Steady there caped wonder, I am carrying no one's water. I suggest you read "Power to Save the World - The Truth About Nuclear Energy."

You seem to think that because I'm for nuclear power I must be part of some sinister conspiracy. Yeah, me, the mine owners, the property owners, the EPA, NRC, TCEQ, RRC, Rick Perry, and he11 who evers left - yeah, we're all in on it.

Never mind the sound and proven science behind ISR mining - naw let's all believe the hysterical ranting by the anti-nuclear activists. They are the ones that got us in our current position where about 50% of our power generation is from coal.

rollinstone,

I don't know, and have no way of knowing, if you are getting paid by the uranium company to haul their water. If you aren't getting paid, you should, they are hiring everyone in the area that will shill for them. Personally, I have much higher personal standards and I am genuinely interested in the welfare of the community I live in. I also have an economic interest in my ground water not becoming poisoned and contaminated by uranium mining in Goliad County.

Yeah, let's stop ISR mining for uranium even though it has never harmed an aquifer or harmed a single person, NOT a single person. Let's just become more dependent on coal, it's such a clean fuel.

That mercury, SO2, CO2 released into the atmosphere, why who cares? Those heavy metals, some that are radioactive in the ash - who cares about that, he11 I don't.

But wait, they can make coal clean by compressing, condensing and injecting the CO2 into the ground. Boy that's a great idea and cheap to do I bet.

Can't wait for my electrical bill made by "clean" coal. You know I guess there may be a few really big earth quakes generated by injecting CO2 into the ground, but he11 who cares, right?

But if some people get upset about using coal - they already are - why he11 we don't need no stinking electricity.

omg Barquet is a lawyer? Shoulda guessed that one.

A couple of years ago, I was shocked to accidentally find out about a proposed uranium mine just across Coleto Creek from our home. So, I attempted to make the public aware and to get them to educate themselves. I see now that some people were listening, just not responding. Thank you, Sidney, for showing your true colors and getting all these people up in arms.

Would the Advocate do another poll today? I wonder what the results would be now as opposed to a couple of years ago.

The stage is set. The Contested Case Hearing is in early January. Will TCEQ and EPA side with the masses or with a chosen few? The scale has obviously tipped to one side. We shall see.

With any luck, CNN will be here for the hearing.

Thank y'all for listening.

Poisoning the water supply of the general population is the act of a terrorist by anyone's definition.

Dear Mr. Braquet. Another definition of terrorism is: terrorist - a radical who employs terror or other means as a weapon; usually organizes with other people in a small cell for political, religious, or other like reasons to achieve singular goals that may be harmful.

Mr. B you and your small group on youtube are the terrorists, not the residents of Goliad and Victoria. We are in mass saying NO!!!

I viewed the youtube video. First why are they afraid not to give their names? Second they disabled comments. Why? They know they are telling lies.

And stupid...why my cattle drink the water and the grass is green not brown. I could really think of some bad responses. First you can't see radiation poisoning dummy if it is at the celluar and mitochondria level. OMG what dumb dumb dumb statements--totally ignorant. And a scientist's statement.

Can google so many military, medical, and other research reports at how bad uranium is. Yeah it is heavy, so heavy it settles in the bone, brain, and kidneys. Duh....

And 10 miles a year, heck that ain't much--it won't get to Victoria very quickly. Are these people that stupid.

How much are they getting paid? Really how much is the uranium company paying them?

rollinstone,

At every plant alive there has been some type of spill whether the public or authorities knew about it. That is is also why there are deadzones across the US.

So you stop it by NOT doing it in the first place. We are not fools looking for fools gold and killing our children and our children's children like so many want to do. And trust me it SH## HAPPENS.

I have too many dead and poisoned relatives from near here from uranium poisoning to EVER change my mind. We were always told the foul smell and the yellow water was just sulfur. The companies lied. and lied. while people died and died. They don't even exist to fight. There are two generations gone.

The regulatory agencies and the mining companies have explained that they cannot restored the "mined area" to exactly the same pre-mined quality. They have stated this over and over - in fact the law does not require them to do that.

