DENVER -- Two bills to protect the state's groundwater from potential uranium mining contamination and strengthen the public's right to know about prospecting activities were passed by the Colorado General Assembly on May 5 and now await Gov. Bill Ritter's signature to become law.

House Bill 1161, sponsored by Fort Collins legislators Sen. Steve Johnson, Sen. Bob Bacon, Rep. Randy Fischer and Rep. John Kefalas, was adopted with broad bipartisan support. The bill establishes minimum standards for in-situ leach uranium mining, which involves injecting a solution into underground layers containing uranium deposits to break those deposits free.

Mining companies, including Powertech USA -- which is preparing to seek a permit to mine uranium on about 5,700 acres in western Weld County -- would have to restore ground water at injection sites to pre-mining conditions or state standards.

Senate Bill 228, sponsored by Sen. Gail Schwartz of Snowmass and Rep. Kathleen Curry of Gunnison, provides for greater transparency for all mineral exploration in the state, which has previously kept all prospecting information secret.

"Times have changed and this secrecy is no longer relevant," said Jeff Parsons, an attorney with the Western Action Mining Project. "The public needs to be aware of any potential water or public health impacts from mining operations in their communities."

"This is a fantastic day for the citizens of Colorado, and we are tremendously grateful for the hard work of our representatives to protect our water and our right to know when uranium companies want to start their dangerous work," said Jackie Adolph, a spokeswoman for Coloradans Against Resource Destruction.

Dick Clement, president of Powertech USA, said he has no problem with HB 1161 except that he was sorry the legislature did not adopt amendments that could have conserved more ground water in the site clean-up process. "There's no question that we can do this but we don't know how much ground water it will take to do it," he said.

Clement said SB 228 would not affect Powertech's operations because prospecting was already complete for its Weld County site. He said HB 1161 would have no impact on the company's plan to begin its permitting process later this year.