Page 4 - Thursday, June 24, 2010
"WHERE THE KID GOT HIS NAME"
The Sundance Times
Sundance FFA members
attend Wyoming FFA
Leadership Camp
Kellen Wilson and Reed Moore from the Sundance FFA
chapter recently attended the 28 th annual State FFA Leader-
ship Camp. This year's camp consists of two sessions; held
at the Fremont County Youth Camp in Lander, June 16-19
and June 22-26. The theme of this year's camp is "Operation
Lead." Members who attend not only grow through leadership
training, workshops, and group activities, but also as indi-
vidual leaders.
Members join together to take part in the leadership camp,
uniting youth from a majority of chapters in the state. The
camp directors are Toby Lynde, Dan Cannon, Eric Green, and
Court Schilt. Along with the directors additional counselors,
including past and present State Officers, help to conduct the
variety of workshops and activities that take place. Members
not only get the chance to enjoy the camp activities, but also
have the opportunity to learn skills that better themselves and
the people around them. They also have a chance to get to
know each other and the new State Officers on an individual
level. During the week there area workshops covering topics
such as public speaking, self-esteem, motivation, goal setting,
accountability, and cooperation.
Members learn about themselves, their peers, and share in-
novative ways to become more involved in their local chapters,
schools, and communities.
The Wyoming FFA is helping provide strong leaders, lifetime
friendships, and a memorable camp experience through each
person's individual efforts. The Wyoming FFA makes a positive
difference in the lives of students by developing their potential
for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success
through agriculture education.
PLEASE RE-ELECT
JOHN A. MOLINE JR.
for
Crook County Commissioner
I00est00nunn
of Western TIMES
Texas Meatloa!
Submitted by Margaret EIIsbury i
Texas Meatloaf
2 Ibs. ground beef
3A cup oatmeal
½ (;up chopped onion
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire
sauce
½ tsp. pepper
1 egg ½ cup catsup
2 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. salt
Combine all ingredients. Place in glass baking dish. Cook in
ieowave 20 minutes or unlJl done, draining liquid occasionally.
stand five minutes before sewing.
Crook County
CattleWomen Recipes
,o= _ . !
Crook County Land Use Planning &
Zoning Commission
Members preaent: Jeanne Whalen, Chairman, Nels J. Smith,
Vice-Chairman, Ross C. Hawkins, Jan H. Lienemann, Robert
W. Olver
Visitors: Commissioner Chairman John A. Moline, Jr., Joe
Baron, County and Prosecuting Attorney, James A. Miller, In-
dustrial Siting Council, Dennis R. McGirr
Staff: Tim Lyons, Administrator, Fred M. Duncan
Chairman Whalen called the Crook County Land Use Planning
& Zoning Commission to order at 7 p.m., welcomed Commis-
sioner Chairman John Moline, Jr., James A. Miller and new
appointee Dennis R. McGirr to the June meeting and called for
a motion on the agenda.
Adopt the Agenda: Mr. Lienemann moved that the proposed
agenda before the members be adopted as the agenda for the
7 June 2010 Crook County Land Use Planning & Zoning Com-
mission regularly scheduled monthly meeting; Mr. Hawkins
seconded the motion and the motion carried.
Amend the Agenda: Chairman Whalen requested the agenda
be amended to include the MET tower newspaper clipping she
had provided the Growth & Development office.
Mr. Lyons asked the agenda be amended to allow him to make
an administrative announcement regarding mileage reimburse-
ments.
Mr. Hawkins moved the agenda be so amended and adopted as
the agenda for the 7 June 2010 Crook County Land Use Plan-
ning & Zoning Commission meeting. Mr. Lienemann seconded
the motion and the motion carried.
Approval of the Minutes: Mr. Hawkins moved that the min-
utes of 10 May 2010 be approved as presented; Mr. Lienemann
seconded the motion and the motion carried.
New Business: chairman Whalen turned the floor over to Mr.
Miller, member of Wyoming's Industrial Siting Council, for his
presentation on wind energy facilities. Mr. Miller provided the
Crook County Land Use Planning & Zoning Commission mem-
bers his thoughts and feelings based on his experiences as a
member of the Industrial Siting Council.
