By Ann McCartney, Staff Attorney at NM Environmental Center and Beverly Michael, Grants District 4 Councilwoman
How does it sound to have continued, ongoing radioactive contamination of groundwater—the primary source of drinking water for wells and community water systems in Milan and Grants? That is essentially what Homestake Barrick Gold (HBG) pitched at its recent August 27 public meeting held at the NMSU campus in Grants.
The corporation stated that maintaining its current efforts to remediate the Homestake mill superfund site, is an untenable use of water. HBG failed to mention that the resource it suddenly wants to “protect” and “conserve” is the very same one it indiscriminately saturated with uranium and other toxic substances for decades.
After 50 years of trying one unsuccessful groundwater restoration scheme after another, Homestake is now touting “water conservation' and telling decisionmakers that “Continued operation of the groundwater treatment systems is providing diminishing returns while consuming the water resource that the clean up action is intended to protect.” But if HBG ever cared about the water, it could have protected it from the beginning. It's much too late for HBG to posture as a protector of ground water! Instead of staying committed to treating the groundwater it has contaminated, Homestake now just wants to walk away.
Because of the extreme level of contamination at the Homestake mill site, the remediation requires oversight by two federal regulators— the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). To them, HBG complains that it must pump more and more water to remove less and less uranium.
The fact remains: the existing groundwater still fails to meet cleanup standards acceptable to the EPA and ultimately, the NM Environment Department. Clean up has not been sufficient to stop treatment. Homestake did the damage and reaped the profits; as the responsible party, it needs to finish the job.
HBG also claims that it is no longer “technically possible” to clean up the mill tailings and groundwater. It complained to the EPA that they have “tried everything” to clean up the contaminated soil and groundwater. This is not true. One proven solution has not been attempted— moving the tailings into a properly lined pit, with an appropriately engineered cover to prevent contamination of groundwater, soil, and air. HBG has refused to try this solution, not because it cannot be done, but because it is “too expensive.”
Now, HBG has asked the EPA for a “technical impractability waiver”, known as a TI Waiver, so it can also be released from its obligation to continue uranium removal treatment. However, cleanup is not “technically impractable'. Pump and treat systems are still removing uranium from the groundwater, and now, HBG no longer uses San Andres Glorieta water to run the removal system— it can recycle water within its existing facility.
HBG’s ultimate goal is to convince the NRC and EPA that it is impossible to clean up the groundwater and to hand over the Homestake site to the Department of Energy Legacy Management (DOE-LM). The community concern is that under DOE-LM, HBG’s obligation to remediate groundwater ends and the site is subject only to routine inspection and maintenance and limited monitoring.
A transfer of the Homestake site presumes that cleanup has been successful, which is simply untrue. The groundwater is not yet cleaned up and adequate safeguards are not in place.
Federal and state regulators must continue to hold HBG accountable. Communities that are impacted by HBG’s pollution, in turn, need to hold state and federal regulators accountable. No longer can a multinational corporation’s bottom line be the basis for whether life-threatening pollution is cleaned up. It’s long past time for public health and a clean environment to be the drivers for this process!
The NRC is holding public meetings in Milan at the Milan Fun Room on October 21, 2025 from 5 8 p.m. Please attend to listen, ask questions and have your voice heard.
Come help protect your groundwater!
CORRECTION:
(Sept. 24, 11:28 a.m.)The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that is holding the public meeting – NOT the NRC. Here is the publicly available link with information about this meeting: https://cumulis.epa.gov/