Firm will assess NM's abandoned uranium mines, state announces
A Canadian firm has won a $300,000 contract to assess more than a dozen abandoned uranium mines northwest of Grants, the state announced Tuesday.
Golder Associates Inc., a global company whose specialties include ground engineering and environmental services, will perform the assessments, which will be a first step in a cleanup of the mines, according to a press release from the state's Energy, Minerals and Department.
The contract is for $300,000, or three years, whichever comes first, agency spokeswoman Jodi McGinnis-Porter said.
The state contract comes at a time when several federal agencies are for the first time consolidating efforts to clean up the uranium contamination on Navajo land that is part of the legacy of decades of mining.
A press release from the state energy and minerals agency quoted staff to explain the importance and mission of the $300,000 contract:
“Abandoned uranium mines in New Mexico, dating back to the 1950s, have left a legacy of dangerous mine openings and, in many cases, contaminated soils and water,” stated Bill Brancard, Director of the Mining and Minerals Division. “This project is a small, but important, step to reduce public exposure to the health and safety hazards associated with abandoned uranium mines and to prevent harm to New Mexico’s environment.”
Golder Associates, a global company specializing in engineering and environmental services with an office in Albuquerque, will conduct field assessments of the abandoned mines. These assessments are to measure the extent of the contamination and then develop project plans and specifications with the Mining and Minerals Division’s approval for cleanup, safeguarding and reclamation of these sites. Golder will also assist the Division in the administration of construction contracts for site cleanup. The projects will focus on reducing the potential exposure of radiological contamination to humans, livestock and wildlife, as well as closing dangerous mine openings.
As the Independent reported last week, the federal Environmental Protection Agency already has identified hundreds of abandoned uranium mines on Navajo land, including a high-priority project 17 miles northeast of Gallup. The EPA plans to do more work on the identified uranium mines, officials told the Independent.
They said:
The EPA has spent five years and roughly $13 million identifying 520 abandoned mines in the area. "There hasn't been site-specific investigations on a lot of these mines," Montgomery says. But the EPA has agreed to identify the worst of the 520 mines and to figure out the clean up process.
"A large percentage of them are probably not going to rise to the level of federal superfund cleanup," (Michael) Montgomery, EPA's Superfund Branch Chief for the Pacific Southwest region) says.
The money for the state clean up comes from federal grant money, most of which is reserved for cleaning up contamination from coal mines.
As for whether the state and federal assessments would overlap, McGinnis-Porter said " we communicate with U.S. EPA and the Navajo Nation on these assessments and seek to avoid any duplication of effort."
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