The water prior to mining is not fit to drink because it contains uranium, radium and radon to name a few. After mining that will still be true. The water in the mine travels extremely slow around 10 feet per year more or less. The reducing conditions outside the mine area stops any migration of heavy metals, that's why there is an ore body there to begin with.

During the mining operation the monitor wells are there to detect an excursion. These excursions when they do occur are also traveling at the same slow rate, even less depending on the direction. It's not like it's a panic situation.

From what I read the spills that do occur in the mining operation do not pose a hazard because the metals combine with clays in the soil and do not become airborn. The metals are also extremely dilute in the mining solution (parts per million). And finally the contaminated soil is dug up and properly disposed of.

But given how sensitive this issue is in the public's mind the mining companies should not be having spills. A few shutdowns by the regulators will get some butt's kick and the spills and failure to follow procedures will end.

Weel, lets get down to basics. How is UEC going to clean up the water when it becomes contaminated. I know all about test wells and precautions to prevent contamination. But when the water becomes contaminated, how are they going to restore it to the level of daily personal usages? That is the question, not how safe it is and how much money they can make. How do they intend to restore the water to a level of personal usage for drinking and etc.

The author of this guest column may also be viewed and heard here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vewR-9...

The people who write letters, make commercials for, and in other way's propagandize for the uranium company are modern day Judas equivalents. They betray every citizen of Goliad and Victoria counties by selling their mineral estate to their land for uranium mining. They jeopardize everyone else in the area. Uranium mining is unlike any other mining activity, period. Unlike a gravel pit that merely presents an eyesore, uranium mining poisons subtractively the entire area. These people make a pact with the devil by becoming spokesmen for the deal. One of the same people who now act as spokesperson for poisoning our aquifer was quite vehement in her objection to I-69 coming anywhere near her property, vowing to stand in front of any bulldozer that came on her property.

For the record the mining done in South Texas prior to 1980 was surface mining not ISR mining.

From: http://files.usgwarchives.net/tx/karn...

Fort Collins CO writes about Goliad and quotes Braquet. He failed to mention there that he did not live in Goliad....He said Goliad residents should not fall victim to misinformation
and fear.

Sidney Braquet, an attorney who owns land in Goliad and also supports UEC, said his family’s roots in the county go back to the 1800s and he wouldn’t jeopardize his family land.

"There are risks involved in all aspects of life," he said of their
concerns.

He also talked about the potential growth of nuclear power.

"Why not use what south Texas has to offer to reduce our reliance on
foreign sources for our energy future?" he said.

A few clapped for Arnecke and Braquet, but most of those who asked questions and read formal statements opposed the company's effort.

Okay anyone in Goliad, do you know this family?

Not to dwell on your family's personal tradegy, but how near to the mine did your relatives live? How did they become exposed to the uranium? Did their land contain an underground deposit of uranium? Was their well water contaminated with radium or radon?

I'm just not certain you can blame it on the mining, it may be due to geography.

In the case of the Nebraska operation it sounds like the monitor wells did their job - they alarmed the excursion. But rather than fine them the regulators should have shut the mine down.

Rollinstone....yes the cancers of many family members and the deformed babies are in my family near a local uranium mine. So I can be as po'd as I want at the needless deaths that line our family cemetary.

Mr. Barquet (pronounced Bar-K) does not live here, drink here, nothing. So have him tell the truth. Just what is on that land. An old house? Dead parents? Cattle that go to market?

I ask still again, can we get a warrant to have the cattle checked if he is still running a ranch. Or is this all an ag write-off.

Ask him why an Industrial School closed in the 1980s acts like it is active but from his address? He says they give scholarships of $50K a year for at least the last 19 years. And one of the scholarships went to a politician's son. And he is pals with another politicial in Houston. No he will never live in Goliad.

He also has a page on Facebook. Not much on family.

Rollinstone yes it does Man makes mistakes everytime he tries to screw with the earth when he is greedy!!!

Little do you know that that the author of this rant about hating the Goliad residents!!!

Chicagirl: No this man does not live in Goliad. DUH. Does he drink the water? NO. Now supposedly he has a sister there. Don't know name or anything. Maybe he will fess up. Probably parents are dead. Bro and Sis just have the land as a tax write off. Wonder what parents died of? Wonder if she really lives here either. But here are some really true facts about him that he failed to tell you: He is an attorney in HOUSTON!!! Now for the sake of disclosure I have a house in Houston and Victoria. Right now I am selling the house in Houston for good and saying good bye to the city madness. But I sure as heck don't want Uranium in my water well!!

