A corporation, Energy Fuels, Inc., is moving full speed ahead with plans to construct a uranium processing mill in the West End of Montrose County. If constructed, this would be the first new uranium mill built in the US in a generation. It’s operation would make west Montrose, San Miguel and Mesa Counties, as well as the entire West Slope’s highway system, host to an industry that presents an intrinsic public health threat. In fact, the nuclear industry is still paying medical claims and survivor benefits at the same time it resists cleaning up the many thousands of sites with uranium and processing wastes. Unfortunately, some decision makers on the West Slope welcome the industry, stating flatly the nuclear industry is safe.
A surprising element in recent efforts to promote the nuclear industry are pitches by a handful of high-profile “environmentalists” who are enthusiastic about the nuclear industry. Perhaps the best known in recent big media reporting is Patrick Moore, identified as a Greenpeace activist. It turns out Moore is a flak for hire, a corporate media consultant skilled at greenwash. I didn’t know his actual background when I heard him on NPR within the past two weeks.
Below is a link to a piece from Public Citizen about Patrick Moore and his efforts in Texas.
