September 9, 2011

Ms. Laura Kilpatrick, Esq. DOE ULP Program Manager Uranium Leasing Program Programmatic EIS Office of Legacy Management U.S. Department of Energy 11025 Dover Street, Suite 1000 Westminster, CO 80021

Re: Scoping comments on Uranium Leasing Program Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement

Delivered via email: [email protected]

Dear Ms. Kilpatrick:

We are writing you as members of the Dolores River Coalition, a partnership of eighteen local, regional, state, and national groups working for improved management and protection of the Dolores River Corridor and watershed, from McPhee Reservoir near Dolores, to its confluence with the at Dewey Bridge in . Because of our ongoing partnership and collaborative work to support the river corridor, the watershed, and the communities in the basin, we are greatly concerned about the impacts from mining, milling, and transportation of uranium ore on the Southwest corner of Colorado and the Southwestern .

Thank you for your decision to develop a full Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for the Uranium Leasing Program (ULP), which will offer a vehicle to ensure that the environmental consequences, alternatives, and mitigation measures will be thoroughly evaluated under the National Environmental Policy Act. Included in this letter are the collective areas of general concern that our coalition request be addressed based on our ongoing work in the Dolores River watershed. Individual organizations within our coalition will also be submitting scoping comments that focus on their specific concerns.

Our Coalition is united in the principle recognition that the Dolores River Basin is a unique local and national resource that provides significant ecological systems that benefit the natural environment, and support human habitation throughout the Dolores River basin and beyond. The tributaries and side canyons of the Dolores River contribute to these natural systems and to the basin’s national and regional significance that have been identified in public land planning processes and collaborative efforts for many years. It is essential that the Department of Energy (DOE) acknowledges the values that citizens have worked hard to recognize, support, and safeguard, and that the leasing program is compatible with citizen and agency efforts to protect these values.

Cooperating agencies and collaborative processes

The Dolores River Coalition and affiliates have been directly involved with various land management processes and collaborations in the Dolores River watershed including the Dolores River Dialogue, the Lower Dolores River Plan Working Group, the Gateway Stakeholder Roundtable, and recent resource management plans including the San Juan

1 Public Lands SEIS, a proposed Gothic Shale Master Leasing Plan, and the Bureau of Land Management’s Grand Junction and Uncompahgre Field Offices’ Resource Management Plan Revisions. These plans will provide the overall direction for public land management in the proposed leasing area for the next 20 years. DOE's leasing program interplays directly with these and other processes in geographic scope, and in related management decisions. Additionally, the DOE ULP could also affect findings of Wild and Scenic River suitability on the San Miguel and Dolores Rivers, and their tributaries. As such, cooperation with other agencies needs to be explicitly addressed, and management conflicts must be proactively mitigated. The DOE's analysis must include collaboration with these field offices and the other federal, state, and local cooperating agencies.

The Dolores River Dialogue is a collaborative community discussion that has been focused on the Dolores River below McPhee Reservoir since 2004. The purpose statement of the DRD is as follows:

The Dolores River Dialogue (DRD) is a coalition of diverse interests, whose purpose is to explore management opportunities, build support for and take action to improve the ecological conditions downstream of McPhee Reservoir while honoring water rights, protecting agricultural and municipal water supplies, and the continued enjoyment of rafting and fishing.

The Lower Dolores River Plan Working Group (the Working Group) is a diverse stakeholder group which was formed by the DRD to provide feedback to the BLM San Juan Field Office for the agency’s corridor management plan below McPhee Reservoir, as well as to discuss wild and scenic suitability or appropriate alternatives. The Dolores River Coalition has participated in the DRD and the Working Group, which both include conservation, agriculture, water management, land management, recreational and governmental interests, among others. These collaborative stakeholder efforts have been extensive, and should not be diminished by the Uranium Leasing Program. Most recently the Working Group has been focused on ensuring that native fish are sustained in the Dolores below McPhee Reservoir where native fish populations are in sharp decline. More information on the status of native fish in the Lower Dolores and opportunities for improvement is available in the final report from the recent scientific inquiry called A Way Forward (http://ocs.fortlewis.edu/drd/way-forward.htm). The scientific analysis of native fish from A Way Forward should be considered in the DOE’s management decisions to ensure that management scenarios for native fish are not in conflict. Potential impacts to native fish, aquatic species, riparian habitat, and recreational values must be thoroughly addressed by the DOE. Further, the DOE must assess the impacts of uranium leasing on the river corridor and specifically detail how impacts to native fish and other sensitive species will be avoided.

