The Wise Report
The EPA is proposing new rules for in situ mining. A number of states, including Texas, already have many or all of these rules in place. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy signed a draft of the proposed rules on Dec. 31. A 90-day public-comment period on the new “Health and Environmental Protection Standards for Uranium and Thorium Mill Tailings” opens when the final draft is published in the Federal Register. The publication date is uncertain.
An EPA fact sheet on the new rules says that the original standards were issued 1983 and revised in 1995. Since that time, in situ recovery, which uses water injected into the ground to recover uranium, has become a prominent method of uranium extraction in the U.S. The standards do not address “the alteration of groundwater that occurs during the (in situ) process,” according to the fact sheet. For more information, go to: http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/epa-proposing-tougher-rules-for-in-situ-mining/article_48a5ebd9-7f7d-5523-9117-20be2fd4f441.html
During the mid-1990s, the Institute of Environmental Technology (IET), consisting of associates of the Environmental Litigation Associates (ELA) and other senior environmental professionals in the Houston area, taught a 4-month program designed to cross-train professional refugees from a depressed oil and gas industry for the purpose of finding employment in an expanding environmental industry. Over more than 5 years, some 400 geologists, engineers, and other professionals graduated from that program, most of whom found meaningful professional employment. When the oil and gas activity returned a few years later, the graduates offered a better background to potential employers than before they were laid off. One of the objectives of the IET program was to provide continuing support after graduation. The Guide to Houston Faulting released today is the result of more than 10 years of research and discussions on the subject of interest to those in the Houston area and elsewhere in the U.S.A. URL to Guide: http://ela-iet.com/HouFaultGuideDecember2014.pdf
Because the current Editor for Government Update that appears regularly in the HGS Bulletin and The Wise Report and member of the Planning Committee of the HGS Engineering and Environmental Committee, Henry M. Wise, P.G., and Michael D. Campbell, P.G., P.H, also a member of the E & E Committee, played significant roles in the generation of this Guide, they are making the Guide available through this venue to members of the Houston Geological Society and especially those who have an interest in Houston faulting and associated subsidence and related issues.
Henry M. Wise, P.G.
The Wise Report