7th Southwest Indigenous Uranium Forum

october 22, 23, 24 2009
Sky City hotel & casino
I- 40 at Exit 102, Acoma Pueblo, NM

Featuring:

Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe) is an internationally renowned activist working on issues of sustainable development, renewable energy and food systems. She lives and works on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota, and is a two time vice presidential candidate with Ralph Nader for the Green Party. As Program Director of the Honor the Earth, she works nationally and internationally on the issues of climate change, renewable energy, and environmental justice with Indigenous communities. Winona LaDuke will be speaking at the Southwest Indigenous Uranium Forum on Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 9AM.

The 7th Indigenous Uranium Forum proposes to focus much needed public attention on the rape of Mount Taylor and to serve as a vehicle to launch a regional inter-tribal campaign to end this madness in the Grants Mineral Belt, Lakota Lands, and elsewhere in Indian Country from the Grand Canyon to White Mesa where deadly and runaway uranium technology threatens the lives of future of our water, land, people, and our winged, four legged and those that crawl relatives.

The 7th Southwest Indigenous Uranium Forum we will focus on the recent onslaught of exploratory measures to mine and mill uranium in the Grants Mineral Belt. Due to recent price fluctuations of uranium on the world market and United States energy policy still emphasizing nuclear power as an answer to global warming and climate change, we will inform and educate participants of local, national and international nuclear issues impacting Indigenous peoples. The forum will also prioritize presentations on health issues impacting both mining and non-mining populations living in contaminated communities. We will use the forum as an organizing and network initiative to help us better understand the work Indigenous people are doing to fight nuclear power in their communities and move toward alternative forms of energy such as wind and solar.

Set in the stunning landscape of Utah's Monument Valley, this unforgettable, universally acclaimed documentary chronicles the extraordinary saga of how a rediscovered 1950s silent film reel leads to the return of a long-lost brother to his Navajo family. Since the 1930s, members of the Cly family have lived in Monument Valley and appeared as subjects in countless photographs, postcards, and Hollywood westerns -- even in a home movie by legendary director John Ford and a propaganda film by a uranium mining company. The film "The Return of Navajo Boy" will be screened at the Forum Friday, October 23, 2009 at 7PM.

Special acknowledgement to the following supporters:

7th Generation Fund
Lannan Foundation
Western Mining Action Network
Bioneers
Available Media, Inc.
Beyond Nuclear
Phil Harrison, Navajo Nation Council Delegate (Cove & Red Valley)

History of Forum:

November 2006 saw the birth of Indigie Femme. Based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA international performers Indigie Femme combines their traditional and original songs, dance and storytelling, Indigie Femme’s vision is to create global cross-cultural exchange. The lively performances weave ethnic cultures through song, dance, storytelling and facilitating educational workshops in North America and the world. Indigie Femme will be performing at the Forum Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 5PM.

http://www.siuf.net/index.html

Uranium mining cleanup report derailed

Comment: What do you think about the first sentence in the article: "Is contamination from past uranium mining well or bad for New Mexico??” Well, duh, it is bad for the people unless you are in the Uranium Mining Corporations pockets? The article may be Virginia's future if the lawmakers of this state allow uranium mining! Demand our Virginia leaders to ban uranium mining and milling now before our future look like New Mexico's polluting past uranium mining! Oh, what is this secret study: "Dine Kidney Study"?

Posted on September 10th, 2009
by tdingmann

Is contamination from past uranium mining good or bad for New Mexico?

Apparently, some members of the New Mexico State Legislature’s interim Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee aren’t so sure.

The committee held a hearing today at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque to discuss the legacy of past uranium mining in New Mexico.

Members spent much of the day-long meeting hearing grim reports from local, state and federal officials about uranium mining in New Mexico and the deep and lasting contamination it has left behind in the water, air and soil. Reports included recaps of the extensive efforts to measure and manage hundreds of contamination sites in New Mexico – and an accounting of many more than have yet to be remediated or reclaimed.

As part of the meeting, the committee heard recommendations from the legislature’s Uranium Policy Subcommittee, which, as co-chair Sen. Lynda Lovejoy (D-Crownpoint) noted, recently held a two-day hearing to gather the input of “all the stakeholders” in the uranium contamination issue, whether they be policymakers, mining companies, landowners or people who believe they’ve suffered from health concerns because of contamination.

