The Karnes County Commissioners Court adopted a resolution in support of uranium project development at its October 31 meeting.

The resolution reads in part, "The Karnes County Commissioners Court supports uranium project development when all environmental, safety, and health issues related to uranium solutions extraction have been properly addressed." The resolution also asks state officials to allow permits for uranium project development and recovery when environmental, safety, and health issues are properly addressed.

Kevin L. Raabe of Rio Grande Resources asked the court to adopt the resolution. "It’s important for the decision makers in Austin," said Raabe. He said that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and the Railroad Commission take community support into account when granting permits for uranium project development.

Raabe answered several question from both the commissioners and members of the public present regarding the safety and environmental impact of uranium mining and production. Raabe said that the current in situ recovery (ISR) mining technology is safe, heavily monitored, and has minimal effects on the environment. Uranium mining is heavily regulated at the state and federal level and TCEQ requires reclamation of the sites.

Although some constituents, particularly salts, may be elevated during mining, Raabe said that after the reclamation process water will be cleaned and restored to the quality it was in before. "Certainly if it was fit for stock water before mining, then it will be fit for stock water after you get through mining," he said.

Rio Grande Resources recently filed an application to build a central processing plant at the Panna Maria site. Rio Grande would truck in uranium resin to the site to be extracted and put into salable form as yellow cake. Raabe said that Rio Grande hopes to start production at the site in 2012 or 2013. He estimated that a typical 1,000,000 pound per year production facility could directly employ around 100 people between the mine site and the plant.

The court unanimously adopted the resolution.

The commissioners also awarded a $52,000 bid to Harold Brown and Sons for construction of a new water line along County Road 209 from FM 1144 to FM 99. El Oso Water Supply Corporation recommended awarding the bid to Harold Brown and Sons. Harold Brown and Sons is the same contractor who performed the first phase of the community development block grant for El Oso.

Syncro Architecture submitted a design for the new county annex building for the court’s approval. The design approval will allow Syncro to go through the process of drawing up plans to submit to bidders but does not obligate the county to proceed with building. The court voted to accept the design.