Powertech's Centennial Uranium Project

Sandi Squicquero brought her husband Dr. Dave Squicquero as a guest last week. President Ardin Wright told the club that he has put together the application for a Rotary Presidential Award.

PROGRAM
Our program last week was brought to us by Powertech Uranium Corporation. The company was represented by Terry Walsh, Bill Downey, Adria Hutchison, and Mike Beshore.

Walsh told us that the company is led by a management team that has over 100 years of combined management experience in in-situ mining. The local project is called the Centennial Project. The ore body lies at 400 to 600 feet below the surface east of Wellington. It is known as a roll front deposit which is a well-known geologic condition whereby the uranium that was originally deposited as part of volcanic ash (in this case from the eruption of Yellowstone about 35 million years ago) is leached by downward percolating groundwater. This uranium rich water is carried down gradient until it reaches a point where the oxygen, which helped dissolve the uranium and put it into solution, is depleted. The uranium then deposits onto the sandstone grains in the aquifer.

The in-situ leaching process is done by drilling a series of wells. One or more of the wells will act as extraction wells, and they will be surrounded by injection wells where oxygen rich waters are re-injected into the formation to put the uranium back into solution where it is then pumped out by the extraction well. This is done through a well known hydro-geologic principal called the cone of depression. ( a pumped well will create this cone of depression around itself in the water table. The pregnant solution is then brought to the surface where the uranium can be extracted.

In-situ mining has many advantages over other types of mining. There is minimal surface disturbance, no mill tailings to dispose of, surface users can continue to use the surface during mining with some limitations, and there is little surface clean up when the project is completed.

Permits are required at four levels of government:

• The EPA under the rules of the Safe Drinking Water Act
• The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
• The Colorado Department of Natural Resources
• The Weld County Planning and Zoning Commission

There is much more information available on this subject than we have room here to discuss. If this project is of interest to you, you are urged to research the science and information available. There is a lot of emotional opposition to the project. From my perspective after over 40 years in the groundwater business, the science and technology is sound. This is a well-established and well-documented process that will work within the confines of the current regulations and guidelines.

QUIZ
Hillary and Tenzing spent a total of 15 minutes at the summit of Mt. Everest.

Next question: Four months have no National Holiday. Can you name them?

Committee Reports

We had one guest last week. John Harnley was a visiting Rotarian from Connecticut. President Ardin Wright read a nice thank you letter from Jackie Doman-Peoples thanking the club for its generosity in contributing to the Windsor High Schools International Relations Class. The Class is raising money to help construct water well in Haiti. As an aside, the April Rotarian Magazine has a short piece in there about Ryan Hreljac. Ryan is the young man that started the Ryan’s Wells Foundation which has raised enough money to drill over 300 water wells in underdeveloped countries around the world. Ryan’s mother is a Rotary GSE Team alumnus. Her GSE team visited France in 1992-93.

PROGRAM
There was no formal program last week as each of the committees gave an update on their activities and what is planned for the coming year.

Chris Leffler led off telling us of the efforts of the Community Service Committee. The major event of the year is the 9 Health Fair which occurs on April 5. We are also considering involvement with the Triangle Cross Ranch. We had volunteered to assist with laying sod at Boardwalk Park; however, the date chosen for that was the same date as the Health Fair to which we are totally committed. Chris also told of the success of the Literacy Fair.

Scott Bailey gave a report on the efforts of the Fund Raising Committee. He said we cleared a little under $6,000 in beer sales at Harvest Fest Last year. WE hope to d o so again this year. Harvest Fest is scheduled for August 30, 31, and September 1. Mark your calendars. He said there is a chance we may also be able to do the “gate” which is also a good fund raiser. He is talking to Doug DeMercurio about some activities with October Fest in conjunction with the Main Street Grill.

Ardin Wright gave an update on Membership on behalf of Ron Clark who was unable to attend.

Ralph Moore presented the efforts of the Program Committee. Ralph has assigned each member of the committee a month in which that member is to bring in the programs. This has proven to provide diverse and very interesting programs for the club. He also wants to do at least one member profile per month.

Jody Niswender told of the efforts concerning social functions as well as the planning and assignments for the Health Fair. Training for the Health Fair will be Friday night before the Health Fair and after the set up which will start at 3:30.

QUIZ
Mamie Eisenhower was raised in Denver. She and the President were visiting her mother in Denver when Ike had his heart attack in 1955.

Next question: Honorary Rotarian Sir Edmund Hillary along with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Mount Everest on May 31, 1953. How long were they on the summit?

Find your vision

One guest visited us last week. His name is Michael Davis. He has lived in Windsor for 3½ years and is a musician as well as a Licensed Social Worker. He said he wished to get more involved in the community and was visiting our club to consider it as an organization he may want to join.

PROGRAM
We were delighted last week to have the son President Ardin Wright, Bert Wright as our speaker. The younger Wright is the pastor of the Evangelical Covenant Church in Ft. Collins.

Wright (the younger) talked to us about the vision of Rotary and how fortunate we are to live in a time when philanthropy is “cool”. By focusing on water, health, and education, Rotary touches lives all over the world. He said we need to remember that as individuals, we cannot clean up all the problems in the world, but say to yourself “I can do this!” Pick something positive that you can do and pursue it. He said that Popeye said it best when he said, “That’s all I can stand, I can’t stand no more.” Of course, Popeye then ripped the top off a can of spinach, ate it in one gulp, and vanquished his foe.