The subcommittees’ recommendations, as listed in a report drafted by the Legislative Council Service, included such measures as enlisting Gov. Bill Richardson’s help during the next legislative session; enlisting the state’s congressional delegation’s help in asking Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to help free up federal money for uranium cleanup; ordering a National Academy of Sciences study for the reclamation of uranium mines and remediation of groundwater contamination caused by uranium mining and milling – all fairly innocuous and long-overdue measures to address an industry that’s been proven to be responsible for an enormous amount of contamination in New Mexico.

But the subcommittee’s recommendations were stopped in their tracks when subcommittee member Sen. Vernon Asbill (R-Carlsbad), said he didn’t remember the subcommittee reaching consensus on all of the recommendations.

Two of the items in particular drew the most discussion. The first was “continuing to seek the enactment of S.796, the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2009.” A bit of background on this federal bill – it would update the federal Mining Act of 1872 by adding uranium mining to the list of mining industries regulated by federal authorities. The uranium industry claims updating the bill would shut down new uranium mining completely – advocates, many in Congress and many state officials say it would simply make uranium mining subject to the same federal standards that apply to the mining of any other natural resource.

The second item in dispute was asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to review cleanup and groundwater plans and the background levels of aquifers affected by uranium mining and seeking to make sure that current and long-term plans for reclamation and maintenance provide protection from containment on a level “equivalent to or more stringent than” than that currently required by federal EPA standards.

After much discussion about the two items – led mostly by Sen. Rod Adair, R-Roswell, who said he was “concerned” about the lack of consensus by the subcommittee on all of the items as well as the “prejudicial” language of some of the items regarding uranium mining – the subcommittee agreed to delete the two disputed items. The Legislative Council Service was directed to re-draft the report and resubmit it to the subcommittee, who will meet again and then present it to the larger committee for approval.

So, by delaying the report, the Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee effectively called into question the point of everything that had already been established in the reports it heard all day during its own hearing – that is, New Mexico has a huge uranium contamination problem with serious health effects on its people and needs an enormous amount of national attention and federal help to get it cleaned up.

That’s the report so far, and the committee hasn’t even gotten to half of the items on the agenda yet.

This afternoon the committee will hear more detailed reports on the health effects and legacy of uranium mining, including the never-before-released Dine Kidney Study, the results of which is scheduled to be revealed near the end of the meeting.

http://www.clearlynewmexico.com/?p=2578

Uranium's legacy

Aerial photo of NE Church Rock Mine, Photo: United Nuclear Corporation (UNC)

Comment: Please read all three articles about the problems that are still haunting our families out west from uranium mining more that 30-40 years ago. The uranium companies and the federal government just left the people out west with a uranium nightmare. Virginia is in bed with the French and the Canadians nuke bunch and will let them come to Virginia and ruin our countryside with open pit uranium mine plus a uranium mill and a bunch of nuke plants! People of Virginia, tell the so call Virginia leaders to ban uranium mining and milling NOW!

Gallup Independent
By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

Red Water Pond Road residents prepare for relocation

CHURCHROCK — General Electric and its subsidiary United Nuclear Corp. are preparing to spend $5 million to remove about 97,000 cubic yards of radium-contaminated soil from around three households on Red Water Pond Road and an unnamed arroyo next to the former Northeast Churchrock Mine.

Seven Navajo families live in the three households, but for the next five months they are facing “relocation” to apartments in Gallup as part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s interim removal action.


Northeast Churchrock Mine cleanup plan under fire

Gallup Independent
By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

CHURCHROCK — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency presented its cleanup plan for Northeast Churchrock Mine to a lively group of concerned individuals and Navajo Environmental Protection Agency officials Tuesday evening at Churchrock Chapter House.

Andrew Bain, remedial project manager with EPA’s Superfund Division, fielded questions regarding its preferred cleanup alternative which calls for excavation of all mine waste soil and sediments exceeding 2.24 picocuries per gram of radium and consolidating them in a disposal cell on the United Nuclear Corp. mill site, or constructing a new cell at the mill.

Addressing Uranium Contaminationin the Navajo Nation

Northeast Church Rock Mine (NECR)


Gallup, New Mexico, NECR is the highest priority abandoned mine cleanup in the Navajo Nation. The mine adjoins the United Nuclear Corporation (UNC) uranium mill site, a Superfund site managed jointly by EPA Region 6 and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The mine is mostly on Navajo tribal trust land, while the mill is on private fee land. At the request of the Navajo Nation, EPA is using Superfund authority to investigate and clean up the NECR mine site, in coordination with the existing adjacent Superfund site clean up.