Call him and let him know how you feel. Or email him as a fellow area resident sent he sent an open letter. Sidney J. Braquet
Braquet Law Firm
Houston Office
1324 Cortlandt Street, No. 1
Houston, Texas 77008-4294
713.863.9333 Office
713.426.0007 Fax

Here is his website:www.braquetlawfirm.com

I am one of those concerned citizens (terrorists) of Goliad county. Mr. Braquet, in the UEC application for mining, they have indicated that they will provide monitoring wells around each injection site - 400 feet apart. They have stated that the waters in which they are intending to extract the uranium is projected to move 8 feet a year. Do the math: 8 feet a year to get to 400 feet means that in 50 years, you (or your descendents) will know whether you have been poisoned or not. How old are you? Do you even live on this property? We do live on our property and we don't intend to have to worry about that for our sakes or our grandchildrens' sakes. You want to know about in-situ mining? Go down to Kingsville where those folks are still left with a mess after URI folded their tents and left in the dead of night, so to speak. Talk to people in Karnes County about their problems. Here's the deal: this is an unconfined aquifer. UEC states that basically they only want a "corner" of this unconfined aquifer in which to extract uranium. To quote another "terrorist" here in Goliad county: this is like trying to carve out a "pissing" corner in a swimming pool. You haven't done a tenth, no make that a hundredth of the research that the people of Goliad county have done to protect their water and their rights to safe water. Do you think we all just woke up one morning and said, "Oooh, somebody other than us is getting to make a boatload of money by leasing to the uranium company. Let's ruin those people's chances of making money by putting the skids on the uranium company." I am assuming you are aware that not only Goliad county, but Victoria county and counties east and south-east of this mess are dependent on the same aquifer. And please don't insult my intelligence by stating that your water comes out of a pipe; therefore, you don't have to worry about this. All you people out there in those counties better be aware of what can happen to your water sources if the uranium company is successful. We have asked for a contested case hearing and we got it. It is our forum to prove our case. We have looked at both sides of this issue for 3 years and the fact is that UEC cannot prove this is a safe method to extract uranium, meaning that they won't leave us with a horrendous mess to clean up next year or 5 years from now or 10 years from now. Our concerned citizens have had meeting after meeting to show the people of this county what they can look forward to. UEC hasn't provided squat in the form of a public forum to show their side, other than conning people like you into supporting their position.

This is the kind of thing that happens at these kind of mines:
License Violations at Crow Butte ISL uranium mine (Nebraska)
April 17, 2009: Production well fails 5-year mechanical integrity test
June 4, 2008: Exceedance of Well Head Manifold Pressure Limitations
May 31, 2008: Monitor well placed on excursion status
May 23, 2008: $50,000 penalty imposed for violations
May 19, 2008: Monitor well placed on excursion status
April 29, 2008: Five-year mechanical integrity test missed for 42 wells
September 26, 2006: Monitor well placed on excursion status
May 5, 2006: leak detected at Pond 4
January 19, 2006: Monitor well placed on excursion status
October 27, 2005: Injection well leak detected
August 4, 2005: Monitor well placed on excursion status
June 28, 2005: Monitor well placed on excursion status
June 17, 2005: Monitor well placed on excursion status
May 2, 2005: Monitor well placed on excursion status
May 14, 2004: leak detected at Pond 1
December 23, 2003: Monitor well placed on excursion status
December 26, 2002: Monitor well placed on excursion status
September 10, 2002: Monitor well placed on excursion status
April 4, 2002: Monitor well placed on excursion status
December 4, 2001: Monitor well placed on excursion status
March 2, 2001: Monitor well placed on excursion status
September 10, 2000: Monitor well placed on excursion status
May 26, 2000: Monitor well placed on excursion status
April 27, 2000: Monitor well placed on excursion status
March 6, 2000: Monitor well placed on excursion status
July 2, 1999: Monitor well placed on excursion status
August 7, 1998: Spill of 10,260 gallons of injection fluid
March 21, 1998: Monitor well placed on excursion status
August 12, 1997: Discovery of Pinhole Leaks in Upper Liner of Process Water Evaporation Pond

If "Terrorism is defined as the use of terror or intimidation to achieve an end; to coerce or overpower by fear. " Then u have defined UEC, who threatened the Duderstadts with continued legal action and potential litigation to recover UEC's legal costs.

