CMA was pleased to introduce Evan Wilson, Field Coordinator at the Department of the Interior, to the CMA membership. Wilson, a political appointee of the Trump Administration, specifically troubleshoots regulatory issues at the Bureau of Land Management and acts as a liaison between the Department’s staff in Colorado and the Department’s leadership in Washington D.C. CMA looks forward to visiting next year with new Colorado BLM State Director Jamee Connell as she takes office.
Ginny Brannon, Director of the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety, was joined by Russ Means, Program Manager of the Minerals Program, to provide an update of the Division’s activities. Items discussed included a summary of the presentation the Division staff made to the Mined Land Reclamation Board (MLRB) regarding an update to the Division’s Reclamation Cost Estimate. The Division staff continues to make adjustments to these estimates to reflect the cost of remediating a mine site if an operator fails to do so.
Russ Means described the Division’s proposed draft rule changes it plans to ask the MLRB to consider making to the hardrock program. Please see the attached outline of the rule changes, many are editorial or grammatical changes. Perhaps the largest change covers the regulation of “custom milling”, an activity previously currently covered by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. View the Rule Making PowerPoint here.
CMA Board member Mark Chalmers of Energy Fuels provided a brief update of the excitement building around a stronger market for vanadium in southwestern Colorado. Also discussed was the “232 Petition” which CMA endorsed, encouraging the Trump Administration to investigate whether foreign counties were conducting unfair trade practices that discourage uranium production in America.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Dianna Orf briefed the committee on the TENORM Stakeholder process at the Department of Public Health and Environment. A contractor has been hired to prepare a report of TENORM in Colorado. Information about the contractor’s work can be found here:
