DRC-2020-004042 - 0901a06880c008f8

195 North 1950 West • Salt Lake City, UT Mailing Address: P.O. Box 144880 • Salt Lake City, UT 84114-4880 Telephone: [phone] • Fax: [phone] • T.D.D.: [phone]
www.deq.utah.gov
Printed on 100% recycled paper
State of Utah
GARY R. HERBERT Governor
SPENCER J. COX Lieutenant Governor
Department of Environmental Quality
L.Scott Baird Executive Director
DIVISION OF WASTE MANAGEMENT AND RADIATION CONTROL Ty L. Howard Director
February 27, 2020
Via Email and U.S. Mail
Peter Ortego, General Counsel Ute Mountain Ute Tribe P.O. Box 248 Towaoc, CO 81334-0248
RE: Energy Fuel Resources (EFR) – Radioactive Material License Number UT1900479 License Condition 9.7
Dear Mr. Ortego:
This is in response to your letter dated February 18, 2020. We appreciate the offer and would like to accommodate your request for an in-person meeting at White Mesa in San Juan County, as you have suggested, to discuss, in general terms, issues relating to cultural resources. Given current schedules, the soonest we are able to schedule an in-person meeting at White Mesa would be
during the April 28-30th timeframe. It would take us a day to travel there and then we would like
to meet the next morning, if possible. We would like to make sure that Christopher Merritt, PhD, is available to attend such a meeting, since the State Historical Preservation Office (SHPO) is responsible for addressing the substantive issues relating to cultural resources. Please let us know how those dates may work with your group. If those dates don’t work, we suggest setting up a
phone call to set an acceptable schedule.
In the meantime, however, we want to be in a position to complete the amendment process for License Condition 9.7 for Radioactive Material License No. UT1900479. As we understand the situation, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the United States National Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and the Utah SHPO are working towards a formal termination of the
previous Memorandum of Agreement. We do not know when that will be completed. We are concerned about a potential regulatory gap. Based on these considerations, we have started the official public comment period, which started on February 21, 2020 and ends on March 23, 2020. If you have specific comments on the proposed amendment, we invite you to submit them during the formal public comment period. The proposed language is identical to what was sent to you in
a January 21, 2020 letter.
(Over)
DRC-2020-004042
We would also like to point out that on July 31, 2019, the Division and other representatives of the
State of Utah engaged with the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe in what the Division found to be a helpful and productive, in-person meeting and consultation regarding cultural resource issues associated with the White Mesa Mill. This consultation was in response to the Division’s invitation to the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe dated November 15, 2017. At that time the cultural resource issues
contained in condition 9.7 were discussed at length. One of the matters addressed during that
consultation was the concept of a Memorandum of Agreement as between the Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe relating to consultation processes. This is something still under consideration by the Division
In order to make an in-person meeting as productive as possible, we recommend working towards
a detailed meeting agenda. Since there are issues and questions you would like to cover we would suggest that you propose a draft agenda for the meeting. Because of the limited available time and that a SHPO representative will be present during the meeting, please limit the agenda to items regarding cultural resources.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss this matter further, please call Phil Goble at [phone].
Sincerely,
Ty L. Howard, Director Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control
TLH/bfr/prg
cc: Christopher Merritt, SHPO (Email) Larry Echohawk, Utah AG’s Office
Shirlee Silversmith, Director Division of Indian Affairs
Phil Goble, Utah Department of Environmental Quality, UDWMRC Bret Randall, Utah Attorney General’s Office Manuel Heart, UMUT Tribal Chairman Malcolm Lehi, UMUT Tribal Council (Email) Travis Knight, UMUT Tribal Preservation Officer (Email)
Nichol Shurack, UMUT (Email) Scott Clow, UMUT (Email)