Defenders of the Black Hills current aerial photo link to Crow Butte Resources In Situ Leach Uranium Mine.
Sure doesn't look like minimal impact to me but of course I am not a scientist with degrees in tomfoolery so this is just my opinion.
But again it does show just how expansive the ISR/ISL well field will be and it should doesn't look like minimal impact. I wonder what effect this has on the wildlife?
Showing posts with label mining. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mining. Show all posts
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Defenders of the Black Hills Announcements
Uranium Hearing in Rapid City, SD
April 2 and 3, 2008 - Wed. and Thurs. 8:30 AM (MDST)
On March 12, 2008, the SD Water Management Board held a hearing in Pierre, SD, on changes to the rules for Chapter 74:55:01 - 74:55:01:61 Underground Injection Control -- Class III Wells. The changes are being made to coincide with the changes that the Board of Minerals made last year to accommodate 'In Situ Leach' uranium mining. However, as the Board violated state law in cutting off the time for submitting written comments to three weeks before the hearing, a continuation was sought and obtained.
The Water Management Board has continued the hearing for April 2 & 3, 2008, in the Angostura and Deerfield Rooms at theRadisson Hotel on Mount Rushmore Road and Main St., Rapid City, SD. The Hearing will begin at 8:30 AM with a presentation on ISL Uranium Mining by Powertech Uranium Mining Company. General comments and specific comments for changes to the rules will follow. The Board is asking that spokespersons for groups present their comments and not repeat what has been stated previously.
One of the most important rules being considered is 74:55:01:24, Designation of exempted aquifers. With a ten year drought in the Region, with changing weather patterns and global warming, it is very important to maintain underground sources of water for the years to come. We strongly encourage everyone to ask for a copy of the rules by calling 605-773-3296, on the Internet at http://www.state.sd.us/denr/DES/Ground/grundprg.htm
We also ask as many people as possible to attend this hearing to show your support for keeping our groundwater intact and unpolluted with disturbed uranium. In every place in the world where groundwater has been disturbed for In Situ Leach uranium mining, the groundwater has NOT been able to be restored to its previous condition.
THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT MEETING FOR THE FUTURE OF THE REGION'S GROUNDWATER SOURCES.
Remember, water = life.
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April 1 - Hearing - Stark County Commissioners
Dickinson, ND - 8:30 AM
To determine zoning change from agricultural to industrial for mining coal and uranium. All down winders urged to attend to keep the air and water safe.
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IMPORTANT --URGENT!!
Rochford Road Announcement
The Pennington County Highway Department held a meeting regarding the reconstruction of South Rochford Road at Hill City, SD, on Monday, March 3, 2008, at 6:30 pm. This project runs from Deerfield Lake to the village of Rochford passing through the middle of Reynolds Prairie, or the Pe Sla, one of the most important and sacred Lakota annual pilgrimage sites. Currently it is a gravel road but the plans are to asphalt eleven (11) miles of road with $7.5 million dollars. If the road is blacktopped, housing development and increased traffic will occur. The Hill City Chamber of Commerce is pushing this project.
Although this project is located on 80% federal land and is funded 80% by federal dollars, the federal NEPA process has not been started. The federal NEPA process should handle this project. Please send letters to the Rapid City Journal urging the federal agencies, the US Federal Highway Administration and the US Forest Service, Custer SD Office, to begin the NEPA process to protect this sacred place and the environment. Thank you.
********************************************************************************************
An International Commemoration of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868
April 12, 2008
9:00 AM -5:00PM (MDST)
Mother Butler Center, 221 Knollwood Drive
Rapid City, SD
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
In memory of Akicita Cikala (Garfield Grassrope) and Oyate Olotapi (Tony Black Feather)
Teton Sioux Nation Treaty Council delegates to the United Nations
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Agenda
Honoring Ceremony
International Report on United Nations Activities
Discussion on Trans Canada Keystone Pipeline
Discussion on Long Term Plans for Bear Butte
Discussion on a Special Meeting on Decolonization
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Noon meal to be provided.
