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Uranium Mining Controversy in Goliad
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GOLIAD — Thanks to a seven-fold increase in the price of uranium in recent years, this thinly populated county in South Texas could soon compete with Australia, Brazil, Kazakhstan and Namibia as a supplier of the fuel needed for a global resurgence of nuclear power.
That's the dream of Amir Adnani, a new-generation prospector — Iranian-born, Canadian-educated and a resident of Vancouver, British Columbia, even as he serves as chief executive of Uranium Energy Corp., which is based in Austin.
Adnani is unfazed by the controversies in Goliad or the need to raise fresh capital. "These things are an incredibly normal part of any business that embarks on something that hasn't been done in 10, 15 years," he said.
Today, concerns about climate change and the huge demand for electric power in emerging economic giants such as China and India have put dozens of new nuclear plants on drawing boards. "About 100 miles from Goliad, NRG Energy Inc. plans to add two units to the two already operating at the South Texas Nuclear Project in Bay City."
Even closer to Goliad - Illinois utility Exelon Corp. has announced plans to build a reactor in Victoria. But not everyone in Goliad is at ease about being part of a new nuclear age.
Mary Anklam raises Boer goats outside Goliad. Prices for her goats recently started dropping. "People don't want to purchase my goats because of the fear of contamination," she told Texas Commission on Environmental Quality staff at a Jan. 24 meeting in a jam-packed church meeting hall in Goliad. Anklam and a handful of other residents who live near UEC's test site say the company's drilling has increased the sodium, sulfates and iron in their water, which is pumped from the Evangeline Aquifer. "Our water has turned red from the high levels of iron," she said.
The county's lawsuit says UEC improperly left unplugged boreholes from test drilling, which allowed byproducts from test drilling to seep into the aquifer. UEC said in a statement that the allegations are baseless. It said the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates exploratory drilling, concluded in September that the company had not violated its permit. Five months earlier, the commission's hydrologist reported "no groundwater contamination has occurred as a result of the drilling activities."
The county's lawsuit, though, says residents have recently found more uncovered boreholes. Ted Long, a county commissioner and rancher, said he has lived in his home since 1994, the same year he drilled his water well.
"We have never experienced one minute's problem until they started this exploration," Long said. "There is no other reason we would be having these problems other than UEC punching something over a thousand holes
in the aquifer in this area." |
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According to SEC filings, UEC has spent more money, $7.3 million, on consulting fees than it has on properties for uranium exploration ($6.3 million). UEC says it has "inferred" reserves of 5.5 million pounds of uranium in Goliad County, although none of that counts as "proven" under Securities and Exchange Commission regulations. Five-and-a-half million pounds is, however, more than the total amount of uranium mined in the U.S. last year — a sign of how dormant the industry has been.
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