Diné plan to block access for uranium transport

Southwest Earth First!

From the Albuquerque Journal:

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — A uranium mining company seeking a mineral lease on state land in northwestern Arizona could have a hard time transporting the ore off-site because of the Navajo Nation’s objections to an industry that left a legacy of death and disease among tribal members.

The section of land in Coconino County is surrounded by the Navajo Nation’s Big Boquillas Ranch. The tribe has said it will not grant Wate Mining Company LLC permission to drive commercial trucks filled with chunks of uranium ore across its land to be processed at a milling site in Blanding, Utah.

The Navajo Nation was the site of extensive uranium mining for weapons during the Cold War. Although most of the physical hazards, including open mine shafts, have been fixed at hundreds of sites, concerns of radiation hazards remain.

The tribe banned uranium mining on its lands…

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Nation’s Largest Uranium Mine Planned for N.M.

Mora County, NM passes ordinance banning all oil and gas extraction

Time is Short: Nonviolence Can Work, But Not for Us

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Firm will now go to state for approval of two wells

By Emery Cowan, The Durango Herald

The national debate about shale drilling and hydraulic facturing played out Tuesday in La Plata County Courthouse as county commissioners considered signing a memorandum of understanding with a Texas energy company that has plans to drill two exploratory shale-oil wells in the southwest part of the county.

The wells will be the county’s first shale drilling.

After more than three hours of presentations and public comment, La Plata County Commissioners unanimously approved the memorandum of understanding with Swift Energy Operating LLC.

“This MOU does the best this county can do right now to protect the interests of the people who live in the area, to try to minimize the impacts on you and also allow energy development to go forward,” Commissioner Julie Westendorff said.

With the agreement, Swift will go forward to…

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By Jordyn Dahl, The Durango Herald

For the first time, La Plata County could see horizontal shale drilling.

Swift Energy Co. has filed an exploratory drilling and spacing application for two units near Kline and Marvel – an area of the county that has not previously experienced heavy gas development.

One unit would encompass 643.4 acres, while the other would encompass 587.8 acres on privately owned land.

Thus far, the county has only seen coal-bed methane drilling, but shale drilling has gained momentum in recent years, fueling a gas boom that flooded the nation with inexpensive gas.

County commissioners debated whether to intervene with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission on Swift’s application and enter into negotiations for a memorandum of understanding at its meeting Tuesday. The county typically takes this course when debating coal-bed methane wells, but shale drilling is new territory.

Memrandums of understanding cover land-use…

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Southwest Earth First!

Opponents say “the last thing we need is to destroy our public lands.”

From The Salt Lake Tribune:

Environmental groups filed a protest this week of a Bureau of Land Management plan to allocate more than 800,000 acres in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming for oil shale and tar sands development.

The Center for Biological Diversity, the Grand Canyon Trust, Living Rivers and the Sierra Club sent the protest Monday to BLM protest coordinator Brenda Hudgens-Williams.

The proposal would make available nearly 700,000 acres in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming for research and development of oil shale, and about 130,000 acres in Utah for activities related to tar sands.

A news release about the protest said such development would release “intensive greenhouse gas emissions, hasten Colorado River drying, threaten wildlife and increase local and regional air pollution.”

“The climate crisis is worsening every day. The last thing we need is to…

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