MOAB, Utah - After nearly nine years, Grand County Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Project Liaison Lee Shenton is retiring.
Project staff joined county employees on July 31 to wish Shenton well in his retirement.
“As the Moab UMTRA Project liaison, Lee maintained an objective voice helping communicate key project activities, and became a trusted person on the project and in the community," Moab Federal Cleanup Director Russell McCallister said.
Since October 2009, Shenton served as an intermediary between the EM Moab UMTRA Project and Grand County. During that time he reviewed data, prepared reports for county government and the public, and succeeded in establishing positive relationships with project personnel and the Moab community. Shenton worked primarily at a county office, but would spend one day a week visiting EM’s Moab or Crescent Junction sites.
“It has been gratifying to serve my community for the last eight and a half years," Shenton said. “The project team has been helpful and accommodating while our community has been engaged and very supportive of the project."
The liaison position is funded by the county and the project. In July, the county hired Russ von Koch to take over as liaison. Von Koch is familiar with the project after his work on a county effort to gather community input on possible uses of the Moab Site after remediation.
“I have really enjoyed learning about the Moab UMTRA Project while I was chair of Grand County’s Site Futures Committee," said Von Koch. “I am looking forward to working with the team in my new role as Grand County’s UMTRA liaison."
The project is relocating mill tailings from a former uranium-ore processing facility in Moab to an engineered disposal cell in Crescent Junction, Utah.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
