A grassroots citizens’ group protecting the natural environment of Telluride, Colorado and beyond. FALL 2 0 1 2
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Uranium
BY SMA STAFF piñon ridge mill
In 2007, Energy Fuels, Inc. a Canadian mining corporation, announced it would build a new uranium mill in the middle of Paradox Valley. Their intent was to have the Piñon Ridge Mill, in operation by 2010, spawning a new era of uranium mining in western Colorado. SMA has effectively stalled the construction of this mill, and recently the State court invalidated the license granted to Energy Fuels. SMA filed a lawsuit in February 2011, in response to a flawed State approval process, after the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment (CDPHE) ignored our concerns about destructive impacts to air and water quality, human health and wildlife and the negative economic impacts of uranium mining and milling. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission raised its own procedural concerns with the State process in early 2012. In July, Denver District Judge, John McMullen, found that the state had conducted an unlawful review process when it granted Energy Fuels a radioactive materials license and denied the public its right to a formal adjudicatory hearing. The court ordered CDPHE to initiate a new public review process, including a review of the environmental impacts created by the mill. Following this ruling, SMA, CDPHE, Energy Fuels and the Towns of Telluride and Ophir, negotiated the terms of the hearing process, which will allow the public and other organizations to provide oral or written comments; with the right to submit evidence, testimony and cross-examine witnesses. The hearing will begin in Nucla on Nov 7th. The State will be required to consider all new information before making a decision on whether to grant a new license. The final deadline for the licensing decision is April 27, 2013. SMA is preparing expert testimony for the hearing in November to address our many concerns. We encourage SMA members to submit written or oral comments during the hearing proceeding.
In July, Energy Fuels acquired the U.S. assets of Denison Mines, another Canadian company. This transfer of holdings included existing mines in the region, along with White Mesa Mill, the only other operating uranium mill in the country, across the border in Blanding, Utah. While Energy Fuels has been unsuccessful in its attempts to raise money to build the Piñon Ridge Mill, they are now an operating uranium producer with the White Mesa Mill. The company pledges to continue pursuit of a mill in Paradox Valley, expand the mill in Utah, and open enough uranium mines in the region to supply them both. With the price of uranium well below break even levels, an incomplete application and expensive hearing process ahead of them and the recent acquisition of a mill in Utah that had a $65 million loss last quarter, the future is not bright for Energy Fuels.While it is unlikely that they will build a mill in the Paradox Valley any time in the near future, a substantial increase in the price of uranium could change things.
SITE OF PROPOSED PIÑON RIDGE URANIUM MILL BY JOSH WHALEN department of energy uranium leasing
After sending the Department of Energy back for a more complete environmental analysis on the management of 27,000 acres of uranium lease tracts on the Western Slope, we await the results. The Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement will provide the first analysis of cumulative impacts from uranium mining and milling across the region. SMA has also been instrumental in refining the state mining regulation process. As a result of legislation passed in 2010, any active mines that do not have an Environmental Protection Plan in place by October 1st will be in violation of state laws.
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BY RYAN BONNEAU
Board of Directors Honga Im – President Beverly Winterscheid Michael Zivian Erik Dalton Stephen McComb Linda Miller Sam Moore
Staff Hilary White, Executive Director Jenny Page, Marketing and Membership Tanya Paliani, Bookkeeping Fiona Smith, Education Coordinator Ali O’Neal, Intern Tim Hendricks, Intern SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR CRACKER-JACK TEAM OF ATTORNEYS Travis Stills, Energy & Conservation Law Center Jeff Parsons, Western Mining Action Project Jenny Russell, Russell & Pieterse, LLC Sheep Mountain Alliance is a grassroots citizen organization dedicated to the preservation of the natural environment in the Telluride Region and Southwest Colorado. To this end, Sheep Mountain Alliance will provide education for and protection of regional ecosystems, wildlife habitats and watersheds.
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sheepmountainalliance.org 970.728.3729 PO BOX 389 TELLURIDE, CO 81435
Water
BY SMA STAFF
The San Miguel River remains one of the last relatively free flowing rivers in the country. It flows 90 miles from its high alpine headwaters, down beautifully scenic and wild sections, through the agricultural lands in western San Miguel and Montrose County, to its confluence with the Dolores River. The river has weathered multiple threats over the years, including pollution from mining, increased development and irresponsible grazing practices. Over a decade ago we rallied together, as a watershed community, under the San Miguel Watershed Coalition to study and protect the river and its riparian habitat. Water quality monitoring was initiated, mine remediation began in the upper reaches of the Howard’s Fork and improvements were made. But now, the river faces some of the most serious threats to both its “free flowing” nature and the clean drinking water it provides to most of the communities it connects.