Donations welcome. Salads, desserts, drinks for the noon meal welcome.
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Sponsored by Defenders of the Black Hills on behalf of the Teton Sioux Nation Treaty Council
Email: bhdefenders@msn.com Phone: 605-399-1868
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PRESS RELEASE
March 17, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ORGANIZATIONS FROM FIVE STATES JOIN TOGETHER
TO ADDRESS PROPOSED URANIUM MINING
CASPER, WY - Organizations from Wyoming, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, and Colorado met in Casper, WY, on Saturday, March 15, to discuss their joint concerns about uranium mining in the Northern Great Plains. Citizens from ten organizations are voicing their concerns about surface and ground water, human health, and local property values.
Defenders of the Black Hills, South Dakota Sierra Club, and ACTion for the Environment attended from South Dakota, which faces mining proposals along the southern Black Hills. The Powder River Basin Resource Council and Biodiversity Conservation Alliance came from Wyoming, where exploratory and mining permits have been applied for in the state. Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction traveled from the northern part of Colorado where uranium mining is also proposed near Fort Collins. Western Nebraska Resources Council, Nebraskans for Peace, and Nebraska Sierra Club arrived from northwest Nebraska where Crow Butte Resources is seeking to expand their uranium mining operations. Members of Dakota Resource Council from northwestern North Dakota are also facing new plans for uranium mining in their part of that state.
In all five states, companies plan to use 'in situ' leach mining (ISL) which injects a dissolving solution underground into suspected uranium deposits. The solution dissolves the uranium and its radioactive decay products, as well as heavy metals. This radioactive solution is pumped to the surface. The uranium is then removed and shipped to a mill for concentration into "yellowcake." The water is re-treated and then injected back underground in a cycle that continues until all the uranium has been extracted. Reverse osmosis is then often used to remove some of the toxics from the water, and the remaining liquid is either injected underground or retained in shallow ponds. Numerous uranium mining companies are making plans throughout the West as a result of recent increases in the price of uranium.
"In Wyoming, there are significant questions about regulation and oversight of uranium operations," according to Wilma Tope, Powder River Basin Resource Council Board Member. "Citizens need to have a stronger voice in uranium activities." Wilma's family owns a ranch in Crook County, WY, and has banded together with other local residents to pressure regulators to ensure adequate protection of local water supplies - both quality and quantity.
In South Dakota, Powertech Uranium Corporation has started drilling more uranium exploratory wells in an area where they already have 4,000 wells in the southwestern Black Hills. "It's already been proven world-wide that ISL mining contaminates aquifers and then those aquifers cannot be restored to their previous state," said Charmaine White Face, Coordinator for Defenders of the Black Hills. "South Dakota relies very heavily on aquifers for drinking water and livestock use. We've been in a drought for the last ten years and the last thing we need to do is poison our water," she said.
ACTion for the Environment is very concerned that South Dakota taxpayers will once again have to take on the toxic messes that are left when a mining company leaves as happened previously with Canadian companies. Powertech is a Canadian company. "The Board of Minerals and Environment should remember what happened when they gave approval for the Brohm gold mine. Now SD people are paying for that mess. Are we going to have to pay for a radioactive mess left by another Canadian company?" said Gary Heckenliable of ACTion for the Environment. "Not only South Dakota residents but all the taxpayers of the United States are going to have to pay for this for many, many years to come," he said.
Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction (CARD), formed last year in response to Powertech's proposal to mine in the rapidly-growing area near Fort Collins. "Of course uranium mining always causes some form of contamination. Water at in situ leach mining sites is not returned to its original condition," said Jackie Adolph, a member of CARD. "Most people don't know that federal policies that subsidize the nuclear industry aren't just about power plants. The nuclear industry's largest negative impacts have always been in uranium mining and milling processes."
