All this uranium mining seems to be very complicated. Oxidizing agents, injection and production, RO processing of pregnant lixiviant (which isn't even in the dictionary!), etc.

Let's look at this whole thing from a simple point of view.

If I draw a glass of water from my well, I can be fairly certain that the quality of the water will be the same as it was yesterday and the day before. I periodically test my well, but not frequently. There is no apparent need to spend thousands of dollars testing my water unless something drastically changes.

If injection uranium mining occurs near my property, the possibility exists that the mining fluids and the freed-up radioactive metals that come with it could make their way to my water well. Even TCEQ and the mining companies admit this. "Sir, there are no guarantees!" This is a quote from TCEQ to me during the Public Meeting in Goliad.

Well, if I'm not sure what will be in my water tomorrow, wouldn't I want to test it frequently? In other words, if the mining starts upstream, and there are "no guarantees", then I'm sitting on a time bomb which may or may not go off.

So, in order to protect my family, I would be compelled to test my water at least every 90 days. Otherwise, I would be very leery and afraid to let my family drink the water from my well. A fairly comprehensive water test costs around $500, so if I were to test my water every 90 days, this would cost $2,000 per year, or $20,000 over a ten year period. This is just ONE water well. If 200 property owners with water wells surrounding the mining site were to test their water every 90 days, this would cost $4,000,000 over a ten year period. FOUR MILLION DOLLARS!

Just exactly who is supposed to pay for this? This "stigma" did not exist before and therefore frequent testing of my water would not have been necessary.

If one of my neighbors' septic system overflows and runs into my water well, the County Health Department throws a tizzy. If this were to occur, I would be able to see, smell and taste the effluent in my water. Unfortunately, the Health Department does not oversee intentional groundwater contamination for the sake of profit.

Uranium and all of its daughters are not detectible by the human senses. You can't see, smell or taste uranium, radium, selenium, arsenic, molybdenum or radon gas if it gets into your water. The only way to know if it's in your water is to test your water.

Why are we being subjected to this? If our United States Government is willing to let Iraq sell processed uranium to a private company in Canada for resale, and even help them load it and ship it, then why is our drinking water being threatened? Uranium is obviously not that important to our Government or they wouldn't have given it away. How much does Iraq owe the United States anyway? So little that our government can give away 200 tons of Iraqi uranium yellowcake to a private Canadian company?

The fact of the matter is that the Goliad uranium is easy to get to and easy to mine. This means lower costs and more profits for the mining company, NOT our government. This isn't about the "greater good of America". This is about private (Canadian) enterprise wanting to exploit our natural resources, our WATER, to make a profit (and a big one!)

How would you feel if I gave you a glass of water but told you, "I've been injecting fluids into this water which release radioactive metals but I think we got it all out, so it may or may not be safe to drink". How would you feel? Would you drink it anyway? That's what's being asked of me as a water well owner in NW Victoria County several miles downstream of the proposed uranium mine in Goliad County.

If you think uranium mining is "safe", as the mining companies insist, then wouldn't you also think that they would stand behind their words? "NO GUARANTEES" does not lead me to believe that my family and I can comfortably drink MY OWN WATER on a continuous basis over the next ten or twenty years, especially after they've closed shop and gone back to Canada.

We should never be afraid to drink our own water. That is no way to live.

"We can live without uranium. We cannot live without water!" - Richard J. Abitz, PhD, Geochemical Consulting Services.

That just about says it all.