Montrose County Water Grab
In order to protect three species of endangered Colorado River fish, the Roundtail Chub, the Flannelmouth Sucker and the Bluehead Sucker, the Colorado Water Conservation Board implemented an instream flow (ISF) on the lower San Miguel. In an attempt to negate the ISF, Montrose County filed for annual diversions on the San Miguel of over 96,000 acre-feet and up to 7 reservoirs, located in both San Miguel and Montrose County. Their intent was to provide for up to six uranium mills in the region and an anticipated population boom that would follow, with golf courses and recreational lakes. This speculative water grab has cost Montrose County over $1 million to date. SMA, San Miguel County, the Town of Telluride, in addition to multiple private parties, objected. The objectors proposed a settlement that would allow for only need-based development of limited water rights and up to 2 reservoirs. SMA worked diligently with the objectors to create a strong compromise. We agree with the need to provide water to West End communities, if needed. We do not see, nor support the mining boom driving Montrose County’s speculative water grab. Although we support the settlement, we did not sign it and withdrew from the case. By doing so
BY JOHN RICHTER
we will retain our right to challenge Montrose County if they pursue these rights in the future, in order to protect the river. Scientific modeling predicts dryer, drought like conditions as the norm in the southwest. SMA supports efforts to work together as a watershed to implement water conservation measures and make our current water systems more efficient. We participate on the San Miguel Watershed Coalition, which is exploring ways to improve storage systems in place in the upper watershed, help ranchers improve ditch systems, provide watershed education programs and continue with water quality and quantity monitoring efforts.
Wild & Scenic
Thirteen sections of the San Miguel and Middle Dolores Rivers have been recommended for Wild & Scenic “suitability” in the ongoing revision of the BLM’s Uncompahgre Field Office Resource Management Plan (RMP). These sections were recommended due to their biological, recreational, scenic and cultural values. A Wild & Scenic protection status would simply protect the “Outstanding Remarkable Values” found on sections of the river, including threatened and endangered fish, plant species, wildlife habitat and its natural, free flowing condition. It would not impact water rights already in place and it would still allow activity and some development to occur. If designated as Wild & Scenic the San Miguel will be the second such river in Colorado. We expect the draft RMP in the spring of 2013. After a strong turnout for the initial round of public meetings, we will need to show up with even more strength and support for round two.
Howard’s Fork Pollution
After analyzing water quality data and remediation efforts on the Howard’s Fork of the San Miguel near Ophir for several years, SMA filed a Clean Water Act case against PacificCorp, the owner of the SilverBells tailing pile for multiple clean water act violations. While PacificCorp has done extensive work to clean up the site, the tailings pile continues to leach heavy metal contaminants into the river. By taking legal action against the company we hope to finally force them to take the larger actions needed to stop the pollution.
We need your help.Join today.Sign up to receive updates and alerts from sheepmountainalliance.org. BURN CANYON TRAIL SYSTEM
by John Richter
Public Lands
BY SMA STAFF SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS WILDERNESS BILL
Good things come to those who wait Protecting regional wilderness is the heart of SMA’s mission, and for the first time in our 24 years we crafted and presented a Citizen Wilderness Proposal to our congressional leaders. With the help of The Wilderness Society, San Juan Citizens Alliance, Ridgway Ouray Community Council and Colorado Wilderness Network among others, Congressman John Salazar introduced the San Juan Mountains Wilderness Bill in October 2009. The bill provides protection for over 61,000 acres of public lands in San Miguel, Ouray and San Juan Counties. It expands Lizard Head and Sneffels Wilderness Areas and creates the Sheep Mountain Special Management Area and McKenna Peak Area,
low elevation BLM lands to the west. It will also withdraw mineral development rights from Naturita Canyon, south of Norwood. Now, southwest Colorado has a new Congressman. Senators Udall and Bennet have reintroduced the bill in the Senate, and it is moving to the floor with little debate. Congressman Scott Tipton, while not expressing direct opposition, seems to be more focused on bills that gut environmental laws, special habitat protection and could even unravel The Wilderness Act. The current impasse in the House, only means the San Juan Mountains Wilderness Bill has longer to wait before it will become law, but wilderness bills can often take years to gain final passage. The wait for permanent protections is worth it, and SMA intends to carry this bill through to the President’s desk.
