Church Rock, NM
Comment: Now look at the following statement: "NRC's decision under the Atomic Energy Act", this is so wrong! The Federal gov't use this lame excuse during WWII to blow up Japan (then brought back our military people and exposed the to the Nuke Bombs and so the gov't used the Japanese and Americans as experiments)! Now the NRC is using "NRC's decision under the Atomic Energy Act" for more Nuke Power, where the Nukes Lobbyist are giving out cash to our so call leaders and encouraging the gov't to get the taxpayers to fund Nuke Power and mine uranium throughout America and exposed the citizens to more poison for the sake of $$$$$$$$$$$$$Greed$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!!!!!!!!!! Demand the leaders of America that people of the US do not want Nuke plants or uranium mining, we want clean energy and it will not kill us in the end!
Caitlin Sislin
Mar 26, 2010
08:49 AM
Earlier this month, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals approved a controversial permit for uranium mining operations at sites in Church Rock, New Mexico. The operation includes a site associated with the largest release of liquid radioactive waste in United States History -- a catastrophe which continues, a generation later, to negatively impact the lives and health of Navajo people residing near the spill site.
Over a decade after Navajo leaders and community groups first challenged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) issuance of a mining permit to Hydro Resources, Inc. (HRI) for uranium extraction in Church Rock, the appellate court decided on March 8th to uphold the NRC's decision.
The court rejected the plaintiffs' argument that since the site already emits more radiation than federal regulations allow, a license for a new operation is impermissible because even the most miniscule amounts of new radiation emitted would exceed regulatory limits.
Instead, the court affirmed both the NRC's decision under the Atomic Energy Act to only review an isolated portion of radiation from the site, as well as its corollary finding that the cumulative impacts of radiation emitted from the site are acceptable under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
As Judge Lucero points out, the 10th Circuit's decision fails to acknowledge the acutely negative cumulative impacts that re-initiation of mining operations will have on communities living near the mine site -- especially given the disastrous result of uranium mining at the very same site 30 years ago.
In 1979, the Church Rock Mine's tailings dam failed, sending 94 million gallons of heavy metal effluent and radioactive waste into the Rio Puerco, which was once known as Tó Nizhóní ("beautiful water") to the local Navajo community.
This spill caused and continues to cause cancer, birth defects, disruptions of the immune and endocrine systems, and other interferences with human physiological systems among the local Navajo, as well as major negative impacts to crucial resources such as livestock, water, and soil quality.
Because of this toxic legacy, the Navajo Nation's leadership passed the Dine Natural Resources Protection Act in 2005, banning uranium mining. The nearby Havasupai tribe banned uranium mining as early as 1991, and the Hualapai tribe renewed a similar ban on uranium mining in its land in 2009.
Caitlin Sislin, Esq. is the Advocacy Director for Women's Earth Alliance, where she coordinates the Sacred Earth Advocacy Network -- a network of pro bono legal and policy advocates in collaboration with indigenous women environmental justice leaders. For more information about participating in the Advocacy Network as a pro bono advocate, or our three 2010 Advocacy Delegations, please contact Caitlin at Caitlin@womensearthalliance.org.
Read more:
http://www.hcn.org/hcn/greenjustice/blog/toxic-legacy-for-tribes
