DAWN MINING GETS COLD GREETING COMPANY PAYS CALL TO EXPLAIN

Mining company officials paid a courtesy visit Tuesday to Spokane County commissioners to explain plans to truck low-level radioactive waste to a defunct uranium mill.

The officials wish they'd stayed home.

Acknowledging the firm's plan was a "done deal" because of state approval, commissioners nonetheless drilled Dawn Mining Co. officials about covering their abandoned mill at Ford, Wash., with slightly radioactive uranium tailings. Even conservative, pro-development commissioners Phil Harris and Steve Hasson came off as environmentalists during the meeting. "Don't take this as a personal affront," Harris told Dawn General Manager Bob Nelson, who was joined by a contract lawyer and public relations spokeswoman. "You're probably the loveliest people in the world. "But we're certainly not going to do anything to help you." The Dawn trio was taken aback by the attack. Nelson noted that he came all the way from Ford in Stevens County and the women flew in from Seattle to brief the commissioners. "We were a little bit dumbfounded to the response," he said. "We didn't come asking for their permission. It was just a courtesy call on what we intended to do." Dawn opened its uranium mill in 1957 and has been trying to cap and close it for more than 10 years. But the company is nearly bankrupt and can't afford the multimillion-dollar cleanup plan required by the government. So the company will charge fees to take the waste from other areas across the country and use it to fill a 28-acre disposal pit. The plan would require 38 semi-truckloads of low-level radioactive waste a day, 260 days a year, for five years. The tailings would be transported from the Burlington Northern rail yard east of downtown Spokane to the abandoned mill. Dawn officials approached commissioners Tuesday because the trucks will reach Interstate 90 via Fancher Road, which is owned and maintained by the county. Environmental groups and the Spokane Tribe oppose the cleanup plan and want the company to use "virgin earth" instead of dumping contamination upon contamination. Springdale environmentalist Owen Berio said the company already has a spotty record with recent hazardous spills. "This is an irresponsible company," Berio told commissioners. Environmentalists were allowed to speak before the Dawn presentation. "We thought it was quite inappropriate to have our meeting opened by the opposing environmental group," Nelson said later. Seattle lawyer Karla Axell, who represents Dawn, tried to allay the commissioners' fear of future spills. She said the analysis of a mock accident involving the derailment of a 40-car train resulted in an "insignificant health risk from exposure to this material." Commissioner John Roskelley quipped that if that's the case, why do other states want to ship the material to Eastern Washington? Axell responded that cities have to remove the slightly toxic material to allow for unrestricted development. "The West and Spokane should not be the dumping ground for the rest of the United States," Hasson said. "They ought to clean up their own messes."

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