After receiving a proposal from the Norwood Recreation District, the BLM initiated a planning process for a new single-track, trail system in the Burn Canyon area, southwest of Norwood. After beginning an Environmental Assessment process, the BLM has now initiated a Travel Management Plan for the area after receiving numerous comments expressing concerns about the density and lack of specific trail use designations. A TMP provides a more thorough planning process allowing for specific designation of trails and greater consideration of impacts. Scoping comments are due September 21st. SMA supports a well-planned and well-constructed trail system in this area for both the increased recreational opportunities and economic benefits for Norwood. We will continue to voice our concerns about wildlife and user conflicts throughout the process to ensure an ecologically sensitive trail system. Norwood Travel Management Planning Area
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LEGEND
Colorado Rule Weakens Protection for Roadless Areas / BLM Existing Routes Planning Boundary
San Miguel County Roads Montrose County Roads
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By Rocky Smith
After much public involvement, the U.S. Forest issued the Roadless Area Conservation Rule in 2001, providing a high level of protection for national forest roadless areas across the nation. This rule was upheld by two federal appeals courts. But the agency, contrary to the desires of the public, continued to analyze a much weaker Colorado Roadless Rule, which is now final. Under the Colorado Rule: • Logging is allowed up to 1.5 miles from the roadless boundary, and in a few cases, almost anywhere there are trees in roadless areas. • Road construction for logging is allowed up to one-half mile inside roadless areas.• Permanent road construction is allowed for water projects.
• “Temporary” roads are allowed for existing and future electrical and telecommunication lines. • The rule does not address previous illegal issuance of oil and gas leases in roadless areas without stipulations prohibiting road construction or surface occupancy.
• Road construction for installing methane vents for underground coal mining is allowed on 19,000 acres in the “North Fork coal mining area” near Paonia. • 8000 acres of land where ski areas could expand are removed from the roadless inventory.
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United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Colorado State Office
CAUTION: Land ownership data is derived from less accurate data than the 1:24000 scale base map. Therefore, land ownership may not be shown for parcels smaller than 40 acres, and land ownership lines may have plotting errors due to source data.
Map created on August 7, 2012
No warranty is made by the Bureau of Land Management for the use of the data for purposes not intended by the BLM.
• 1.2 million acres (out of 4.2 million) are designated “upper tier”, which provides a higher level of protection. However, even in these areas, construction of water projects is allowed.
Though slightly improved from earlier versions, the final Colorado Rule still provides considerably less protection for Colorado’s national forest roadless areas than the national rule provides for such areas in other states. For further information, contact Rocky Smith at 2rockwsmith@gmail.com. Rocky Smith has worked to protect Colorado’s roadless areas for over 30 years.
Education
BY SMA STAFF Dynamic Science Place • Planet • Passion
Last summer Telluride High School graduates Jacqui Distefano and Keenan Zeller worked with SMA to develop a “highimpact” learning opportunity for Telluride students. The resulting mentorship program, encouraged students to explore careers relating to the environment and conservation by working with SMA in our grassroots organizing, policy creation, legal and general non-profit activities. Meanwhile, the Telluride High School was in the process of restructuring their mentorship program to place less of an emphasis on mentoring and more on bringing the community into the school for program based learning opportunities. SMA joined with The Pinhead Institute, Telluride Institute, EcoAction Partners, The Audubon Society and Colorado State University, to develop an environmental sciences program within the curriculum. The result is “Dynamic Science: Place Planet Passion”. The “facilitator”, Derek Engebretson, is a recently hired science
STUDENTS IN THE WATERSHED BY TELLURIDE INSTITUTE teacher who brings a wealth of progressive teaching styles that will help establish a watershed based environmental sciences program that can be used in other schools. SMA will provide access to land managers, wildlife biologists and hydrologists as well as the opportunity for students to get involved in the new Valley Floor monitoring program. We will also develop an advocacy-training program, to inspire future scientists to become comfortable with the idea of using their knowledge to advocate for the environment.
Wildlife
BY SMA STAFF GUNNISON’S PRAIRIE DOGS
Over the past century, the population of Gunnison’s prairie dogs has dropped by 98 percent and the species has been pushed to the brink of extinction. Its habitat area, which once spanned across the Four Corners region, has largely declined from urban sprawl and energy development. The Gunnison’s prairie dog is a candidate species for protection under the Endangered Species Act, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will make a decision about whether to list it as endangered by the end of 2016. After the public acquisition of the Valley Floor, the prairie dog was one of many species to find a safe harbor in the meadows outside Telluride. In June 2011, the Telluride Town Council established a unique, 23-acre preserve for the prairie dogs. The return of the prairie dog to the Telluride valley has not been without some consternation. Outside the preserve’s boundaries, the town has tools for keeping the population in check. Their presence on the Valley Floor has attracted multiple predator species including badgers, raptors and coyotes and the prairie dogs’ burrows are providing homes for other wildlife species, including rodents, snakes and insects. SMA continues to encourage a natural approach for both the Valley Floor management and the prairie dog population. We are confident that if nature is allowed the time and space to restore a more balanced habitat, with minimal human intervention, the wildlife of the area will live symbiotically.
