Virginia waterways ranks second-dirtiest in country (Uranium Mining will make it worse)

Flooding in Pittsylvania County, VA, area of proposed uranium tailing ponds!

Comment: The best State for Business because Virginia leaders does not care for her people or the earth. The leaders of Virginia just want to line their pockets with money and leave Virginia once they have molested Virginia! Just wait, once these greedy and unethical so call Virginia leaders open up Virginia for uranium mining, our rivers will be dead and the Chesapeake Bay will be completely dead plus North Carolina will suffer the same fate of river death!

Posted to: Environment News Virginia

By Julian Walker
The Virginian-Pilot

Virginia has the second-dirtiest waterways among the 50 states.

That's according to a recent study by the Environment America advocacy group tallying the amount of pollutants discharged into bodies of water across the nation.

Based on numbers reported to federal authorities, only Indiana had more toxic chemicals released into its waterways by industry than Virginia's 18 million-plus pounds in 2007.

That is the most recent year for which discharge figures are publicly available from the Environmental Protection Agency, which collects the data.

The report also awards this dubious distinction to the Old Dominion: It is home to a portion of the nation's second-most-polluted waterway, the roughly 320-mile New River, which snakes through southwest Virginia and two other states. The most polluted waterway, it says, is the Ohio River.

Across the nation in 2007, 232 million pounds of toxic chemicals were dumped into 1,900 waterways, the report finds.

In Hampton Roads, most waterways are low in the state rankings. The Elizabeth River, for example, had about 14,257 pounds of toxics dumped into it in 2007, making it the 18th-most-polluted waterway in Virginia.

Other local bodies of water such as the Nansemond and Pagan rivers also are low on the study's toxic discharge rankings; the Lynnhaven River doesn't make the list.

In contrast, the James River, which cuts across Virginia's midsection, had nearly 1.7 million pounds of pollutants pumped into it two years ago, making it the second-dirtiest in the state (after the Clinch River) and 31st-worst nationally, according to the study.

The bad news, she said, is that the river still contains toxic chemicals dumped in it years ago.

Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com

Click Title or Link to whole:
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/11/virginia-waterways-ranks-seconddirtiest-country

FALLOUT: Cold War-era Uranium Mining Leaves A Poisoned Legacy For The Navajo

By Katy Bolger

(NYULivewire) - On the side of Gray Mountain in northeast Arizona, Lorraine Curley lives alone in a two-room concrete home. Her roof is tarpaper and tin, and her bathroom is a wooden outhouse 50 feet from her door. Living without electricity or water is a way of life for Curley; she has, after all, been restricted by the Bennett Freeze, a law enacted in 1966 that prevented 18,000 reservation residents from repairing their homes, or building new ones, until the freeze was lifted in May 2009.

Curley would like a new home, and she’s not picky: It doesn’t need to have electricity or running water – a floor and insulation would be nice.

“Maybe I’ll never see a home,” she said. And at 79 years old, Curley is running out of time.

Curley is Diné, or Navajo, and like more than 180,000 others in her tribe, she lives on the reservation known as Navajo Nation, which spans a sprawling 27,000 miles stretched across Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. The land is also rich in highly sought-after natural resources, like coal and uranium, which has proven to be both a blessing and a curse. With its vast and breathtaking sandstone vistas and scrubby desert floor, the territory includes some of the prettiest land in America, but its people, scattered throughout, are some of the country’s most desperately underserved.

Because of its sovereign status, Indian territory is not regulated by federal environmental standards.

In addition to oil and natural-gas drilling, the Nation was subjected to uranium mining from 1944 through 1986, when almost four tons of uranium ore was extracted for use in the arsenal build-up of the Cold War.

It was mined without regard to the safety of the miners, the nearby residents or even the mineral-rich land itself, resulting in the inevitable pollution of the air and water. As a consequence, the land they treasure so deeply has turned against the Navajo people, many of whom have developed severe health problems from drinking contaminated water and breathing contaminated air.

