Montrose County Commissioners this week approved a water settlement agreement that was hammered out between several parties in the wake of its applications for substantial water rights on the San Miguel River.

A dismissal of a Montrose County application for additional water rights won’t end an ongoing water struggle over the San Miguel River, but things are closer to a conclusion. The county was applying for water rights to the Johnson Ditch, which diverts water from the San Miguel River.

The Telluride-based Sheep Mountain Alliance filed suit against the electrical utility PacifiCorp on Monday over pollution discharges from a 1950s-era PacifiCorp-owned Silver Bell tailings facility located near Ophir. A number of mines used the Ophir mill that was purchased later by Pacificorp.

Inch by inch, the company hoping to build the nation’s first uranium mill in decades is making progress. Last week, Energy Fuels announced it had reached a settlement with one of its staunchest adversaries regarding the water — at minimum some 144 gallons a minute, according to some reports — in Sheep Mountain Alliance.

Three conservation groups and two government agencies have filed statements of opposition against water right permit applications filed by Energy Fuels Resources Corp., which is seeking to build the nation’s first uranium mill in nearly three decades in Paradox Valley.

After garnering a Montrose County approval heavy with conditions and contention, an energy company now faces another challenge: A local environmental group fired a legal salvo disputing that permit and how it was obtained.