As background information Mr. Miller pointed out:
• the life of a "wind tower" is 30 years with good maintenance
and rehabilitation; towers and blades are made of compos-
ite materials; state of the art will make today's installation
obsolete far sooner than the 30 year life expectancy; there
is little of salvageable value in a wind energy facility at the
end of 30 years;
• accelerated depreciation results in NO long term tax benefits
to a county;
• wind energy facilities are a secondary source of electricity and
as such they do not generate a 24 hour cash flow;
• wind energy facilities are connected to a power grid, which
may result in large capacity power lines extending from the
wind energy facility substation to a power grid; and
• Landowners, depending on the agreement they enter into, can
experience attractive benefits from wind energy facilities.
Mr. Miller stated cautions that should be observed when deal-
ing with wind energy facilities including:
• The entity entering into an agreement with awind energy facil-
ity organization should have protection in case its project is
abandoned during construction or after construction but be-
fore the life expectancy of the wind energy facility expires;
• an entity entering into an agreement with a wind energy fa-
cility organization should have some type of "performance"
bond from day one;
• PROTECT THE BLACK HILLS; ....................
• do no,t rein.vent the wheel, counties in WyOming have devel-
oped regulations which do protect counties; and
• governmental entities must have regulations in place before_
someone decides to put a wind energy facility in a govern-
mental entities jurisdiction; if regulations are adopted and
enforced a governmental entity cannot protect the health,
safety and welfare of its constituents.
Mr. Miller invited the Crook County Land Use Planning &
Zoning Commission members to the Industrial Siting Council
meeting 13 July in Wright (Wright Hotel, 350 Reata Road, 8:30
a.m.) for the TPW Reno Junction, LLC hearing (100 turbines to
generate 150 megawatts of electricity).
Other Business: chairman Whalen asked Mr. Baron if Crook
County had stated any plans are for the Black Hills National
Forest Travel management Plan, Mr. Baron stated he had not
received any communications from Crook County in this regard.
The Crook County land Use Planning & Zoning Commission did
not take any further action regarding the Travel Management
Plan.
Mr. Lyons informed the members of the Crook County Land Use
Planning & Zoning Commission the county would not pay mile-
age in 2010 for travel to the monthly meetings. All 2009/2010
mileage reimbursements vouchers must be submitted to the
Growth & Development office no later than 24 June 2010.
Board of County Commissioners Meeting Report: Chairman
Whalen summarized Steve Kozel's announcement that firewood
in the tornado area is free for the next three months and the
exploration for rare earth minerals the Bear lodge Mountains
will be undertaken by Rare Element Resources Ltd.
Chairman Whalen adjourned the meeting at 9:17 p.m. by ac-
clamation.
Mr. Smith requested the Crook County Land Use Planning &
Zoning Commission meet in Executive session, members Whalen,
Smith and Olver attended the executive session.
Chairman Whalen resumed the Comprehensive Planning ses-
sion at 9:40 p.m.
Chairman Whalen explaining the workings and projects the
Crook County Land Use Planning & Zoning Commission was
involved in to Messr. McGirr and Olver.
Chairman Whalen adjourned the meeting at 9:50 p.m.
Next Meeting: 12 July 2010, 7 p.m., Jury Room (reserved),
Crook County Courthouse, Sundance, Wyoming.
Your website address is: www.crookcounty.wy.gov
Submitted by Timothy R. Lyons, Growth g Development Administrator
I
[
I
Uranium
roundtable Q & A
Editor's note: The following is the first In a multi-
part series of questions and answers provided
by members of the expert panel recently held in
Sundance. The questions presented were asked by
members of the audience following the discussion
but were not answered during the roundtable due to
time constraints.
The following questions were directed to Stephen J.
Cohen, Team Leader - New Facility Licensing, Office
of Federal and State Materials and Environmental
Management Programs, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
QUESTION: Are the uranium companies "required" to
send a letter of intent to apply, or is that just something
that is expected, as a courtesy to the NRC?
ANSWER: We have no requirement to send in a letter
of intent; however, we regularly request them, as well as
updates, to help prepare our budget estimates. Without
letters of intent, we cannot estimate the number of ap-
plications we will receive in any given period of time.
