Dept. of Environmental Quality allows increased arsenic levels by Pinyon Plain Mine

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) approved a change on Monday, July 6, to the allowable levels of arsenic in a groundwater monitoring well at the Pinyon Plain uranium mine near Grand Canyon National Park, despite the objections of the Havasupai Tribe.

Energy Fuels Resources Inc, the mine’s owner, requested an amendment to the mine’s Aquifer Protection Permit that would increase the maximum allowable arsenic content in the monitoring well by 10%, from 0.050 milligrams per liter (mg/L) to 0.055 mg/L. The company also sought to raise the “alert” threshold from 0.040 mg/L to 0.050 mg/L, an increase of 25%.