DRC-2017-005001 - 0901a0688072973e

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P.O. Box 248
Towaoc, Colorado 81334-0248
[phone] Div of Waste Management
and Radiation Control
July 6, 2017 WC-7{Xl-0050D\
The Honorable Gary R. Herbert
Governor
Slate of Utah
350 North State Street, Suite 200
PO Box 142220
Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-2220
Dear Governor Herbert:
I am requesting a government-to-government consultation meeting with you to discuss the Ute
Mountain Ute Tribe’s (UMUT) concerns regarding the White Mesa Mill (WMM) relicensing and
groundwater permitting. This uranium mills, located three miles downwind and downgradient
from our homelands, impacts the people, water, air, lands, wildlife, cultural resources and the
health and welfare of the UMUT in significant ways. The Utah Department of Environmental
Quality's Division Waste Management and Radiation, Uranium Mills and Radioactive Materials
Control, Section Manager offered to have a conference call or a meeting with the UMUT’s
Environmental Program Director and staff but limited this to a 17 day window prior to the public
record opening. That is not sufficient notice nor adequate consultation on such an important
matter after these issues have been considered by the State for the past 10 years.
The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe is aware that in 1984 (with amendments in 1989 and 2004) the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRG) entered into a State Agreement with the State of Utah,
whereby NRG delegated most of its oversight and authority to regulate and relicense the White
Mesa Mill operations. The Tribe views this as a limited delegation of federal authority to the
State of Utah. The Federal Government retains its Trust duties to protect Tribal assets and
consult with the Tribe on this matter that impacts the people, land and water of the UMUT as
well as other obligations enumerated in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to protect the health and
welfare of the general population. However, it is my understanding that the State of Utah has its
own consultation policy that establishes guidelines for government-to-government consultation
when the State undertakes actions that impact Tribes.
The UMUT will be seeking government-to-government consultation from federal agencies,
including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency and the
Department of Interior, all who have oversight over this impactful matter of WMM rclicensing
and groundwater permitting.
I suggest that we meet at the White Mesa Ute community at a mutually agreeable time for our
discussion and work with Energy Fuels to tour the WMM facility that same day. 1 will have the
UMUT’s General Counsel, Peter Ortego, follow up with a phone call to your Chief of Staff to
arrange the details. In the alternative, if your staff would like to contact Mr. Ortego, his contact
information is 970.564.5640 or Dorteuo@,utemountain.org.
Ute Mountain Ute Tribe
cc: The Honorable Scott Pruitt, Environmental Protection Agency
The Honorable Ryan Zinke, Department of Interior
The Honorable Kristine Svinicki, Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Mr. Scott Anderson, Utah Dept, of Environmental Quality '
Ms. Shirlee Silversmith, Utah Div. oflndian Affairs