Wyoming has received the first draft of a study it commissioned to determine whether it would be feasible to regulate uranium exclusively in-state.
Uranium extraction is currently regulated by a number of state and federal agencies. But if Wyoming decides to become what’s called an “agreement state,” it could cut the federal agencies out of the process. That would potentially expedite the permitting process for operators.
Nancy Nuttbrock is the Land Quality Administrator for the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. She says the report will be re-drafted several times before the findings are submitted to the Legislature by the year’s end deadline.
“At this point, the initial draft is really crafting what the content of the feasibility study looks like and we’re providing input to them as to specific areas where we’d like more focus and we think that the state and state leadership would need to make a determination of feasibility,” Nuttbrock says.
The contents of the draft will be presented to the Minerals Committee, which will meet on September 26th and 27th.