After identifying a large volume of radium-contaminated soil, in 2007 EPA took emergency action to remove 6,500 cubic yards of soils from around four residences with the highest contamination levels. EPA spent $990,000 on the excavation, and required UNC to safely dispose of the soils at an additional cost of $1.3 million.

To address the long-term threats from the NECR Mine, EPA developed a removal plan in spring 2008. EPA developed an Engineering Evaluation and Cost Analysis (EE/CA) report that proposes potential remedies for the mine site and will hold a 30-day public comment period in the spring of 2009. A remedy will then be selected out of this process for the eventual mine cleanup.

For more information about Superfund activities at this site, see North East Church Rock Mine Cleanup.

http://www.epa.gov/region09/superfund/navajo-nation/ne-church-rock-mine.html

Uranium mining firm asks for appeals court review

Comment: In-situ leaching uranium mining is not modern uranium mining, it has been done in Europe years ago, and it ruins the water! The uranium groups are not truthful and have little regards to Native Americans whose lives are ruin from past uranium mining! Uranium Mining groups are just greedy dirt daubers!
Written by HEATHER CLARK

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – A uranium mining company has asked a federal appeals court to review an April decision that a proposed uranium mine site in western New Mexico is on American Indian land.

Lewisville, Texas-based Uranium Resource Inc. said Monday it asked the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver for an “en banc review” of the decision that sided with the Environmental Protection Agency. Monday was the deadline for making the request.

A 2-1 decision made on April 17 by a three-judge panel requires URI subsidiary Hydro Resources Inc. to obtain a groundwater injection permit from the Environmental Protection Agency, which delays the company’s plans to mine for uranium near Church Rock. The company already has a state groundwater injection permit.

Hydro Resources Inc. had challenged an EPA ruling that the mine site was on Indian land. The site is surrounded by the Navajo Nation.

“Our objective remains to resolve issues with the Navajo Nation regarding uranium mining in New Mexico, so we can be well positioned to begin production as quickly and as safely as possible,” URI president and chief executive, Dave Clark, said in a news release.

An en banc review would bring the case before 12 circuit court judges, but the court could always reject the request.

Rick Van Horn, vice president of URI, said the company hopes the judges will reconsider the April ruling.

“The way the opinion was written, it looked like we had a chance of doing something with it,” Van Horn said in a telephone interview from Kingsville, Texas.

If the court fails to review the case, Van Horn said his company’s plans are to obtain the EPA permit, but doing so would delay the project by six to 18 months. It is the last permit needed before mining can begin.

URI, which has a license to mine 15 million pounds of uranium, could be producing within 18 months to two years using the state groundwater injection permit it already has, he said, if the Navajo Nation would lift a ban on uranium mining.

“We would much rather settle this with the Native Americans and go forward so we can just start mining,” he said.

Many Navajos oppose renewed uranium mining in northwestern New Mexico because they suffered health and environmental problems during previous uranium mining booms in the 1960s and 1970s.

But Van Horn has maintained methods of mining have improved in recent decades and his company is committed to environmental protection and the safety of its employees.

“We continue to meet with members of the Nation and I believe we are making some progress” on resolving their concerns, he said.

Telephone calls to a spokesman for Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. were not immediately returned Monday.

A senior attorney with the Navajo Department of Justice’s Natural Resources Unit who has previously commented on the case has said the tribe wants the EPA rather than the state to have jurisdiction over groundwater at the proposed mine because the federal government has a higher obligation to protect the interests of American Indians.

Hydro Resources, which owns the surface and mineral rights, wants to inject chemicals into the ground to release uranium and pump the solution to the surface in a process called in-situ leaching.

The company had sought a permit from New Mexico in 2005 to operate the mine, but the state asked the EPA to make a decision on the status of the land.

Hydro Resources has argued the site, known as Section 8, isn’t legally part of the Navajo reservation and is private land. But the appellate panel determined that the EPA was correct in designation the land as Indian Country.

The Church Rock chapter was set aside by the federal government, which bought land from the Santa Fe Pacific Railroad Company in the 1920s and gave some parcels to individual Navajos and placed others into a trust for the Navajo Nation.

http://nativetimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1925&Itemid=55

NM panel votes to protect Mount Taylor

Comment: We need to register the Bannister River as a Protected Area, it has rare flowers, fossils, and Native American Fish Weir!!!

