WPM: Bill requests funding for Wind River Reservation cleanup

Tuesday, March 6, 2012  

"With only a week to go until the legislative session is over, Wyoming lawmakers are reviewing a number of bills, including a joint resolution requesting Congress to provide for increased monitoring and funding for remediation of the Riverton uranium mill tailings site. Tailings constitute waste left over from mining operations. Last year we brought you a story about the site in which the Department of Energy released data showing that uranium levels in the area had spiked as high as 100 times the legal limit, and while legislative action on the issue may sound good, it’s bringing up a lot of questions, and anger. Wyoming Public Radio’s Tristan Ahtone reports.

TRISTAN AHTONE: The Riverton uranium mill tailings remedial action bill was designed to allow legislators to assist tribal authorities in their dealings with the Department of Energy – essentially, it would create a platform the state could take to Washington in order to gain support in taking care of the situation.

CALE CASE: We’d like the Department of Energy to more aggressively handle that situation.

AHTONE: That’s Lander Republican Senator Cale Case.

CASE: We’re assisting tribal authorities in lending support to them in their assertion that this is a real problem and the Department of Energy hasn’t kept their promises and it’s not going like it’s predicted."

Get the Story:
Legislators demand funding for clean-up and monitoring of former uranium mill site (Wyoming Public Media 3/2)