By referencing passages from the Bible, he asked us to think about using the phrase “What do I have in my hand?” This is better than saying what you do not have. Find out what “wrecks” you. What motivates you to take action to make something better? Then go for it.

QUIZ
Answer to last week’s question: Golda Meir lived in Denver as a teenager and went on to become the Prime Minister of Israel. Ironically, after fleeing Prague with her family in 1939 the lady who is known as Madeline Albright, who was the Secretary of State for Bill Clinton, was schooled at Kent School in Denver where her father taught at DU. One of her father’s students was Condoleeza Rice. Denver is a virtual hotbed of women statespersons. Before becoming Secretary of State, Albright was the US Ambassador to the United Nations, an appropriate position for a lady who speaks seven languages.

New question: In the same vein…what former first lady also grew up in Denver?

Water Wells for Haiti

Were we pleased to have Nancy Hyland here last week as a guest of her husband and Rotarian Pete Hyland. We were also pleased to induct Dan Harty as a new member. President Elect Susan Van Deren told of the PETS (President Elect Training Seminar) that she attended to previous week along with 420 of her closest friends. President Ardin Wright announced that we have met the requirements for a Governor’s Citation and he is sending off the paper work so that we can receive the award at the District Conference in Cody.

PROGRAM
Our program for the week was presented by five members of the Windsor High School International Relations Class led by teacher Jackie Doman-Peoples. The students included Mark Prenger, Mallory Duran, Becca Molson, Katie Samples, and Lydnsay Lock who is the President of the Windsor High Interact Club:

The project that the group decided to take on was to raise money to construct a well for the Artibonite Valley of Haiti. Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere with a population of 8million people. It is subject to frequent hurricanes and is still trying to recover from Hurricane Katrina. Hurricanes are particularly troublesome for the Island Nation because the surface water can be easily contaminated; therefore wells are much safer and easier to protect.

The class is working through the Ryan’s Well Foundation which was started by Canadian student Ryan Hreljac when he was seven years old. The Ryan’s Well projects now include 329 wells in 14 countries.

The students told us that the Artibonite Valley needs eight wells and ten latrines. In addition, the program trains the locals on clean water implementation and management of the wells. The wells are 200 to 600 feet deep. To date, the students have raised $5588.30, about $200 short of their goal. Most of this money was raised through the sale of 300 T-shirts. By the time the class had finished its presentation, the board was quietly polled and agreed to donate $500 to their cause. Some individuals in the club also donated to them before the meeting was over.

QUIZ
Answer to last week’s question: The Panama Canal completed in 1914 is considered one of the greatest engineering feats in history.

Next question: As a teenager, this woman lived in Denver. She later became a highly respected head of state. Who was she and what country did she lead?

Prader-Willi House at Triangle Cross Ranch

One guest last week was Dan Hardy, Pastor of Windsor Community Church. We hope to have Dan as a member shortly. Jody Niswender announced that she needed a volunteer to take over the work at the learning center for the 9 Health Fair. Sandi Squicquero agreed to take on that responsibility. President Ardin Wright told us that we would all be getting a letter soon from the President of Rotary International about membership development. Ardin also announced that we have received approval of the grant to buy a pickup for a community in Mexico to help them fight mosquitoes which spread dengue fever. All together between our club, High Plains, District 5440, and Rotary International Foundation, $15,150 is available.

PROGRAM
We were once again pleased to hear from fellow Rotarian, Lorelei Faglier, Director of Triangle Cross Ranch. This time, Faglier told us of the ranch’s efforts to open a house for adult Prader-Willi Syndrome patients. Prader-Willi is a genetic disorder that affects about 1 in every 15,000 people. If is found in both sexes and all races. It is the product of a defect of the 15th chromosome.

Prader-Willi individuals tend to have diabetes as a result of their insatiable desire to eat constantly. As a part of the syndrome, they often have behavioral problems. They have certain body characteristics also. They tend to be shorter, have shorter limbs, for some reason most have “angel lips” mouths.

Hallmarks of the syndrome include appetite, decrease in metabolic rate, temper tantrums, obsessive-compulsive disorder (hording). A supportive living care plan includes preventing obesity, trying to increase base metabolic rate, nutritional supplements, prevent behavioral problems, and encourage structural learning.

Faglier said the new house should be ready by the end of March. It is being funded with $30,000 from the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association of Colorado and $20,000 from Clint Hurdle, Manager of the Colorado Rockies whose daughter has Prader-Willi. This will be the first facility in a six state region, as there are none between Wisconsin and California.

NEWS UPDATE
If you missed it, Diane Van-Deren who spoke to our club last year won the Iditarod Trail ultra marathon race this year. She was one of only two competitors who finished the 300+ mile race under extreme winter conditions.

QUIZ
White men standing in holes in Coober Pedy refers to opal miners at Coober Pedy, Australia which is the world’s premier opal mining location where most of the opal is found just a few feet below the ground surface. Opal is quite fragile and generally does not lend itself to mechanical mining techniques.

Next Question: Finished in 1914, what does WORLD BOOK call one of the greatest engineering feats in history?