In Nebraska, Crow Butte Resources (a subsidiary of the Canadian company Cameco Corp.) is seeking to expand one the largest and oldest ISL mines in the country. Organizations have intervened in the NRC's licensing procedures. "We are particularly concerned about protection of local water supplies and cultural resources," said Buffalo Bruce, Vice Chair of the Western Nebraska Resources Council. "The NRC has failed to fulfill its duties under the Trust Doctrine, which protects indigenous rights granted to Native American populations under U.S. treaties."
North Dakota just recently started public hearings to accept comments on ISL mining in that state. Ken Kudrna, a member of Dakota Resource Council, lives only a few miles from where uranium mining is planned to begin.
The groups have issued a common statement:
"We want the uranium industry to know that we stand together on this issue. Whether in a rural setting or a populated area, uranium mining causes radioactive contamination. Past uranium sites continue to contaminate the air, land, and water. Any bonds designed to pay for clean-up of former mining areas have not been sufficient, and taxpayers have been forced to pay the bill. We call on the public and all elected officials to do everything possible to protect the water, land, and local economies from proposed uranium activities."
More information can be found at:
Defenders of the Black Hills: www.defendblackhills.org
Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction: www.nunnglow.com
Powder River Basin Resource Council: www.powderriverbasin.org
Nebraskans for Peace: http://www.nebraskansforpeace.org/
Contact: Charmaine White Face: (605) 399-1868 Shannon Anderson: (307) 763-1816
April 2 and 3, 2008 - Wed. and Thurs. 8:30 AM (MDST)
On March 12, 2008, the SD Water Management Board held a hearing in Pierre, SD, on changes to the rules for Chapter 74:55:01 - 74:55:01:61 Underground Injection Control -- Class III Wells. The changes are being made to coincide with the changes that the Board of Minerals made last year to accommodate 'In Situ Leach' uranium mining. However, as the Board violated state law in cutting off the time for submitting written comments to three weeks before the hearing, a continuation was sought and obtained.
The Water Management Board has continued the hearing for April 2 & 3, 2008, in the Angostura and Deerfield Rooms at theRadisson Hotel on Mount Rushmore Road and Main St., Rapid City, SD. The Hearing will begin at 8:30 AM with a presentation on ISL Uranium Mining by Powertech Uranium Mining Company. General comments and specific comments for changes to the rules will follow. The Board is asking that spokespersons for groups present their comments and not repeat what has been stated previously.
One of the most important rules being considered is 74:55:01:24, Designation of exempted aquifers. With a ten year drought in the Region, with changing weather patterns and global warming, it is very important to maintain underground sources of water for the years to come. We strongly encourage everyone to ask for a copy of the rules by calling 605-773-3296, on the Internet at http://www.state.sd.us/denr/DES/Ground/grundprg.htm
We also ask as many people as possible to attend this hearing to show your support for keeping our groundwater intact and unpolluted with disturbed uranium. In every place in the world where groundwater has been disturbed for In Situ Leach uranium mining, the groundwater has NOT been able to be restored to its previous condition.
THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT MEETING FOR THE FUTURE OF THE REGION'S GROUNDWATER SOURCES.
Remember, water = life.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
April 1 - Hearing - Stark County Commissioners
Dickinson, ND - 8:30 AM
To determine zoning change from agricultural to industrial for mining coal and uranium. All down winders urged to attend to keep the air and water safe.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IMPORTANT --URGENT!!
Rochford Road Announcement
The Pennington County Highway Department held a meeting regarding the reconstruction of South Rochford Road at Hill City, SD, on Monday, March 3, 2008, at 6:30 pm. This project runs from Deerfield Lake to the village of Rochford passing through the middle of Reynolds Prairie, or the Pe Sla, one of the most important and sacred Lakota annual pilgrimage sites. Currently it is a gravel road but the plans are to asphalt eleven (11) miles of road with $7.5 million dollars. If the road is blacktopped, housing development and increased traffic will occur. The Hill City Chamber of Commerce is pushing this project.