The Gateway Stakeholder Roundtable was a collaborative process initiated on behalf of the Mesa County Commissioners to assess the values and discuss future land management options in the Gateway and Northern Dolores area. The process identified a need for more discussions on how to protect the spectacular landscape that includes two Wilderness Study areas and seven Citizen Proposed Wilderness areas. Much of the natural landscape was identified as a shared-value for community members and diverse interest groups alike. The recreational values and scenic attributes of the greater Gateway area need to be protected, and any resource development must be thoughtfully assessed. Collectively, we must determine the extent to which uranium development is, or is not, compatible with the increase in recreation, and the scenic values that serve it, along the river and in the

2 surrounding landscapes throughout the Dolores River Basin. A socioeconomic analysis must be conducted to assess impacts of land use on the surrounding communities. Other factors will play a vital role in the final decision, such as impacts to the ecological systems that sustain the communities.

The Dolores River Restoration Project is another collaborative effort that has been working diligently on developing and implementing a restoration plan throughout the Dolores River Watershed. Many agencies and organizations have been involved, and should be consulted to ensure that the Uranium Leasing Program is not in conflict with restoration efforts.

Threats to Wilderness Quality Lands

The Dolores River basin, from McPhee Reservoir to the confluence with the Colorado River, includes three Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) and ten Citizen Wilderness Proposals (CWPs). These areas are under consideration for legislative protections, and thus disturbances to these areas must be avoided, and they should be excluded from the leasing tracts. In addition, Wilderness Study Areas are subject to specific protections pursuant to the BLM’s Interim Management Policy for Lands Under Wilderness Review. The alternatives need to encompass options that would withhold all these WSAs and CWPs from leasing and mining for a period of at least ten years, to permit completion of decisions to designate or specially manage such areas through legislation or pending administrative decisions. These areas host rare values associated with their remote or relatively undisturbed condition, including high densities of rare and imperiled species, dense concentration of critical wildlife habitat, prized hunting and angling opportunities, spectacular scenic resources, and rapidly vanishing opportunities for primitive recreation. This concentration of sensitive and rare natural resources, and the corollary alternative land uses based on sustainable utilization of these resources, must be carefully weighed in analysis of physical and economic impacts.

Impacts to plant and animal species and communities

Due to the lack of general or site specific data regarding impacts of past mining activities on plants, wildlife, and ecosystems, the DOE must thoroughly analyze the indirect, direct and cumulative impacts of the proposed leasing on threatened, endangered and sensitive species, and other rare and imperiled species and natural communities. Any designated Critical Habitat Areas should be excluded from the leasing tracts, and the PEIS must include an analysis of potential impacts to species that are not present on the lease tracts, but that inhabit the full project area, including the Dolores River and its tributaries, and a portion of the Colorado River downstream from the lease tracts. The DOE should use a combination of Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife and Colorado Natural Heritage Program GIS data to determine species likely to be present in the area that will be impacted by the project.

The DOE should also thoroughly survey the impact area for rare and imperiled species, including all Threatened, Endangered and Sensitive Species (TES), and special status species, and then provide a scientifically sound analysis of the impacts of the proposed project on all species likely to be found within the impact area. Special status to be considered should include, but not be limited to, candidates for federal listing, BLM sensitive species, FWS species of concern, and Colorado DPW species of concern. In particular, the DOE must analyze the direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of the proposed project on the following TES and special status species: Colorado pikeminnow,

3 humpback chub, razorback sucker, bonytail, roundtail chub, flannelmouth sucker, bluehead sucker, river otter, canyon tree frog, yellow-billed cuckoo, and Gunnison sage-grouse. Several bat species have been identified by the USFWS as “species of concern” including, Spotted Bat, Allens Big-eared Bat, Small-footed Myotis, Long-eared Myotis, Fringed Myotis, Long-legged Myotis, Yuma Myotis, Big Free-tailed Bat, Pale Townsends Big-eared Bat. The PEIS must analyze and mitigate impacts to any of these species that have habitat within the impact area for this project.

The Dolores basin includes unique and rare ecosystems including old growth piñon and juniper habitat, and cryptobiotic soils which support rare soil lichens, as well as diverse riparian habitat that supports a range of aquatic and terrestrial species. The Dolores, tributaries, and adjacent valleys support rare assemblages of plants due to the unique juxtaposition of geologic formations which yield seeps, springs, hanging gardens, ephemeral waterfalls, alkaline wetlands, and more rare habitats. The environmental analysis must include a review of the full range of ecosystems in the basin and along the river, including riparian areas and riverine systems. Climate change modeling needs to be implemented to gain a better understanding of the future impacts that uranium development may have on these ecosystems. A full analysis should evaluate habitat impacts from the following:

- Reduction of flows in streams and rivers due to diversion of water - Changes in flows due to stormwater controls - Water quality impacts resulting from sedimentation and/or contamination - Vegetation removal and clearing - Mine water discharge - Ore stockpiling - Waste rock storage - Ore transport - Road construction and maintenance - Motorized vehicle and equipment cleaning and fueling - Oil and chemical spills - Accidents that result in spills of uranium ore - Potential for contamination of water with: aluminum, arsenic, barium, copper, iron, lead, manganese, selenium, vanadium, molybdenum, and zinc; including consideration of potential for both acute and chronic toxicity, and bioaccumulation in the food chain - Habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation due to surface disturbance, construction of facilities, road construction, increased use of existing roads, changes to vegetation composition and cover, effects on wildlife movement patterns, etc. - Human disturbance - Potential for wildlife to come into contact with contaminants held on-site - Spread of invasive species, particularly through increased traffic and ground disturbance.