How's THAT for terrorism?

Catohula, does any of this have anything to do with modern ISR mining? The answer is no it doesn't. It has to do with unregulated mining of many metals on or before ca 1965.

I can tell you as many horror stories about coal mining, coal power generation and waste disposal.

There are hundreds of mines in the West that are polluting streams, as there are hundreds of coal mines both above and below the surface that are doing the same thing.

The fact remains that no one has been harmed by a modern ISR uranium mine in the United States. What you cite has nothing to do with modern ISR uranium mining.

Many of the claims you cite have also been disputed by modern studies - see "Power to Save the World" by G. Cravens

Finally an ISR mine cannot cause an earth quake. It removes only a small portion of the minerals compared to an oil well. Secondly what's removed is only a few hundred feet below ground. It is not large enough or deep enough to cause a fault to shift.

The following happened above ground and then below ground. Mining styles may change but now imagine when the slurries back flush into our water tables or the existing watershed. Source: The Navajo Times July 23, 2009. The families are still remembering and nobody did anything, after all it was just the reservation I guess back then…
Indians were still not considered in many cases to receive equal treatment in Colorado or Nebraska and Other states (personal interview with banker of large National Bank for that area). Do we want Victoria or Goliad to be a reflection of this story? We'd better stand up and say Heck NO!

It was about 6:30 a.m. when Church Rock Chapter Vice President Robinson Kelly heard water roaring in the Puerco River near his home and, simultaneously, smelled the "foulest" odor he could ever recall. Kelly was up early to get ready for work at the now-closed Kerr-McGee uranium mine in Church Rock.
After he finished dressing, it was his usual routine to go outside and let the horses out of the corral.
Like most of his neighbors, Kelly and his in-laws, Robert and Marie Craig, had livestock.
But that morning, July 16, 1979, his uncle told him to keep the horses in the corral.
Kelly went to the "Puerky," which in modern times has been more of an arroyo than a river, rarely running with water. But that day, it was filled to overflowing with rushing water.
He remembers looking at the sky and seeing no rain clouds. He also remembers the color of the water.
"It was yellowish," Kelly said. "I didn't know what was going on but it was an ugly feeling. I went to work and found out the dam broke."

The dam impounded the tailings at United Nuclear Corp.'s uranium mill. And when it failed, it released 1,100 tons of milling waste and 94 million gallons of wastewater - all radioactive - into the Puerco, eventually contaminating 80 miles of streambed. It remains the single largest release of radioactive material in U.S. history, and its effect on the health of the area's people and animals has yet to be measured by any government or private entity.

Part 1.5 still too large. Start at Part 1

On July 16, 2009, Kelly was among more than 150 people who commemorated the 30th anniversary of the spill with a day of activities organized by the Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment, a group of Native and other nonprofit organizations concerned about the effects of uranium development, the Crownpoint office of the tribe's Special Diabetes Project, and the chapters of Church Rock and Coyote Canyon.
The day began with a prayer and wellness walk, and ended with the showing of two films about the 60-year legacy of uranium mining and milling on the Navajo Nation.

Kelly recalled that his uncle died of "cancer of the foot" a few years ago, which he believes was the result of wading through the acidic, radioactive effluent in the Puerco to gather up the family's sheep.
It took until noon for the water level to drop enough for his uncle to cross the river. Like many of the local residents including children and elders who entered the water that day, his uncle later developed blisters and sores on his feet and legs.

Kelly's father worked as a uranium miner in Ouray, Colo., and the family lived next to the mine, he recalled. His father eventually died from lung cancer, he said, and his mother-in-law, also a Church Rock resident, died of cancer as well.

"So I have to be here, beside you, to support you," Kelly told the walkers as they paused near the old Church Rock mine operated by Kerr-McGee. The cleanup of the nearby mill is still bogged down in disagreement between UNC and federal regulators.