Although this project is located on 80% federal land and is funded 80% by federal dollars, the federal NEPA process has not been started. The federal NEPA process should handle this project. Please send letters to the Rapid City Journal urging the federal agencies, the US Federal Highway Administration and the US Forest Service, Custer SD Office, to begin the NEPA process to protect this sacred place and the environment. Thank you.
********************************************************************************************
An International Commemoration of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868
April 12, 2008
9:00 AM -5:00PM (MDST)
Mother Butler Center, 221 Knollwood Drive
Rapid City, SD
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
In memory of Akicita Cikala (Garfield Grassrope) and Oyate Olotapi (Tony Black Feather)
Teton Sioux Nation Treaty Council delegates to the United Nations
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Agenda
Honoring Ceremony
International Report on United Nations Activities
Discussion on Trans Canada Keystone Pipeline
Discussion on Long Term Plans for Bear Butte
Discussion on a Special Meeting on Decolonization
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Noon meal to be provided.
Donations welcome. Salads, desserts, drinks for the noon meal welcome.
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Sponsored by Defenders of the Black Hills on behalf of the Teton Sioux Nation Treaty Council
Email: bhdefenders@msn.com Phone: 605-399-1868
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PRESS RELEASE
March 17, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ORGANIZATIONS FROM FIVE STATES JOIN TOGETHER
TO ADDRESS PROPOSED URANIUM MINING
CASPER, WY - Organizations from Wyoming, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, and Colorado met in Casper, WY, on Saturday, March 15, to discuss their joint concerns about uranium mining in the Northern Great Plains. Citizens from ten organizations are voicing their concerns about surface and ground water, human health, and local property values.
Defenders of the Black Hills, South Dakota Sierra Club, and ACTion for the Environment attended from South Dakota, which faces mining proposals along the southern Black Hills. The Powder River Basin Resource Council and Biodiversity Conservation Alliance came from Wyoming, where exploratory and mining permits have been applied for in the state. Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction traveled from the northern part of Colorado where uranium mining is also proposed near Fort Collins. Western Nebraska Resources Council, Nebraskans for Peace, and Nebraska Sierra Club arrived from northwest Nebraska where Crow Butte Resources is seeking to expand their uranium mining operations. Members of Dakota Resource Council from northwestern North Dakota are also facing new plans for uranium mining in their part of that state.
In all five states, companies plan to use 'in situ' leach mining (ISL) which injects a dissolving solution underground into suspected uranium deposits. The solution dissolves the uranium and its radioactive decay products, as well as heavy metals. This radioactive solution is pumped to the surface. The uranium is then removed and shipped to a mill for concentration into "yellowcake." The water is re-treated and then injected back underground in a cycle that continues until all the uranium has been extracted. Reverse osmosis is then often used to remove some of the toxics from the water, and the remaining liquid is either injected underground or retained in shallow ponds. Numerous uranium mining companies are making plans throughout the West as a result of recent increases in the price of uranium.
"In Wyoming, there are significant questions about regulation and oversight of uranium operations," according to Wilma Tope, Powder River Basin Resource Council Board Member. "Citizens need to have a stronger voice in uranium activities." Wilma's family owns a ranch in Crook County, WY, and has banded together with other local residents to pressure regulators to ensure adequate protection of local water supplies - both quality and quantity.
In South Dakota, Powertech Uranium Corporation has started drilling more uranium exploratory wells in an area where they already have 4,000 wells in the southwestern Black Hills. "It's already been proven world-wide that ISL mining contaminates aquifers and then those aquifers cannot be restored to their previous state," said Charmaine White Face, Coordinator for Defenders of the Black Hills. "South Dakota relies very heavily on aquifers for drinking water and livestock use. We've been in a drought for the last ten years and the last thing we need to do is poison our water," she said.
ACTion for the Environment is very concerned that South Dakota taxpayers will once again have to take on the toxic messes that are left when a mining company leaves as happened previously with Canadian companies. Powertech is a Canadian company. "The Board of Minerals and Environment should remember what happened when they gave approval for the Brohm gold mine. Now SD people are paying for that mess. Are we going to have to pay for a radioactive mess left by another Canadian company?" said Gary Heckenliable of ACTion for the Environment. "Not only South Dakota residents but all the taxpayers of the United States are going to have to pay for this for many, many years to come," he said.
Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction (CARD), formed last year in response to Powertech's proposal to mine in the rapidly-growing area near Fort Collins. "Of course uranium mining always causes some form of contamination. Water at in situ leach mining sites is not returned to its original condition," said Jackie Adolph, a member of CARD. "Most people don't know that federal policies that subsidize the nuclear industry aren't just about power plants. The nuclear industry's largest negative impacts have always been in uranium mining and milling processes."
In Nebraska, Crow Butte Resources (a subsidiary of the Canadian company Cameco Corp.) is seeking to expand one the largest and oldest ISL mines in the country. Organizations have intervened in the NRC's licensing procedures. "We are particularly concerned about protection of local water supplies and cultural resources," said Buffalo Bruce, Vice Chair of the Western Nebraska Resources Council. "The NRC has failed to fulfill its duties under the Trust Doctrine, which protects indigenous rights granted to Native American populations under U.S. treaties."
North Dakota just recently started public hearings to accept comments on ISL mining in that state. Ken Kudrna, a member of Dakota Resource Council, lives only a few miles from where uranium mining is planned to begin.
The groups have issued a common statement:
"We want the uranium industry to know that we stand together on this issue. Whether in a rural setting or a populated area, uranium mining causes radioactive contamination. Past uranium sites continue to contaminate the air, land, and water. Any bonds designed to pay for clean-up of former mining areas have not been sufficient, and taxpayers have been forced to pay the bill. We call on the public and all elected officials to do everything possible to protect the water, land, and local economies from proposed uranium activities."
More information can be found at:
Defenders of the Black Hills: www.defendblackhills.org
Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction: www.nunnglow.com
Powder River Basin Resource Council: www.powderriverbasin.org
Nebraskans for Peace: http://www.nebraskansforpeace.org/
Contact: Charmaine White Face: (605) 399-1868 Shannon Anderson: (307) 763-1816
Friday, November 16, 2007
Uranium Impacts Native and non-Native Seek Justice
Bluewater Valley Downstream Alliance ? Church Rock Uranium Monitoring Project
Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining ? Laguna Acoma Coalition for a Safe Environment
Navajo Uranium Radiation Vicitms Committee
New Mexico Environmental Law Center ? Post '71 Uranium Workers Committee
Sierra Club Environmental Justice Office ? Southwest Research and Information Center
Press Release
For More Information:
Thursday Nov. 15, 2007
Mitchell Capitan, 505-786-5209
Linda Evers, 505-287-2304
Candace Head-Dylla, 505-401-4349
Chris Shuey, 505-262-1862
Robert Tohe, 928-774-6103
Grass-roots and nongovernmental organizations
seek justice for uranium impacts in meetings with members of Congress
WASHINGTON , DC — Representatives of grass-roots groups and nongovernmental organizations from New Mexico and Arizona told members of Congress last week that they want a federal moratorium on new uranium development in the region until the widespread environmental and public health damages from past mining and milling are resolved and workers and communities are fully compensated.
The organizations were in Washington, D.C. to participate in the Navajo Uranium Roundtable sponsored by Rep. Tom Udall of New Mexico, and co-hosted by Rep. Jim Matheson of Utah, Rep. Rick Renzi of Arizona, and Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr.
The groups, which represented communities in the Eastern Navajo Agency, Acoma and Laguna pueblos, and the Milan and Grants area, supported the Navajo Nation's requests for funding to clean up hundreds of abandoned mines in Navajo communities, fully compensate uranium workers, conduct health studies in uranium-impacted communities, and honor and respect the Navajo Nation's 2005 law banning uranium mining and processing in Navajo Country.
Speakers for the grassroots groups joined President Shirley, other Navajo Nation officials, and Laguna Pueblo Governor John E. Antonio, in calling for a federal moratorium on new uranium mining.