To complicate matters, there are dozens of laws on the books, which further entangle the rights and responsibilities of the federal government, the Navajo government and the people themselves.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, because of regulated uranium mining and abandoned mines, there are “homes and drinking water sources (in the Navajo Nation) with elevated levels of radiation. Potential health effects include lung cancer from inhalation of radioactive particles, as well as bone cancer and impaired kidney function from exposure to radionuclides in drinking water.”

“There was neglect, no public outreach,” Colorado said. “Contamination was kept from people; they sat on that information of contaminated wells.”

Activists say there are more than 1,200 abandoned mines in the Nation (although the Abandoned Land Mine Office consolidates that number, and puts it closer to 500).

The uranium-mining companies are long gone, but the contamination remains.

“Exploiting indigenous people is one of the hallmarks of state corporate crime,” said Linda Robyn, a Chippewa Indian and professor of criminology and criminal justice at Northern Arizona University, who is studying the link between corporate-government complicity in environmental disregard for the Navajo’s well being. “Navajos are really, really poor, with astronomical unemployment, substandard health care, drug abuse. It is a good place for corporations to exploit the people.”

Robyn says, to her knowledge, no corporate entity has ever been prosecuted for uranium contamination on Navajo soil, and yet as far back as the 1930s there was an awareness of the health risks associated with uranium. Somehow the message never made it to the Navajo. As recently as the 1980, U.S. EPA scientists were putting Geiger counters to the walls of hogans near abandoned mines to measure radiation and seeing readings that were off the charts.

“I drank water from the Tochachi Spring,” she said in her native Navajo, interpreted by the president of the Forgotten People, Don Yellowman. “My doctor told me my gall bladder was not working, and I had internal bleeding. I have asthma, seizures, a problem with lung and liver,” she added, alluding to the cancer that has spread throughout her body.

Pauline Lefthand, 41, also came to the meeting, albeit slowly and with help from her daughter and son-in-law, one at each arm. She sat heavily in a metal chair and often nodded off during the meeting. She takes 15 pills a day, including strong painkillers.

“We did. We drank a lot of water from the well,” she said. “That’s what we lived on. It’s one of the best waters,” she added, referring to the cool, refreshing taste of the water, which nonetheless was poisoned by tasteless, odorless radionuclides.

Ten years ago, Lefthand began going “downhill.” Her legs grew purple and swollen. She went to a doctor, who told her that both her kidneys were “gone.”

“I went on dialysis,” Lefthand recalled. “I have arthritis, I have had my bladder and appendix removed. I had stomach surgery; they took my large intestines out.”

The medicine she is prescribed also has taken its toll.

“When I started, I weighed 135 pounds, then I went up to 247 pounds. Now I weigh 192,” she said.

Lefthand’s daughter Deidre Walker, 18, was there to support her mother, whom she said has had “kidney failure, diabetes, seizures” since Walker was eight years old. Two years ago, Walker gave her mother one of her own kidneys.

Despite decades of contamination, the EPA began posting warning signs on drinking wells and in local post offices only three years ago. Other education has been more grassroots, such as the recent community meeting. Local and national environmental groups are actively reaching out to educate the Navajo about the drinking water, and to build a consensus against new coal mining and power plants.

Katy Bolger, NYU Livewire

Click Title or Link to whole post:
http://www.azreporter.com/news/index.php?itemid=741

Uranium Mining Poisoning WA ’s Groundwater Forever

July 25, 2009

In regard to the recent announcement by Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson for a yet another proposal for a uranium mine in WA, this time at Lake Maitland 950kms Northeast of Perth, I don’t believe the average West Australian actually realises what we are in for here in the West by opening up our state to uranium mining. The Federal Environment Ministers recent decision to approve the Beverley Four Mile uranium mine in South Australia, however gives us some insight into what we can expect here.

Described by Minister Garrett as being ‘world’s best practice’, the American owned Beverley Four Mile Uranium mine will use the controversial in-situ leach mining technique which involves deliberately pumping sulphuric acid into a public owned water aquifer to dissolve the uranium ore. Once the uranium is extracted from the surface the radioactive liquid waste from this process is then dumped into the aquifer. Given that the environmental regulators in the US refuse to allow this practice on their own soil, and the fact that aquifers in Eastern Europe have been heavily polluted by this practice why is our Federal government allowing it in Australia?