The route of the wellness walk offered a condensed look at the effects of uranium development in the area. It began at the residence of Teddy Nez, located between two hills made of uranium tailings, as finely ground as Saharan sand. When the wind blows, the tailings are spread over everything in the vicinity.

Part two of a story about a Uranium mine and disasters to the community. Start at part one.

As Nez's neighbor Annie Benally, 51, started walking, she recalled that she was 8 or 9 years old when she first saw exploration teams driving around the area in their big trucks, looking for places to drill test holes. Benally, whose labored breathing turned into wheezing, stopped walking and took out an inhaler. She, like many of the residents near the tailings, suffers from shortness of breath.
"This all began when they discovered uranium (in the Church Rock area)," Benally said as she looked at the hill of tailings and wiped perspiration from her forehead. Before the walkers reached the end of Nez's entry road, she stopped again and made the rest of the trip in the sag wagon that was following the walkers.
Unexamined consequences
The walk ended at the ranch of Larry King, another former Kerr-McGee employee. He recalled that two weeks before the disaster, he walked along the tailings impoundment and measured cracks in it that were large enough to put his feet in.
He did not realize then the threat they posed, he said.
King also noted that the Kerr-McGee mine routinely discharged water into the Puerco behind Nez's home. The water came from the mine, which would have flooded if not for the continual pumping. It flowed cool and clear for a short way down the river before disappearing into the sand of the riverbed, providing drinking water for livestock and wildlife both.
It was years before anybody thought about whether the discharge might also be radioactive.
But in 1994, the U.S. Geological Survey released the findings of a four-year study under the title, "Radioactivity in the environment: a case study of the Puerco and Little Colorado River basins, Arizona and New Mexico."
It confirmed that Kerr-McGee and other mines discharged radioactive water into the Puerco between 1960 and 1962 and 1968 and 1986.
While the study's overall conclusion was that radioactivity was naturally occurring in the area, and not caused by mining activities, it said a narrow zone of ground water beneath the Puerco River contained elevated uranium concentrations.
"The highest concentrations were nearest the mines and in samples collected in the first few feet beneath the streambed," said a summary of the study published on the USGS Web site at http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/usgspubs/wri/...

Part 3 of a three part story. Start at the top.

King recalled that a few years back, the community was putting in waterlines when he began to smell the familiar, abrasive odor of the mill effluent as workers dug into the earth.
When they reached a depth of 14 feet, the smell grew stronger and vertical streaks of yellow, "like the color of the T-shirts that everyone is wearing," were visible in the soil, he said.
The T-shirts handed out to participants at the spill commemoration were the color of yellowcake - uranium oxide - the product of the mill. Tony Hood, who designed the commemorative T-shirts, said he lives at "ground zero."
Hood explained that his maternal grandparents live west of the spill and his paternal grandparents live south of the old Church Rock mine.
"This whole place was my playground," he said.
Hood remembers when the geologist arrived in the late '60s and began testing for uranium. "They were all over the place desecrating burial sites," he said.
At the time there were no paved roads to the community of Church Rock, about seven miles south of the mill site, Hood recalled. But when he returned from college in 1993, there were highways in the area and a local uranium boom was in full swing.
Hood got a job as an engineering technician at the Kerr-McGee mine and worked there for 11 years.
He learned that Kerr-McGee had been pumping water out of its uranium mine for about 30 years, which "sure impacted the water table" and dried up shallow wells in the area that people relied on for livestock water and sometimes, domestic use too.
Hood now works for the Indian Health Service as a driver/interpreter and he's learned that there's a "lot of cancer popping up" among his relatives, friends and community members.
Hood's father, a former uranium miner, suffers from pulmonary fibrosis. His sisters have lymphoma and his mother died from colon cancer.
But while the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has spent years arguing with UNC over how much contamination is due to the spill, and how much cleanup of it or the old uranium mill is needed, there are no studies examining the health impacts on local residents.
In Hood's mind, there's no doubt about what - and who - caused the health problems he sees around him."The corporations think life is expendable," Hood said. "We don't. Life is sacred."
Sadly, the US Government has documented damage at other spills. But the longer they hold out, all these people will die and they will not have to compensate them. Then the reservation becomes government land again….