Mitchell Capitan, founder of Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining (ENDAUM), based in Crownpoint, said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is "tilted toward industry" and cannot be trusted to properly regulate uranium in situ leach (ISL) mines and new uranium mills. He charged that the NRC did not give fair consideration to ENDAUM's technical and legal arguments challenging NRC's 1998 licensing of Hydro Resources, Inc.'s (HRI) proposed ISL mines in Churchrock and Crownpoint. To illustrate his point, Capitan provided copies of a photo from the NRC's web site showing agency officials smiling and shaking hands with executives of a Wyoming uranium company, which had just submitted an application for a new ISL mine — long before the proposed facility is subjected to NRC staff review and approved by the Commission.
Larry J. King, an ENDAUM member and Churchrock Chapter resident, said his community recommends a federal uranium mine clean-up program that would address legacy sites throughout the West. He also called for Congress to force NRC to return to its mission to protect public health and safety. He cited an NRC ruling in 2006 that classified high levels of radiation from mining wastes at a proposed ISL site across the highway from his home as "background" radiation.
Robert Tohe, environmental justice organizer for the Sierra Club in Flagstaff , Ariz. , said Congress should give federal land management agencies the authority to deny exploration and mining permits on Native American sacred sites and in sacred places. He noted that several mining companies are exploring for uranium on and around Mt. Taylor , one of the four sacred mountains of the Navajo people and a sacred place for Acoma and Laguna pueblos.
Long-time Diné uranium worker advocate Phil Harrison, Jr., who is now a delegate to the Navajo Nation Council, and attorney Keith Killian of Grand Junction , Colorado , called on Congress to amend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) to address disparities in compensation awards between Native Americans and non-Indian uranium workers and downwinders. They said the range of compensable diseases should be expanded and attention given to the lack of compensation for dependents of former workers and people who lived, and still live, in mining-impacted communities.
Harrison, Paguate resident Alvino Waconda, and Milan residents Linda Evers and Liz Lucero, all of whom are former uranium workers, supported amending RECA to include people who worked in the uranium industry after 1971. Evers said her group has collected nearly 1,500 surveys of post-1971 uranium workers, and that the vast majority of workers are reporting a wide range of cancers, respiratory diseases and kidney disease. Evers said she expects to report the first results by the end of the year.
Milan residents Candace Head-Dylla, Milton Head and Art Gebeau, representing the Bluewater Valley Downstream Alliance (BVDA), handed out information packets showing how groundwater contamination around the Homestake Uranium Mill north of Milan has spread to three aquifers covering several miles of land since first detected in 1961. They said the plumes contain high levels of uranium and other toxic substances and are inching toward Milan 's municipal water wells, yet no groundwater monitoring is being conducted ahead of the contamination plume. Dozens of private wells in communities near the mill have been shut down, but until very recently some residents were unknowingly still drinking tainted water from private wells, the BVDA members said. They recommended that Congress should amend federal laws, such as the Clean Water Act, to ensure that that uranium mine and mill wastes and associated discharges are regulated as toxic pollutants.
The grass-roots people were assisted by staffs of Southwest Research and Information Center , Natural Resources Defense Council, the New Mexico Environmental Law Center , Earthworks, and The Raben Group. A list of major policy objectives advocated by the groups follows.
Dr. Johnnye Lewis, a University of New Mexico toxicologist who was invited by the Navajo Nation and Udall staffs to provide scientific guidance, spoke to the need for a comprehensive health study, noting that the lack of health data is often misconstrued as a lack of effect. Dr. Lewis, who is the principal investigator for the first community-based health and exposure study in Navajo communities, emphasized the need for health studies to be conducted by independent investigators to ensure the validity and scientific integrity of results.