Although Minister Garrett has talked about ’strict’ monitoring requirements ‘well after this South Australian mine ceases’, a long-term problem will undoubtedly arise from the fact that concentrated radioactive materials survive for thousands of years. How can the uranium mining company have ’strict’ monitoring for that length of time? Another WA proposal to mine uranium at the Yeelirie deposit some 550 kms east of Geraldton, will also be dependant on Minister Garrett’s approval.

As with all uranium mines enormous quantities of water are going to be needed to mine the Yeelirie uranium deposit and Premier Barnett and Mines Minister Moore would have to be well aware of just how very thirsty this type of mining is. With more than one hundred uranium mining companies currently exploring in WA it is interestingly to note that the WA State Water Resources Minister Graham Jacobs has been urging WA householders to reduce their water consumption and to conserve our precious water resources through household sprinkler bans.

Is polluting our groundwater aquifers with sulphuric acid on the one hand, and then asking householders to turn off their sprinklers, the Barnett Governments idea of being ‘water wise? I urge all West Australians to become acquainted with all the facts surrounding uranium mining before we find ourselves with a toxic legacy that never, ever goes away and the website for the Antinuclear Alliance of WA (ANAWA) is a good place to start.

http://dawnjecks.wordpress.com/2009/07/25/uranium-mining-poisoning-wa-s-groundwater-forever/

Arizona tribes push back against uranium mining on native land

Comment: If they ban uranium mining in the Grand Canyon, they need to ban uranium mining in Virginia! Lake Gaston’s water is piped to Virginia Beach where military and naval bases are located. The uranium mining will ruin Lake Gaston, therefore, would be a security problem!

Fri, 07/24/2009 - 13:55

Native tribes and environmental groups are gathering near the Grand Canyon in Arizona this weekend, calling for protections from proposed uranium mining in the area.

Earlier this week the department of interior ordered a 2 year ban on new mining and exploration.

Tribal groups say the ban should include some 10 thousand existing mining proposals as well.

Christina Aanestad files this report from Arizona.

http://www.fsrn.org/audio/arizona-tribes-push-back-against-uranium-mining-native-land/5110

The Navajo Nation and Uranium Mining

Comment: Just say no to All Uranium Mining, it just ruins people lives but makes Corporation Rich!!

Impacts of Resource Development on Native American Lands

This page was written by Erin Klauk as part of the DLESE Community Services Project: Integrating Research in Education.

Details

While the Navajo were struggling economically during the nuclear age, uranium was discovered on their reservation. Uneducated about the environmental and health risks from mining uranium, many Navajo men were thankful to have found work so close to home ([Brugge, 2000] ). This was the beginning of hardships that were previously unknown to the Navajo people. Today, more than 50 years later, the Navajo are still feeling the effects from uranium mining.

To get started, view pages, or follow the links below to pages that have been developed to illustrate the events that occurred on the Navajo Nation due to uranium mining:

http://serc.carleton.edu/research_education/nativelands/navajo/index.html

Physiography - Explore the physiography and landforms of the Navajo Nation.

Geology - Explore the geology of the Navajo Nation including geologic maps, the tectonic setting, bedrock and major structures.

Hydrology - Explore the surface water and groundwater quality and quantity on the Navajo Nation.

Climate and Biota - Explore the climate, flora and fauna of the Navajo Nation.

Cultural Heritage - Explore the culture of the Navajo including the traditional land and lifestyle, history and mode of living.

Uranium Deposits - Explore resources about uranium and uranium deposits specific to the Navajo Nation.

Exploration and Development History - Explore the discovery history, extraction methods, and development and production history of uranium mining on the Navajo Nation.

Environmental Impacts - Explore the impacts to air, land and water due to uranium mining on the Navajo Nation.

Human Health Impacts - Explore the impacts on human health due to uranium mining on the Navajo Nation.

Policy - Explore political issues related to uranium mining on the Navajo Nation.

What's Next? - Explore the mining issues that have occurred recently on the Navajo Nation.

Listen to Navajo Nation Pushes for Uranium Cleanup by Ted Robbins, broadcast on National Public Radio May 30, 2008.

http://serc.carleton.edu/research_education/nativelands/navajo/index.html