If a corporate polluter had deposited ten million pounds of uranium oxide in the Fox Hills aquifer, there would be a hue and cry to have it removed as quickly as possible. How is it, then, that uranium mining opposition groups such as CARD insist that the uranium should be left in its current location? They are apparently unaware of the fact that uranium deposits are natural analogs of toxic waste deposits. The Weld County deposits, similarly to toxic wastes, react with groundwater to produce plumes of abnormally high concentrations of uranium and other potentially hazardous constituents in the groundwater. The fact that these processes are presently occuring in Weld County is supported by pre-mining baseline groundwater sampling data reported by the Colorado Geological Survey (Information Series Report #12). Groundwater samples were taken from 104 wells in the Weld Country area and analyzed for various constituents including uranium. Groundwater in 33 wells have concentrations of at least five times background uranium values. Fourteen wells exceed U.S. EPA drinking water standard Maximum Contaminant Levels for uranium. Similar results have been reported for other deposits around the country such as the Crow Butte deposit in Nebraska where where pre-mining concentrations of uranium as high as 1000 times normal background were reported. Therefore, leaving the uranium in the ground is not a risk-free alternative to mining. It is not inconceivable, therefore, that careful and responsible mining might, in fact, be beneficial for the long-term health of the Cheyenne Basin aquifers.