Maybe that’s how I got my genetic disease? My mother lived around the Dupont pits. She has been diagnosed with cancer through out her life. Back then we didn't really know anything.

I would hate for any child to have to live, with what I got. I'm lucky, most of those with my rare genetic disease are either in a wheel chair or their body is so tangled up they need constant attention. The worst is also the funniest; my bones are aging faster, ha.

At least that is how it was presented to me, they are becoming more brittle every year or someone my age. I think right now I have the bones of someone in their mid or late 60’s; I’m in my thirties. By the time I’m in my mid forties my bones will be as brittle as some one in their late 90’s.

Maybe it’s just a cruel joke of nature, or maybe it was because my mother lived near the mining pits. Personally, I would be very upset with those people that profited from this if the children start developing genetic defects or cancer because of their actions.

That’s all I’m going to say about this, have a nice day.

My question is Mr. Braquet do you resided on your property in Goliad? Also how much money are you receiving from anyone regarding the mining?

Must comments seem to be from people you are profitting on the mining.

The question I have is what safe gards are there and you is going to pay for a cleanup if something happens. Most businesses have to post a bond to insure there is money to cover this.

How much would it cost for a cleanup?

Read the following. It has only been "in your face" documented since 2006. But as such the study documents the fact tht heavy metal uranium can change your DNA:
The fact that uranium, as a radioactive metal, can damage DNA is well documented in medical journals throughout the world. Don’t believe me, google it. But what Dr, Diane Stearns and her collaborators recently have found is that uranium can also damage DNA as a heavy metal, independent of its radioactive properties. This was announced April 2006.

Stearns and her team are the first to show that when cells are exposed to uranium, the uranium binds to DNA and the cells acquire mutations. When uranium attaches to DNA, the genetic code in the cells of living organisms, it can change that code. As a result, the DNA can make the wrong protein or wrong amounts of protein, which affects how the cells grow. Some of these cells can grow to become cancer.

"Essentially, if you get a heavy metal stuck on DNA, you can get a mutation," Stearns explained. Other heavy metals are known to bind to DNA, but Stearns and her colleagues are the first to identify this trait with uranium. Their results were published recently in the journals Mutagenesis and Molecular Carcinogenesis.

Their findings have far-reaching implications for people living near abandoned mine tailings in the Four Corners area of the Southwest and for war-torn countries and the military, which uses depleted uranium for anti-tank weapons, tank armor and ammunition rounds. Depleted uranium is what is left over when most of the highly radioactive isotopes of uranium are removed.

"The health effects of uranium really haven't been studied since the Manhattan Project (the development of the atomic bomb in the early 1940s). But now there is more interest in the health effects of depleted uranium. People are asking questions now," Stearns said. From: Medical News Today, biochemist Diane Stearns

Rollinstone, radon is coming out of the ground and does cause cancer, if constantly exposed to certain amounts. How homes and buildings are designed, prevents the gas from accumulating to dangerous levels.

Some residents in North Texas already suspect drilling for oil as the culprit for minor earthquakes. What might be the result, if one occurred in South Texas because of extensive uranium mining?

I seriously doubt adequate research has been done, guaranteeing that if a mild earthquake were to occur because of mining, it wouldn’t endanger local watersheds.

Hum?

Yes, rollinstone, it is "naturally occurring" and UNDISTURBED! Disturb it and see what happens to the levels in your water...oh, but wait, it costs $550 (Goliad Discount) to test your well for radionuclides! How many times a year? Four? Don't you get it?

Mr. Braquet where do you get your information? Have read the latest UEC application for a PAA-1 permit. There are numerous mistakes in the data in this application. The worst is that TCEQ approved the draft application with the mistakes. Mr. Braguet, if you think TCEQ is going to protect your water, think again.

The Goliad County Groundwater Conservation District meets twice a month. The first and third Mondays at 5:00 PM. The meetings are public and are posted 72 hours in advance. The GCGCD just met for three hours in a budget workshop. A public hearing will be held to adopt the final budget and the tax rate. It will be a posted, public meeting. Mr. Braquet and the rest of the un-informed people can attend this meeting and see the actual dollar amounts being spent by the GCGCD in attorney fees. The are not a secret at the GCGCD meeting. Mr. Braquet have your ever attended one of these meetings?

