Carson National Forest to conduct a full environmental review before it considers approving the first new uranium operation in decades.
Tirzio Lopez, who serves on the governmental Upper Chama Soil and Water Conservation District board, and as a New Mexico Game Commission board member, said that he was shocked to learn from a Source NM article that Gamma Resources Ltd., a Canadian company, had submitted a “notice of intent” late last month to conduct exploratory drilling for uranium near Canjilon in Rio Arriba County.
“No one that I know in our little community here in northern Rio Arriba had heard about it at all,” said Lopez, who grew up in nearby Cebolla. “I think if people would have been more aware that this is possibly happening, I think there’d be a greater concern.”
The company is seeking permission to drill up to 12 exploratory boreholes up to 500 feet deep near Canjilon, N.M. Ultimately, the company seeks to drill between 10 and 12 6,500-feet holes to extract uranium from a four-mile stretch of uranium-rich deposits in the Chama Basin as part of what it has dubbed the “Mesa Arc Project.”
In a presentation to investors, the company said, based on “historical elements,” it believes 2.9 million pounds of uranium exists within the 4,625-acre area. It also noted that another company identified “uranium mineralized bodies” during an internal resource estimate in 2006.
Lopez said the news immediately invoked the long history of tension between his community and the federal government, such as the 1967 Tierra Amarilla Courthouse raid by land grant heirs, as well as the underground detonation of a nuclear weapon that same year in the Carson National Forest, “Project Gasbuggy,” which was part of a federal experiment to determine whether nuclear weapons could be used for natural gas extraction.
And then there’s the long history of environmental and health impacts from decades of uranium mining east of Chama, in the Grants Mineral Belt and Navajo Nation.
“Those are the examples that I think of,” Lopez said “And I can say this, those who do not remember history are condemned to repeat it.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Lopez emailed fellow conservation district board members to request a meeting to discuss ways the district can participate in the review process, including “drafting a resolution, submitting comments, or coordinating with Rio Arriba County, land grants, tribal governments, and acequia associations.”
“My goal is to ensure that our District plays an active role in protecting the Chama watershed and advocating for full environmental review, baseline water testing, and meaningful consultation with affected communities,” he wrote.
Carson National Forest officials told Source NM on Wednesday that the Forest Service will determine the level of environmental analysis required after the company receives a state permit and then submits a final plan of operations.
“No drilling can start until environmental analysis is completed and the project is allowed to move forward,” spokesperson Zach Behrens told Source NM in an email.
The state’s Mining and Minerals Division had not received a permit request from Gamma Resources as of April 1, according to a state database.
Behrens previously told Source NM that the Forest Service is committed to a “transparent, science‑based process” as required under federal minerals and National Environmental Policy Act regulations.
Part of the Forest Service’s determination is to decide if the uranium exploration would cause “significant surface disturbance” and therefore require a full environmental review under NEPA.
If a NEPA review is necessary, the Forest Service would begin a scoping report, consulting local governments, conservation districts, acequias, grazing permittees and the public at large “to identify environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic considerations,” Behrens said in an email last week.
Lopez described a full review as vital to ensure the mining operation does not contaminate the Upper Chama Watershed, which flows into the Rio Grande.
“I just hope that this situation wakes up people to be aware of what is going on around us and how it can affect our future generations,” he said. “And that we have a voice.”
by Patrick Lohmann for Source NM