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Features » June 23, 2008

Canaries in the Uranium Mine (cont’d)

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Larry J. King was one of thousands of Navajo who worked in the uranium mines with little safety equipment. Now companies again want to mine uranium near his ranch.

Nez shows visitors large color photos of lambs born abnormally -- bright pink and hairless, with yellow eyes. Many of them die soon after birth. He attributes this to uranium in the drinking water.
A legacy of waste

Three-quarters of the more than 1,000 uranium mines that once operated in the area have not been cleaned up, according to the Southwest Research and Information Center, a nonprofit advocacy group. Most of the mining companies pulled up stakes without ever cleaning their waste.

Because these companies sold uranium to the U.S. government, people have long argued that the government should be taking care of the environmental cleanup. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has spearheaded some efforts, but piles of uranium waste are still scattered throughout large swaths of Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.

The EPA is creating draft action plans regarding uranium on the Navajo Nation. But in a January letter to the agency, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said the draft lacks a clear course of action. Instead, Waxman proposed a five-year multi-agency plan, including mine cleanup, case studies on adverse health effects and an examination of alternative water supplies.

In response to public and governmental pressure, Uranium Resources and other companies plan to pay into a “legacy fund” for cleanup of past uranium mining, though they emphasize they are not the ones who created the mess. The amount they would pay is up for debate.

This spring, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) vetoed a bill that opponents described as “industry-friendly.” It would have mandated new mining operations pay 50 cents per pound of uranium harvested into this legacy fund. With uranium prices reaching highs above $100 a pound in the past year, many call the amount proposed in the bill too low.

The federal government didn’t enact guidelines to protect uranium workers from dangerous exposure until 1971. But many former miners say they worked in dirty conditions without safety equipment even after the measures passed.

“We had no respirators, you’d have sweat running down your face with the uranium dust getting in your ears, nose and mouth,” says Larry J. King, a Navajo rancher who worked in New Mexico uranium mines from 1975 to 1982. “You couldn’t help but swallow it.”

In 1990, Congress passed legislation to give $100,000 payments (later raised to $150,000) to uranium miners — many of them Navajo — who were working prior to the 1971 regulations. As of June 2007, 4,560 miners had received $455 million. (Congress also created payments for uranium ore transporters and millers, as well as for people in parts of Arizona, Nevada and Utah who were exposed to radiation from nuclear weapons testing.)

But in 2000, the fund ran out of money, and many miners died while waiting for payments. The fund has since been replenished, but victims say that red tape makes receiving payment claims too difficult.

Global and local trends

Companies are now seeking uranium mining and milling permits in Colorado, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming and other states. An estimated 660 million pounds of uranium remain in the ground in New Mexico, and at least five companies want to begin mining it.

Uranium Resources hopes to mine 100 million pounds of uranium it owns the rights to, including deposits near Crownpoint. It is also looking to purchase a former Kerr McGee uranium mill in Ambrosia Lake, N.M., to refine uranium ore from traditionally mined deposits.

For the ISR project, Uranium Resources has partnered with Itochu Corp., a Japan-based multinational company with investments in sectors that include textiles, machinery, energy and chemicals.

These global economic trends are not primary concerns to Nez. But the effects he sees on his dusty little farm are.

He shows visitors large color photos of lambs born abnormally — bright pink and hairless, with yellow eyes. Many of them die soon after birth. He attributes this to uranium in the drinking water.

Nez says people often ask why he doesn’t move away from the contaminated land. But, he replies, this is his people’s land, and he can’t imagine himself anywhere else.

“I’m not leaving. I just want them to clean up this pile of uranium.”

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Kari Lydersen, an In These Times contributing editor, is a Chicago-based journalist writing for publications including The Washington Post, the Chicago Reader and The Progressive.

More information about Kari Lydersen

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  • Reader Comments

    “He shows visitors large color photos of lambs born abnormally — bright pink and hairless, with yellow eyes. Many of them die soon after birth. He attributes this to uranium in the drinking water.”

    Are these pictures available on-line. It’d be nice to see them! Every picture tells a story!

    Posted by Tonykennelly on Jun 26, 2008 at 6:57 AM

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Appeared in the july 2008 Issue
Also by Kari Lydersen
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