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Commissioners to discuss uranium mining
Park County Development Services Coordinator Tom Eisenman met with Horizon Nevada Uranium Inc. President Bill Wilson on March 14, and Eisenman was scheduled to meet with county commissioners on March 19, but it’s unclear at this point what input the commissioners will have in the decision-making process on uranium mining in Park County.
Eisenman said on March 18 that he was in the process of determining what rights the county has with the proposed in-situ recovery uranium mines planned for South Park near Hartsel, in terms of using county land use regulations.
The proposed uranium mines are a priority issue for the county, and officials would be watching the progress closely, Eisenman said.
According to information provided by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, three agencies each share a portion of the permitting process: the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
A radioactive materials license must be issued by CDPHE to an applicant in order for a company to handle radioactive materials and uranium recovery operations.
Part of the application process requires two public meetings and input from county commissioners.
According to an e-mail from Warren Smith, community involvement manager for the CDPHE, when making a decision on the application, the CDPHE will take into consideration the county commissioners’ comments, but “in the end, it comes down to a question of does the application demonstrate that the operation can be done in a way that protects people and the environment.”
The public input meetings would be further along in the process of applying for permits and could be years away, according to CDPHE documents.
The Colorado Department of Natural Resources also requires a notice of intent of prospecting activities be sent to property owners whose land might be mined. A mining company must also obtain a reclamation permit.

theflume.com

03/18/2008 11:27 AM — Jeremiah Homuth was once known for his right arm, but now the former Illinois prep QB is adjusting to a life without it.
HUNTLEY, Ill. — You want to draw fire. That’s the idea. It’s called a “presence patrol.” Make yourself visible to your enemies and hope they shoot, so when they do, you know where they are and you can return the favor.
The day 20-year-old U.S. Army Spc. Jeremiah Homuth got hit, his unit, First Platoon-Alpha Company, was on a presence patrol in Afghanistan, about a half-hour northwest of Kandahar, near the Pakistani border. Most days, they would have been on foot, but the area of operations on that day was stretched wide, so they were moving, grid by barren grid, in armored vehicles. Jeremiah was the gunner in the second Humvee in a convoy making its way up a goat path. The guy in the lead vehicle had the hill to the west, pointing the turret’s gun to the right as they climbed. Jeremiah’s responsibility was the east, to the left. He stood up through a hole in his Humvee, both hands on his weapon, and looked over a cliff and down a 30-foot drop at nothing but rocks and scrub. It wasn’t yet noon, but it was already so hot it hurt to breathe.
Brothers In Arms Like Jeremiah Homuth, Matt Conley was a high school quarterback who enlisted in the armed services. Unlike Homuth, Conley didn’t come back from his tour of duty. Wright Thompson tells Conley’s story
The rocket-propelled grenade came from up the hill on the right. Jeremiah never saw it. Never heard it. Just this muffled rush of bone and muscle and burning metal going straight through him. He was down, on the floor behind the driver, ears ringing. His right arm was gone. His left arm was shot all to hell, broken in three places. He’d hit his head hard on the way down, his jaw was broken and he’d taken shrapnel all over his upper body. He heard gunfire from above, his buddies taking care of business. The driver was in his face — “You’re going to be all right. Stay with me.” — tying a tourniquet up near his right shoulder.

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