To encourage this even further, we are building a scholarship fund to reward graduating student leaders who are committed to continuing their pursuit of environmental education. If you are interested in contributing to the scholarship fund, please contact Executive Director, Hilary White hilary@sheepmountainalliance.org or call 970-728-3729.
GUNNISON SAGE GROUSE
Fewer than 100 Gunnison sage grouse survive in the San Miguel Basin. Historically, all of western San Miguel and Montrose Counties was habitat for the species. Today the bird still manages to make a few local spots home, including Miramonte Reservoir and Dry Creek Basin. SMA participates in the San Miguel Basin Gunnison Sage Grouse Working Group, which works to protect known habitat, especially “leks” or breeding areas where males engage in an elaborate springtime mating ritual. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is expected to list the Gunnison Sage Grouse as an endangered species by the end of 2012 as a result of our filing and challenge to an initial denial of the listing. In preparation, regional land managers are preparing “critical habitat areas,” which will be protected to encourage the bird’s survival and rehabilitation. Already, the BLM has developed a conservation agreement allowing them to work directly with landowners to conserve habitat and the National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) in Norwood created The Sagebrush Initiative, to encourage private landowners to develop conservation plans for sagebrush lands. The grouse is almost entirely dependent on the sage plant for food, breeding and shelter, and its decline as a species is attributed to the deep fragmentation of the West’s vast sagelands, most notably by oil and gas development and grazing. Proactive measures landowners can undertake to protect habitat include: marking fences, better managing of grazing operations, stock tank protections, removing Pinyon Juniper in sagebrush habitats and preserving sagebrush. Landowners who participate in these programs, before the grouse is listed as endangered, will have more flexibility with ranching operations in areas found to be critical habitat.
Join the Alliance We cannot do this without you! C ALENDAR OCTOBER 16TH
NOVEMBER 7TH – 9TH
SMA’s Election Forum
Piñon Ridge Public Hearing Commences
OCTOBER 15TH
DECEMBER 8TH
Last Day to Receive Mail-in Ballots
SMA’s Annual “Keep It Wild” Party
NOVEMBER 6TH
Election Day
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From the Director
As you can see from these updates, we have been busy defending the wild lands and fragile ecosystems of southwest Colorado. SMA continues to be a small organization doing the work of giants. We are fortunate to have the support of our larger friends in the conservation community and the partnership of several non-profit law firms enabling us to successfully pursue violators. Yet we continue to view the legal option as the last option. We find ourselves too often, faced with those who believe it is okay to destroy the land and ignore environmental laws in order to seek profit. It seems that our real hope for change lies in tomorrows’ leaders. A generation with a basic knowledge of natural sciences, instilled with a respect and understanding of our dependence on the natural systems that sustain life, seems to be our only hope for true change. We must do what we can to inspire a new generation who understands the need to use our resources carefully and respectfully, to share the planet with a diverse population of species and to reduce the massively destructive footprint we leave today. SMA is exploring ways to encourage conservation as a pervading value in the children who will go on to become environmentalists, scientists, land managers and miners alike. Beginning with the Dynamic Science program at TES, the rebuilding of the
SENATOR MARK UDALL AND HILARY WHITE BY SMA STAFF San Miguel Watershed Coalition, rewarding the Green Behavior of elementary school kids and bringing citizen science to the Valley Floor Monitoring Program, we hope to evolve from our dependence on the justice system to proactive educational efforts. We hope you will help us by both supporting our work and getting involved. Thank you for taking the time to read through our first printed newsletter in several years. We were going the way of the web, opting to develop online communications and social media. But, to be blunt, the printed version
just works better as an outreach tool and membership generator. Our paper is recycled and will be reused. We need your help! And this is the best way to reach more of you. Please renew, all memberships are up for renewal, or join SMA if not already a member. It’s easy, we don’t ask much of you and in exchange you know that you support a mighty defender of the wild places and special habitats of this region. Please join SMA today. Thank you. – Hilary White, Executive Director
Dolores River
By jennifer thurston Paradox Valley Salinity Control Project
Because of the natural geology of the Paradox Valley, the Dolores River absorbs salty brine from underground as it crosses through the valley. This “salinity loading” of the river means that water quality is degraded downstream. It’s a natural phenomenon exacerbated by other man-made impacts on the Dolores such as large water depletions for agriculture, disturbance of natural flows from the damn and diversions, and sources of pollution from drilling, mining and other development. The Bureau of Reclamation mitigates these impacts by operating a deep-injection system that pumps brine from the ground before it enters the river and re-injects it deep below Paradox Valley. That system is aging and the Bureau of Reclamation has proposed building a system of evaporative ponds to replace it. To start the process, the Bureau has proposed building a “20 acre pilot pond” an Environmental Analysis, will be released in the fall of 2012. If the pilot pond is determined to be feasible, then it would be expanded to multiple ponds covering up to 800 acres in Paradox Valley. Evaporation ponds raise numerous concerns about impacts to wildlife, especially migratory birds, sensitive plant communities and ecosystems,
PROPOSED SITE FOR AN EVAPORATIVE POND ON THE DOLORES RIVER BY JENNIFER THURSTON the proximity to the river, and the use of land next to the river as a permanent site for storage of hazardous waste. SMA made extensive comments to the Bureau of Reclamation and will continue to monitor this project.
