The Grand County Planning and Zoning Commission last week rebuffed a staff recommendation to recommend approval of a conditional use permit application for Westwater Farms to the Grand County Council.

The 5-0 vote to table the request followed two failed motions, one to table, and another to follow the staff recommendation.

The motions followed a contentious public hearing and discussion among planning commission members that centered on the quality of treated production water intended to be injected into wells at the Westwater Farms facility.

At issue was a recommendation from Grand County Engineer Mark Wright that the commission forward the Westwater Farms permit request to the county council with a favorable recommendation subject to issuance of three permits from the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, plus an “operating permit” from the Utah Division of Water Quality.

The three required DOGM permits comprise a permit to “receive and treat production water,” a permit for “underground injection control,” and a permit to drill.

Several community residents urged the commission to not take action until a test well is drilled and the results of the test analyzed by DOGM. Their primary objection was based on concerns that injected water could flow to the Colorado River through cracks in rock formations.

“I would suggest that you think about the county’s liability” under the federal Clean Water Act, said Castle Valley resident Laura Kamala, who warned that if injected water reaches the Colorado River that could trigger a lawsuit by downstream water users.

Ensuing discussion among commission members eventually concurred that the three required DOGM permits could be issued only if the test well analysis satisfies all the criteria needed for injection wells.

But it took a lot of back and forth before commission members agreed that all that Westwater Farms had to do to get a permit from DOGM for the test well was post a bond.

Nobody attempted to find out why Westwater Farms is seeking the conditional use permit before it drills the test well. Castle Valley resident David Erley suggested the corporation was trying to protect the investment already made at the facility before it invests even more money in a test well. He pointed out that those facilities were constructed illegally without a county building permit.

“I’m not advocating for the applicant,” said Wright, adding that he was just trying to get information out to the public. He explained that the county’s conditional use permit would not allow production water to be injected at a pressure high enough to crack rock formations such that it could flow from the Wingate formation to the river.

Moab resident Sarah Fields urged the planning commission to follow procedure and not vote on an incomplete application. Commissioners were reminded that over two years ago objections from the council regarding incomplete applications eventually led to an edict from then-commission chairman Marcus La France that the commission would not consider applications that were not complete.