Mercury Storage Discussion

I had a chance yesterday to talk to Ray Plieness about the proposal to site a Mercury Storage Facility in the vicinity of the existing uranium mill tailings disposal cell.  I thought you might be interested in hearing the highlights from our discussion;

1)  First, Ray stressed that this is the beginning of the EIS process, the scoping of the EIS, which actively involves the public in helping formulate what the EIS should consider and what alternatives should be evaluated (what sites and to what detail).  If the Mesa County site is considered further it would include additional public review and meetings would occur after DOE completes it's analysis of impacts to the environment,socio-economic, traffic and other considerations.  The meeting on July 21 will outline the process and steps DOE plans to complete.

2)  The proposal is in response to the need to ban exporting of mercury from the US to other countries that may not manage or store the mercury effectively allowing it to become available in the environment.  The Mercury Export Ban Act of 2008 (then Senator Obama sponsored legislation) designated DOE as the government entity to site a storage facility by January 2010, build a facility by 2013 and then operate it long term.

3)  The Office of Legacy Management (LM) in DOE is presently designated as the office to manage the facility long-term.  Ray is the manager of our local DOE office which has most of the technical staff that LM would rely on to manage this facility.  Consequently, as DOE asked for expressions of interest of locations to consider for evaluation, LM decided that based on initial technical considerations of the site, the fact that they already manage the site and the long-term mission of the staff here it seemed reasonable to at least consider the Mesa County site.  Ray said there would be only a few additional jobs longterm after the construction as a result of this facility but it would be another anchor for the logic to have the technical staff remain here.

4)  Ray stressed that this is a building to store mercury and in no way would be stored with or even operated as part of the uranium mill tailings disposal site, it simply is in that vicinity.

5)  Lastly, Ray stressed that he only hopes Mesa residents will take the time to go to the public meeting (July 21 at Two Rivers Convention Center, 5:30-9:30, educate themselves and then from that position as an informed citizen make their decision on whether this is an appropriate thing to consider further.

Martelle Daniels, Chairman

Mesa County Democrats