Posted on Fri, Jun. 05, 2009
By HEATHER CLARK
Associated Press Writer

The cultural and natural resources of New Mexico's Mount Taylor will now be protected by the state, ending a yearlong battle between American Indians and landowners all concerned about preserving their rights to use the mountain without interference.

A state committee voted unanimously Friday to list the mountain on the State Register of Cultural Properties, a state spokesman said.

The mountain, which as many as 30 Indian tribes consider sacred, is threatened by exploration and proposals for uranium mining. The mountain was listed among America's 11 most endangered historic places for 2009, which is compiled by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The protected area includes nearly 540 square miles around the 11,301-foot summit of the western New Mexico mountain down to surrounding mesa tops.

Within the designated property are 316,456 cultural resources that are important for the tribes, including pilgrimage trails, shrines, archaeological sites, burial sites, petroglyphs and other artwork as well as natural resources, including places where minerals and plants are gathered.

It excludes private property within the boundary, a news release from the Historical Preservation Division said.

Five tribes - the pueblos of Acoma, Zuni and Laguna, the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe in Arizona - nominated the protected area and worked to show why it should be preserved.

"It's a historic day for all of us, all the five nominating tribes. We're very ecstatic and very grateful," Laguna Pueblo Gov. John Antonio Sr. told The Associated Press by telephone after the meeting.

But landowners and other residents of Grants, N.M., who fought the designation feared it would inhibit their ability to visit the mountain and limit what private landowners could do on their property.

"It's a huge blow to private property rights and owners," said Marron Lee Nelson, whose family owns the largest piece of private property on Mount Taylor. "I do think lawsuits will be coming."
The debate over the designation increased racial tension between American Indians and whites in the area, some residents told the committee last month.

But tribal leaders moved quickly to assure residents that the designation would benefit everyone and that they never intended to limit access to the mountain.

"We are not taking over the mountain. We are not going to take the mountain away from anybody," Gov. Chandler Sanchez of Acoma Pueblo said.

© 2009 Kansas City Star and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.kansascity.com

http://www.kansascity.com/440/story/1236268.html

Firm plans to drill for uranium near Datil

Comment: More uranium drill holes, this time in NM, where is the uranium going if no new nuke plants?

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Firm plans to drill for uranium near Datil

T.S. Last El Defensor Chieftain General Manager

There's more talk of drilling in Catron County. But this time it's not for water; it's for uranium.

The matter came up at the Magdalena Board of Trustees meeting on April 27.

For informational purposes, Mayor James Wolfe notified the board of a plan to conduct uranium mineral exploration about 15 miles north of Datil.

The plan calls for up to 60 exploratory core holes to be drilled to depths of 250-400 feet in the Cibola National Forest on the west side of the Datil Mountains. The drilling would be completed in the fall of this year.

"It's not that big a deal for us, but it might be for some folks," said Wolfe. The Village of Magdalena is about 34 miles east of Datil.

Among the material the mayor passed on to the trustees to review was a letter from Dennis Aldridge, district ranger with the Magdalena Ranger District. The letter indicates that Red Basin LLC plans to drill the holes for the purpose of confirming exploration data from the 1970s and that the Forest Service is conducting an environmental analysis to gauge the potential impact.

The letter notes that the Forest Service cannot prohibit mining activities in the national forest.

It goes on to warn that mining activities have negatively impacted human health and the environment in the past.

"Uranium is a locatable mineral that is available for exploration and development under the mining laws of the United States," Aldridge wrote in the document, dated April 20. "It is widely recognized that uranium mining activities in New Mexico during the mid-1950s through the early 1980s were sometimes conducted in a manner that created health issues and contaminated environments."

Aldridge writes that it is the agency's responsibility to assure that the impact exploration efforts have on surface resources are minimized. The letter requests that written comments that serve to identify issues and alternatives be sent to the Cibola National Forest office in Albuquerque by Friday, May 22.

Red Basin LLC is a subsidiary of Strategic Resources Inc., a Canadian company working in partnership with another Canadian firm, Running Fox Resources.

According to Strategic Resources' Web site, Running Fox acquired lode claims totaling 3,100 acres in Catron County in 2007.

Catron County is already in the midst of another controversial drilling proposal.

San Augustin Plains Ranch LLC has filed an application with the State Engineer's Office to drill 37 wells for the purpose of diverting billions of gallons of water per year from beneath the San Agustin Plains to supplement the water supply in the Rio Grande Basin.

The application was met with hundreds of protests from citizens and various other entities and is still pending.

tslast@dchieftain.com

http://www.dchieftain.com/news/88877-05-09-09.html