The Uranium Research and Advisory Committee to the Goliad County Commissioners Court has met 55 times in the past three years. These are posted, public meetings. Mr. Braquet have you ever attended one of these meetings? Mr. Braquet, if you have not attended any of these meetings and you have not read the actual applications for the four UEC permits, where do you get your information? I can only surmise, that you have obtained your information from UEC or the "Coffey House Data System."

BTW, everyone is breathing radon as we speak er, type. It's coming out of the ground. You can run but you can't hide.

Goliadchica who'd a thunkit. I stand arm and arm on this with you. This is stewardship of our land for our decendents. The VA does not give hoot about decendents, only the balance sheet now and future months. And remember many of the employees no matter how nice, may not be true stewards of Texas but instead use the media for their political and financial stances.

The VicAD has different rules for different people if you want to write about this uranium issue. Pro do not have to document their facts and sources. Cons, they want sources, facts, etc. Then maybe they can steal a story? And what they have written on the uranium issue is so minimal. You ought to research what other city papers have written. The VicAd should be taken behind the wood shed.

Is it natural occurring radium or is it not. If not what does that have to do with uranium mining?

I have read of no one in the United States harmed by uranium mining except the Navajo who got sick from breathing radon gas in underground mine shafts.

I have never seen anything documented about any poisoning associated with the surface mining of uranium in South Texas.

In fact studies have been done that found that there was no correlation between the incidence of cancer and proximity to a uranium mine in the United States. If there had been do you think anyone would be considering mining?

Here's a bone...

Of the 12 wells tested by Victoria County Groundwater Conservation District on and around Upper and Lower Mission Valley Roads, several indicated substantial levels of Radium 228, the immediate daughter of Thorium 232, which can also be used in nuclear energy. These levels slightly exceeded the 5 pCi/L EPA MCL, the highest showing around 6.5 pCi/L. This is on Maguey Road on OUR side of Coleto Creek. Thought y'all might want to know that.

Radium has properties very similar to calcium, so it can easily be removed by an "ion exchange" water softener which simply collects the radium and exchanges it for sodium. 6.5 pCi/L is a very manageable level with an effective water softener. The problem that may occur is concentrated expulsion. In other words, if a family uses 200 gallons of water per day, and a gallon is about three liters, then 600 liters would contain 3,900 picocuries of radium. In ten days, 39,000 picocuries of radium will have collected in the resin. When it is expelled, where is it going? Logic suggests that if it goes into the septic system, then no more radium is being introduced to the septic system than would have occurred over time. However, if the "backwash" is expelled on top of the ground, then an evaporation pond may be formed. Radon gas is the immediate daughter of radium.

So, are the country folks of Victoria County ready to face the facts? If this uranium mine is approved in Goliad County, you can bet your water that it's coming here next. The water here, as slightly contaminated as it may be, is still good as well as the majority of the wells in Goliad County. Can radium be stimulated in your drinking water? Better get educated.

Oh, and Mr. Braquet, I would happily pay more property taxes to fight this battle. I have a feeling it will hurt your pocketbook much more than mine, however. Perhaps that is part of the reason u are against fighting this battle with UEC?

Mark, VicAd may enjoy it but if they are going to be bringing us information instead of hyperbole, they need to balance the coverage with guest columnists who presents both sides, not just the business and $$ interests.

A guest columnist like you or Jim Blackburn or somebody from Kingsville who is not happy with the mining that went on there or the Sierra Club.

How about it VicAd? How DO you select your "Guest Columnist"?

And BTW, how did Kingsville EDC get a guest column in a newspaper 110 miles away?

I'm very curious....

Let's hope he is not selling cattle from water wells on the property. Can we get an injuction and have the cattle and water tested after this blatant attack against anyone who is against the uranium mining.

The VA will not let anyone write a commentary unless they supply all documented scientific facts and a photo. Why was this commentary allowed without this man proving the facts about his water --which one poster was able to disprove rather quickly? Looks like the VA as well as other just like Sidney who receive money if the mining continues don't want the real facts known at all costs.

