By Laurel Morales
Friday, September 30, 2011
FLAGSTAFF — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Thursday plans to clean up the largest and highest priority uranium mine on the Navajo Nation.
The cleanup of the Northeast Church Rock Mine in New Mexico will include removal of more than a million tons of radium and uranium contaminated soil.
In 1979, the largest spill of radioactive waste in U.S. history occurred there when 94 million gallons of waste from the mine were accidentally released into a stream. It contaminated local water sources. And people who live in Church Rock blame the spill for a high rate of cancer in the immediate area.
Read more:
http://www.fronterasdesk.org/news/2011/sep/30/native-american-indian-epa-environment-pollution/
