Navajo Times
FLAGSTAFF, Jan. 13, 2011
Diné environmentalists on Jan. 6 joined a chorus of about 60 area citizens who spoke against issuing air and water quality permits for new uranium mines near the rim of the Grand Canyon, with one calling the hearing an "insult."
"It's insulting that a meeting like this is happening while our people are still suffering because of the legacy of uranium mining and milling," said Diné musician and activist Klee Benally of Flagstaff.
The hearing, sponsored by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, was to take public input on the issuance of Class II air quality permits for Denison Mines' proposed EZ and Pinenut mines, located on the Kanab Plateau about 35 miles southwest of Fredonia, Ariz., and the Canyon Mine, located about six miles southeast of Tusayan. Also sought is a general aquifer protection permit for the EZ mine.
The permits would allow the ADEQ to monitor the air and water at the mines, although critics argued that most of the sampling would be done by the mining company itself.
"It's the fox watching the henhouse," said Flagstaff Mayor Sara Pressler, who also spoke against issuing the permits.
Rising prices have made the area attractive to mining companies again. According to the ADEQ, more than 500 breccia pipe targets are being actively explored by at least 11 companies.
Some of the old mines, most notably the Orphan Mine above the Bright Angel Trail, left radioactive tailings that drain into washes in the area.
Most of the Navajos who spoke said they're upset the government would even consider allowing new mines to open when about 1,000 abandoned mines still exist on the Navajo Nation, poisoning the earth and leaching into water supplies.
"Why are we not considering that legacy?" Benally asked. "Why aren't we cleaning up the water in Cameron?
Added Nikki Alex, who said she had worked with the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Program, "I come here today to give a voice to the young people. The cleanup will be left up to me and generations after me."
Hertha Woody, a Diné member of the Grand Canyon Trust, noted that although the mines are quite a distance from the Navajo Nation, radioactive ore will have to be transported along the western and northern edges of the Navajo Nation to the White Mesa Mill near Blanding, Utah.
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http://www.navajotimes.com/news/2011/0111/011311mining.php