Well here are some real facts. Go to the road that leads to Gussettville and find out how many are dead with cancer due to the old yellow cake uranium mining. Ask how many birth deformities there have been there and at the homes around those mines. I won't list the names of the families nor the babis lost because of privacy reasons. But uranium poisoning IS REAL. Look how close it is to Coletto Creek. Mr.Sidney J. Braquet is an self-admitted murder of future generations based on actual research on uranium mining and uranium poisoning. Don't take my word for it. Google it and read the facts from ligit places. Also read about the companies like URI and the damage they have already done to Texas and now read who is purchasing their mess and making deals with Kingsville (remember the guy who wrote the comments last week or so)and trying to sell Victoria and Goliad on this. These greedy men and families could be destroying the watershed and tables that drain into Victoria. Pull the arial maps from google and look. Truely scarely.

Again is he growing beef on that land. Can we get a warrant for a DNA check of his family and his cattle and his grass?

Oh boy...

OK, rollinstone, the Braquet well that tested 29 pCi/L radium 226 was the highest of the four, the others being 16,15 and 12 respectively. The Braquet well also tested .002 mg/L total uranium, including U234, U235 and U238, which is about the mean. The uranium in all 45 wells ranged from .001 to .004, with one exception of .009.

The uranium is not what folks are afraid of. Indeed, it is the heaviest of metals but is not that radioactive. Radium 226 is the immediate daughter of uranium 238. It is much more radioactive than it's mother and has properties similar to calcium, which means that it is drawn to childrens' growing bones. It is also not nearly heavy and doesn't precipitate upon contact with hydrogen sulfide. It's radium, selenium, arsenic, molybdenum...the byproducts that are much more threatening. These things can't be seen or tasted either. You have to test your water frequently to even know if they are there.

Chica...the reason that VICAD throws this out here is because they enjoy it. Why not go to work and enjoy your job? I bet Gabe salivates before he gets to work, or hawking the 'puter at night to see what we're saying. I would too. This draws interest and readership and if this were not to happen, "Nobody would know Nothing". With all that aside, Freedom of the Press still does exist. For how long, I don't know.

Kenneth...are you coming or not? I need you out here. You need to see this water.

Rollingstone.....I would rather contend with pot holes than have our DRINKING WATER aquifer contaminated!
Oh, by the way, does anybody know where this Braquet character actually lives, bet its not in Goliad County!

Why is it that the VicAd seems to be a forum for the pro-uranium mining interests? We get articles from Kingsville Economic Development people and landowners that have made big $$$ (extensive exploration). Many of us only care about the water. That's it, end of story. Better safe than sorry when it comes to the lifeblood of the county. No water, no anything. Why take chances with the water?
For $$$? Not good enough.

"Of the 45 private wells tested, only four showed significant signs of radium while seven showed TDS over 1,000. This information is public record and available at the Goliad County Courthouse."

What exactly is your point here? Radium is in the water where ever uranium is present. Are you insinuating that the radium was caused by drilling exploration wells? If so that is nonsense.

I hope this is not going to be tha basis for the the county spending thousands of dollars on legal fees - hello pot holes.

Isn't it amazing how most of the folks in favor of this disaster either have something to gain personally or live and drink water somewhere else or both? BOO!

Calling your friends and neighbors terrorist's is pretty strong language. Just because people are justly worried and have a different opinion than you doesn't make them terrorist's. You clearly have a clouded opinion that is tainted because you have sold your mineral estate to the uranium company and have a big financial stake in the outcome.

Sounds like the so called "Terrorists" know what they are talking about!!!!!

Of the 45 private wells tested and listed in the UEC application, two are labeled "Braquet". One of them reads 29 pCi/L radium 226, the other reading 1370 mg/L TDS. EPA's primary respective MCL's (Maximum Contamination Level) are 5 pCi/L radium and 500 mg/L TDS. In other words, the water from these wells could be construed to be "not safe to drink". What else need be known?

Of the 45 private wells tested, only four showed significant signs of radium while seven showed TDS over 1,000. This information is public record and available at the Goliad County Courthouse.

Also, it's "Goliad County Groundwater Conservation District" or GCGCD.

Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. BOO!