“Underlying all of these problems of introducing contamination into our world
Bear Creek
is the question of moral responsibility...The threat is infinitely greater to the generations unborn; to those who have no voice in the decisions of today, and that fact alone makes our responsibility a heavy one.” -Rachel Carson AS WE HONOR THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF SILENT SPRING
SMVC
by sma staff SMVC PROPOSAL
In April, the San Miguel Valley Corporation announced plans to subdivide and develop its remaining property at Mill Creek (north side of the Valley Floor) and Deep Creek Mesa. The county approval process of both a new zone district and the subdivision will involve multiple reviews and public meetings over a year-long period, eventually requiring approval from the San Miguel County commissioners. SMA is working to immediately address the proposed zone district. Thoughtful, forward thinking zoning should be required for the last large remaining parcels in the Telluride Region. Transformative planning and building solutions in place today include zero carbon footprint homes, onsite energy sources, car and waste free neighborhoods and ecologically sensitive development. Why not bring them here?
MOUNTAIN BIKER ON WASATCH TRAIL IN UPPER BEAR CREEK BY MAX COOPER BY SMA STAFF
Colorado “developer” Tom Chapman may have finally met his match. Infamous for using the threat of developing wilderness “inholdings” to reap profits on mining claims, Chapman’s latest charade involves a claim in Upper Bear Creek, threatening the historic Wasatch Trail. The Telluride Ski Resort, San Miguel County, Town of Telluride, USFS and local organizations led by the Telluride Mountain Club have united in our efforts to prevent his questionable antics from being effective yet again. We are also hopeful that under the new leadership of the Telluride Ski Area attention, will be focused on continuing improvements within the current boundaries and allowing Bear Creek to remain wild and free!
We cannot be successful in our campaigns without your support. Please join today!
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Letter from the Board President Last December we gathered together at our annual meeting to celebrate Sheep Mountain Alliance. It was a wonderful evening, with great animal costumes, yummy food and solidarity uniting us in a worthy cause.
We were there to celebrate our accomplishments as a small group of citizens; powerful citizens, speaking for our wild lands. We raised our glasses to the wildlife, habitat and ecosystems we defend and hold sacred. Proudly, we reminisced about preventing the logging of the forest on Sheep Mountain to the preservation of our beloved Valley Floor. We looked forward with energy and conviction to the efforts ahead: prevent uranium mining and milling from polluting our regional air and water, keep regional species from becoming extinct, as our watershed and San Miguel
River are threatened by development, and preserve the last remaining wild areas in the San Juan Mountains.
defense of our waters and wilderness because it will simply become a way of life and symbiotic living upon this planet.
There will always be more to defend. The work is not over, but the celebration continues in how we live our lives and how we inform and educate our communities. We have a great opportunity to teach future generations about the impacts of our actions, and how to create and live in balance with Mother Earth, so that we can sustain one another. SMA is excited, as we are becoming more involved in educational programs that will teach local students how to become environmental stewards of our watershed and wilderness and ultimately, their own future. Our dream is that through education we will alleviate and eventually, even eliminate our need to intervene in
We reach out to you to be a part of the solution. Please renew your membership, or become a new member. We thank you for taking the time to read this and for being a part of the solution to work toward a more effective way to find positive alternatives, embrace new ideas and protect our future…the future of the earth. We need you! Take pride and be a part of Sheep Mountain Alliance. – Honga Im, SMA Board president
Inside: Updates on Uranium, Water, Education, San Juan Mountains Wilderness Bill and more! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter