MONTROSE – With their next hearing to consider granting a Special Use Permit for the proposed Piñon Ridge Uranium Mill set for Sept. 30, the Montrose County Commissioners this week restated that they have not already made their minds up on whether to grant the controversial permit. Moreover, a decision may not come at the Sept. 30 meeting because of some information that has recently come to light.

Montrose County Commissioner David White did not provide any specifics on what new information has been brought to the board but told those in attendance at a meeting in Ridgway attended by officials from Montrose, Ouray and San Miguel counties that the issue is so controversial that the county will probably get sued no matter what they decide. It was at the request of the Ouray County Commissioners that the Montrose Commissioners give an update on the status of the proposed uranium mill that, if approved, would be constructed in the Paradox Valley.

“We are finished with the public hearings and we are still taking public comments,” White said. “We will have a work session amongst the commissioners to collate the data and out of that more questions will arise. There is a hearing scheduled for Sept. 30 to make a decision on this but I am not so sure [a decision] is going to happen based on some information that has come our way.

“This is a highly contentious issue on both sides,” White said. “Whatever our decision is, somebody is going to sue us. Either the applicant is going to sue us or Travis Stills [attorney with Durango’s Energy Mineral Law Center] is going to sue us.”

Indeed, the proposed uranium mill had sharply divided the region pitting those who believe the mill would bring a new economic driver to Montrose’s West End against those who believe the mill will be environmentally detrimental and unhealthy for residents in the region.

The mill is being proposed by Energy Fuels Inc., which has stated that the mill will create up to 85 new jobs averaging $40,000 to $75,000 a year plus benefits, and 80 percent of which would come from the local population, would support 200 mining and trucking jobs at nearby mines and would generate tax revenues for public services and infrastructure if realized. The mill would stand adjacent to an open pit uranium mine owned by the Cotter Corporation and in an historic mining district containing hundreds of former uranium mines. If built, it would be the first uranium-processing mill built in the U.S. in close to 30 years.

Montrose Commissioner Gary Ellis took the opportunity on Tuesday to dispel any notion that his board has already in their minds approved the permit.

“Somebody from Placerville wrote a letter and accused us of ramming it through,” Ellis said. “I took exception to that. We have not made our minds up and we are not in a hurry to do this. We are not trying to ram it down anybody’s throat. I think we are doing it very carefully.”

White explained that if the commissioners do approve the special use permit, the state will provide the county with $50,000 to assess the mill’s impacts. Furthermore, if the permit is approved, the applicant will then continue on in a parallel approval process with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, which will also include an environmental assessment.

“That money is not available until we make a decision,” White said, adding that if the commissioners approve the permit and receive the $50,000 for the assessment and that assessment reveals negative impacts, the commissioners will still have the latitude to go back and deny the permit.

“We will do our part and our due diligence,” White said. “If we agree to this and it is approved then it is moved over to [the state’s] arena. I don’t think anybody is taking this lightly and I think everybody wants to do the right thing.”

San Miguel County Commissioner Elaine Fischer said she was both “sympathetic and empathetic” in the what the commissioners face in this decision and that it is “greatly appreciated” that they are allowing people to express their opinions about the proposed mill.