Green River Overlook, Canyonlands NP, looking to the east 30 min before sunset. (me)
Welcome to Sunday OND, tonight's edition of the daily feature. The Overnight News Digest crew consists of founder Magnifico, regular editors jlms qkw, Bentliberal, wader, Oke, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir and ScottyUrb, guest editors maggiejean and annetteboardman, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent.
I returned from a long weekend in Moab, Utah, less than 24 hours ago and took 122 photos, according to my camera and flickr.com. News articles tonight will be Utah-centric, in contrast with last week, and Moab-specific. I will also bounce around some favorite news sites in the country.
I will post other photos in comment replies if I can't find an appropriate place for them in the diary. Hint: make comments ;-)
SPECIAL MOAB, UTAH SECTION
Now that Energy Fuels has 100 percent ownership in two small uranium mines in southern Utah, the company is ready to start the permitting process to open them.
The Toronto-based company, which proposes to build the Piñon Ridge uranium mill in Paradox Valley, Colo., now owns the Sage Plain properties, which contains the Plain and the Calliham mines. The property is located 15 miles northwest of Monticello. The deal’s completion was announced Oct. 2, and it means that Energy Fuels’ former partner, Australian-based Aldershot Resources, no longer owns its 50 percent share of the mines. The deal also includes some uranium mines and properties in Arizona.
Energy Fuels is sole owner of two Utah uranium mines
With the start of the permitting process, some concerns still linger about the mines’ impact and condition. Program Director of Moab-based Uranium Watch, Sarah Fields, said the mines have never been properly reclaimed, and reopening them could create issues with surrounding property owners.
“The Sage mine is on BLM land and should have had a notice of intent and a plan of operations, but it never did,” Fields said. “According to BLM regulations, it should have had BLM oversight — now [the BLM] is unsure about what to do.”
The Canadians are coming! The Canadians are coming!
On a previous uranium mining operation:
DOE Superfund Site
Certainly one of the most scenic Superfund sites. I tried to clue my kids in to the history, reminding them of the nuclear weapon development during and after WW2 (like in Indiana Jones Crystal Skull) and the Cold War.
I also showed them the OSHA sign and the safe days, and we talked about worker safety in general, and the opening scene of "Super 8" in particular.
It's right there, on the north edge of Moab, and hundreds of people drive past it every single day. Millions since it was dumped there. And it took decades and changing political events for any cleanup to even be started. The guard is very nice.
Layoffs planned at local mines
Forty Energy Fuels employees will be laid off from the firm’s Beaver, Daneros and Pandora mines in southeast Utah, the company announced Thursday.
Layoffs at Beaver and Daneros will be effective the end of this month. Employees at Pandora will likely continue working until January or February, Energy Fuels spokesman Curtis Moore said.
“That’s up in the air because the resource is depleted in that mine,” he said of Pandora. “We think it will be depleted in our second fiscal quarter of 2013.”
The Pandora and Beaver mines are near La Sal. Daneros is 40 miles west of Blanding, about four or five miles south of Fry Canyon.
The layoffs result from low uranium prices, Moore said.
So the company from the first story is consolidating ownership, yet laying off workers due to low uranium prices. Puzzling to me. Also, all these extractive industries have such dreadful side effects. Owners making so much more money than the people who do the actual work. Separating the desired material from the stuff it's attached to. By-products and waste products and tailings.
Right in the middle of things like this:
Colorado River, Moab, Utah, east of Lions Park.
Colorado Overlook, Dead Horse Point State Park
CONFLICT
IGTNT: A Final Salute to Two Special Ops Sergeants And a Naval Commander
HERE IN UTAH
Utah couple stung by insurance policy’s fine print
Jeff Riehl couldn’t catch his breath and figured he had pneumonia, but was surprised to learn his right lung had collapsed.
It happened twice, once in 2010 and again in 2011. The cause of his spontaneous pneumothorax: unexplained bubbles of air that would explode and increase pressure in his chest.
The 51-year-old father of three, an avid skier and non-smoker, has long since recovered from surgery to remove the problem-causing fourth of his lung. But only recently did he settle the $60,000 hospital bill.
The surgeon was in network, but the hospital was out of network. But the nearest in-network hospital was an orthopedic center. Everyone's new favorite newspaper, The Salt Lake Tribue (Endorses Obama, OMG OMG), has a series of these health care insurance nightmare stories in a sidebar for a special feature).
Utah girl dies after being buried in sand dune
A Santa Clara girl died Saturday, a day after she was found buried in a pile of sand at Snow Canyon State Park.
Whitney Webb, 15, died at Primary Children’s Medical Center, spokeswoman Bonnie Midget confirmed Saturday night.
Webb was buried in the sand for a few minutes Friday afternoon before she was discovered by her family, but it was long enough to cause her to stop breathing. Family and other bystanders dug her out and started CPR. A helicopter flew her to Dixie Regional Medical Center, where doctors were able to restore her pulse, but she remained in critical condition and was taken to Primary Children’s.
This is utterly tragic.
AROUND THE COUNTRY
Native American tribal court disputed in fight over Grand Canyon skywalk bridge
The jurisdiction of a Native American tribal court was challenged Friday by the developer of a popular glass bridge over the Grand Canyon who has been locked in a multi-million dollar contract dispute with an Arizona-based tribe.
David Jin's lawyer, Troy Eid, told a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the Las Vegas businessman should not have to fight his legal battles in the Hualapai tribal court system, saying it lacks authority to hear the case.
Eid also said the tribal court is not giving his client a fair shot to protect his financial stake.
Jeffrey Gross, an attorney for the tribe, denied the allegations and told the panel that Jin signed a contract allowing the operation of the Skywalk to be governed by Hualapai law. Gross argued that Jin first must exhaust his legal options in tribal court before turning to federal courts.
Coming election could signal shift in opposition to Yucca Mountain
For decades, Nevada’s federal and statewide elected officials have had a seemingly uniform mantra on Yucca Mountain and nuclear waste in the state: Hell no. End of conversation.
But November’s election could change that, both proponents of Yucca Mountain and those ardently opposed say. On the ballot this year are three Republican congressional candidates — two of whom are in tight races — open to some form of research or reprocessing at the site.
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Indeed, Thompson acknowledged the most powerful force blocking Yucca Mountain is the Senate majority leader from Nevada.
“Until Harry Reid is no longer in power, it doesn’t matter how many congressmen we elect who are pro- or anti-nuclear reprocessing,” she said.
Junior Seau: Bitter endgame
When Junior Seau retired from the NFL in January 2010, he had high hopes and lofty dreams for the next phase of his life. He was looking forward to living in his Oceanside beachfront home, surfing, running on the beach, spending time with his four children, playing golf with his friends and mastering the ukulele. He was planning to improve Seau’s, his Mission Valley restaurant, and to bolster his Junior Seau Foundation. He also thought he might try broadcasting or coaching.
“If anyone was well prepared for the transition, I thought it was Junior Seau,” said Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon, a member of his foundation board. “He had a great foundation that had been in place for years. He had a business that at one time had been successful. I thought he was in pretty good shape.”
But he wasn’t in good shape. In the months to come, Seau’s trademark smile would mask a man rapidly unraveling. Outside of the NFL’s spotlight, what emerged was a life marked by depression, drinking, prescription drugs, gambling, financial woes, sexual escapades and strained relationships.
About this series
Over the past five months, author and journalist Jill Lieber Steeg conducted dozens of interviews with Junior Seau’s family, friends, past and present NFL owners, general managers, coaches, public relations staff, teammates and players, foundation board members, business and financial associates, and other sources, including gambling, concussion and mental health experts.
Interviews took place in person in San Diego, Oceanside and Las Vegas, and by phone and email. Additional reporting came from a review of legal documents, including divorce papers, child support claims, the John W. Gillette, Jr. grand theft and forgery case, a domestic violence complaint, 911 call transcripts and Seau’s autopsy report.
Jenn's note: This looks nearly book-length extensive.
The clock struck ten, my time is up, my mouse is crazy. Will get this posted and return soon, I hope, after cleaning my mouse.