Examining EPA’s Proposed Groundwater Rule for In-Situ Uranium Recovery

PURPOSE:

• To examine the proposed rule and how it impacts states, federal agencies, and the in-situ recovery industry.
• To examine how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can best move forward with the rule, including ways it can work with impacted groups.

BACKGROUND:

• On January 26, 2015, EPA issued a proposed rule entitled “Health and Environmental Protection Standards for Uranium and Thorium Mill Tailings,” which sets new groundwater protection standards for in-situ uranium recovery operations.
• In-situ recovery is an extraction process where liquid uranium-containing solution is pumped from underground, thus avoiding the need for surface or underground mining.
• State, industry, and other federal agencies are critical of the rule, which EPA plans to finalize by the end of the year.