QUESTION: It seems that all the ISL applications are
eventually approved. Has the NRC ever denied an appli-
cation for an ISL site?
ANSWER: I do not know of any denied ISL applications.
However, to approve an application, the NRC staff con-
ducts detailed reviews before the agency reaches a deci-
sion. If an application leaves open questions on whether
the NRC's requirements can be met, the agency issues
requests for additional information. Furthermore, the
staff performs its own computations and in some cases
develops models to review applications.
According to our regulations, the staff must either is-
sue the license or reject it. If the staff approves a license
it will most likely include conditions which, in addition
to our regulations, are enforced to protect public health
and safety. If, in the end, a proposed project does not
meet our regulations, the staff wiU not issue the license.
An example of a license condition can be found in the
Hydro Resources, Inc. license, where the staff added a
condition that the company cannot extract uranium from
a certain portion of the site until water supply wells are
relocated. These types of conditions are used to prevent
contamination of any water supply well.
QUESTION: Has the NRC ever approved an ISL site
where there are so many residents with domestic and
stock wells close by?
ANSWER: In the case of Crow Butte Resources, Craw-
ford, Nebraska, multiple stock and supply wells are
located outside the site, with at least one domestic well
located within 1 mile of an active wellfield. For this facil-
ity, any well within 1 mile of an active wellfield is sampled
monthly to ensure that water supplies are not being af-
fected. To date, no water supply well has been affected
by an NRC-licensed ISR, as indicated in the staff's report
to the Commission (see attached).
QUESTION: Our well is only three miles from a proposed
ISL site, and it is in the aquifer that they will be leaching.
We have tested our water, and for all parameters that we
are concerned about, we are well below the safe levels
for drinking water. Will that company be able to exempt
the aquifer when it is in drinking water and that close to
us? (Other residents are as close as 1/4 mile)
ANSWER: This question is best sent to Don McKenzie,
Wyoming DEQ, because they review the aquifer exemp-
tion applications and pass them on to the U.S. EPA for
approval. Ultimately, the U.S. EPA approves the aquifer
exemptions. One important piece of information to re-
member is that the water quality in the ore zone is quite
different from water outside the ore zone. As a matter of
fact, the water quality can change fairly rapidly a short
distance away from the ore zone. Attached are some ex-
amples of water quality in ore zones from the Powder River
Basin. As you can see, radionuclide concentrations will
exceed drinking water standards. Radon, while not usu-
ally analyzed, would also be quite high, as demonstrated
by one of the data sheets I'm sending to you (HRI).
QUESTION: On a personal note, how would you feel if
your family and your well were within three miles of an
ISL site, at the depth they were leaching?
ANSWER: Since the NRC has not received an application
for any proposed ISR facility in Crook County, we don't
have enough information to answer this question.
Enzi encourages rancher
review of new regs
The USDA is publishing proposed rules in the Federal Reg-
ister tomorrow that are designed to give small, independent
ranchers a place to hang their hat when they have a grievance
against a large meat packing operation.
U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., who authored legislation
with similar goals and pushed for the livestock title of the
2008 Farm bill which required the USDA to issue these new
regulations, said Wyoming ranchers should take the time to
review the new regulations.
"The Wyoming ag community has told me the deck is stacked
against them. I've listened. The big outfits have been gaming
the system. IYe written legislation addressing many of the
problems, but these new rules could also have a positive ef-
fect. It's up to our livestock producers to judge for themselves
and tell the USDA what kind of job they think theyce done,"
Enzi said.
The new rules would address about 10 separate areas in-
cluding limiting exclusive arrangements between packers
and dealers, making sample contracts available on the Grain
Inspection, Packers and Stockyard Administration (GIPSA)
website, outlining protections so that producers can remedy a
breach of contract and clarifying what producers need to prove
if they think their operation has been harmed.
The proposed rule will be published in the June 22 Federal
Register. Comments must be received by August 23 in order
to be considered. Comments may be sent via email to com-
ments.gipsa@usda.gov . They may be mailed to Tess Butler,
GIPSA, USDA, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Room 1643-S,
Washington, D.C. 20250-3604. Copies of the proposed rule
and additional information can be found at: http://www.gipsa.
usda.gov by clicking on Federal Register.