Ecosystem services analysis

A thorough and explicit assessment of ecosystem services in the Dolores River basin should be conducted to offer baseline data prior to new uranium development, and implications to ecosystem services must be identified. Ecosystem services in the Dolores River watershed that need to be addressed include drinking water, waterways, wetlands filtration, air quality and air sheds, soils and erosion, organic and inorganic waste, plant and animal habitat (including impacts to grazing), and overall toxicity to downstream communities.

4 Cumulative impacts

The DOE ULP review must be thorough and include formal consultation with all federal, state and local agencies, municipalities, counties, and tribes in order to fully analyze the impacts of increased mining and milling with other activities and developments in the region, including but not limited to other energy and mineral development activities. The area's overall mineral and energy footprint, which includes uranium, potash, and oil and gas development, have direct and potential impacts on the socioeconomics of local communities, water quality and quantity, air quality, plant and wildlife habitat, threatened and endangered species, historic resources, cultural resources, and recreational values. The cumulative impacts on these values must be assessed and clearly addressed. The cumulative analysis must also address surface disturbance, soils and erosion, development infrastructure, transport, and the reduced aesthetics of the surrounding area. Future expansion of uranium development in the Dolores basin will also impact communities along transportation routes, and has implications to the larger Colorado River Basin, which supplies water to millions of people. Thus the Cumulative Impact Area must incorporate this greater region of potential impact, including communities downstream.

Environmental justice and impacts to human health

The health of individuals and the health of communities that are located in the Dolores watershed must be fully analyzed and evaluated. A full analysis of storage, transportation, and the associated risks must be completed. Temporary and permanent storage and transport of the ore needs to be regulated, with clear transportation plans in place prior to the establishment of the Uranium Leasing Program. Immediate and long-term socioeconomic impacts must be assessed and addressed, and should emphasize a priority on local contracts and local hiring. Further, since our national public lands are an American investment, American companies should have priority over foreign interests, and reclamation of leases by local contractors must be encouraged as a viable economic alternative to uranium development. Waste disposal is complicated and costly, and needs to be properly addressed and vetted with the implicated counties, communities, cooperating agencies, and interested parties.

Recreational Resources

The Dolores River provides high quality whitewater boating opportunities, second only to the for it’s remote, multi-day wilderness characteristics. The national and regional significance of these recreational values have made the Dolores River suitable for inclusion into the Wild and Scenic River system since 1972. Multiple stakeholder efforts are seeking ways to protect and improve these values, while balancing the needs of local communities. A full assessment of the impacts to safe public access, water quality, channel morphology, and to the remote character of the river corridor must be conducted to ensure the public interest is protected.

Historic and cultural resources The Dolores River Corridor contains significant cultural resources. Canyons are lined with both documented and un-surveyed rock art and cultural sites. The Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety has recognized that additional protections may be warranted for this special area. DOE needs to work closely with Native American tribes and land management agencies to protect cultural resources.

5 Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this important process in the Dolores River watershed, and thank you for your consideration of our comments. The Dolores River Coalition has a vested interest in the future of this extraordinary river and adjacent landscapes. We are also concerned about the future of the communities and individuals that live throughout the basin. The collaborative processes in which we participate with a diverse group of stakeholders are testimony to the sociological, ecological, recreational, historical, and cultural importance of this region. Thoughtful protection and management of the Dolores River watershed is critical for the future of this spectacular region.

Sincerely,

Lee-Ann Hill Dolores River Coalition Coordinator San Juan Citizen’s Alliance P.O. Box 1513, 10 West Main Street Cortez, CO 81321 (970) 565-7191

Dolores River Coalition American Whitewater Colorado Environmental Coalition Colorado Mountain Club Colorado River Outfitters Association Environmental Defense Living Rivers and Colorado Riverkeeper Grand Canyon Trust Lower Dolores Boating Advocates Rocky Mountain Wild San Juan Citizens Alliance San Miguel Watershed Coalition Sheep Mountain Alliance Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance The Wilderness Society and The Wilderness Support Center Trout Unlimited and Colorado Trout Unlimited Uncompahgre Valley Association Utah Rivers Council Western Colorado Congress

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