GRASS-ROOTS AND NONGOVERENMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS'
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FEDERAL RESPONSES TO THE URANIUM MINING LEGACY AND PROPOSED NEW URANIUM DEVELOPMENT ON THE NAVAJO NATION AND THROUGHOUT THE FOUR CORNERS AREA
1. Seek legislation to impose a federal moratorium on new uranium development until environmental pollution from previous mining and milling is cleaned up, workers are appropriately compensated, and community health studies conducted.
2. Amend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) to, among other things, include certain New Mexico counties in the areas exposed to fallout from nuclear weapons testing, expand the universe of compensable diseases for uranium workers, and extend eligibility for compensation to workers who worked after 1971. Congress should also investigate compensation strategies for dependents of former uranium workers and for residents of communities impacted by uranium development.
3. Respect and protect the Navajo Nation's sovereign right to enact the Diné Natural Resources Protection Act (DNRPA) of 2005, which prohibits uranium mining and processing by any means anywhere in Navajo Country.
4. Ensure full funding for health studies among residents of communities impacted by uranium mining and milling, and restore cuts in existing studies.
5. Require the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to drop work on the proposed Generic Environmental Impact Statement for uranium in situ leach mining and to return to full and fair implementation of its statutory authority to protect public health and safety.
6. Amend the Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and Atomic Energy Act to make clear and certain that uranium mill and mine wastes are defined as "pollutants" and are subject to the same level of regulatory control and scrutiny as all other pollutants. Uranium mine and mill waste should not be exempt from any federal public health or environmental statute.
7. Enact a comprehensive federal abandoned uranium mine clean-up program, including funds for cleanup of abandoned mines on the Navajo Nation, Laguna Pueblo and throughout the Four Corners Area. Ensure that financially viable companies are held responsible for cleaning, or paying for cleanup, of the mining and milling sites they abandoned.
8. Reaffirm the principal of religious freedom by authorizing federal land management agencies to deny exploration, mining and milling permits on sacred sites or in sacred places, including and especially Mt. Taylor in northwestern New Mexico .
*****
Saturday, September 29, 2007
One-man 'occupation' of Slim Buttes protests uranium
Forest Service denies runoff sickening residents
By Bill Harlan, Journal staff
Harold One Feather is waging a one-man protest to spur the U.S. Forest Service into a quicker clean-up of an old uranium mine in the Slim Buttes in northwestern South Dakota.
“I’m a true environmentalist,” One Feather quipped in a static-plagued cell phone conversation from his remote campsite. “I’m actually out in the environment.”
One Feather, founder of the new Grand River Environmental Equality Network, said he was "occupying" the Slim Buttes, which are part of Custer National Forest.
One Feather said he had been mostly alone at his campsite since he arrived Sunday, but he is expecting more protesters from Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
The Grand River runs from Custer National Forest through several communities on the Standing Rock reservation, about 60 miles to the east.
One Feather and other Standing Rock residents say runoff from uranium mines may be making people on the reservation sick, though the Forest Service denies that charge.
"The answer to that is a proven 'no,'" Forest Service spokeswoman Laurie Walters-Clark said.
However, the Forest Service is investigating the extent of contamination caused by at least one a small uranium mine in the Slim Buttes. That investigation began last summer and should be complete by the end of this summer, Walters-Clark said. The investigation also includes several small exploration pits.
Walters-Clark is the Forest Service's on-scene coordinator for a $20 million Superfund clean-up of uranium mines set to begin this summer in the nearby Cave Hills, also in Custer National Forest.
A Forest Service study in 2005, and a study released this year by the South Dakota School of Mines &Technology, found higher than normal levels of uranium, molybdenum, arsenic and other metals on federal and private land near the mines.
The studies tested sediment, topsoil, groundwater and air. "Most of the health risks would be from ingesting materials," Walters-Clark said.
The clean-up on federal land in the Cave Hills will include re-grading and re-vegetating some ground. On land with the highest level of contamination, sediment and topsoil will be scraped off and removed to a clay-lined dump, Walters-Clark said.
Private land affected by run-off from federal land also will be cleaned up, Walters-Clark said.
Mines in the North Cave Hills unit of the national forest were operated by Kerr-McGee, now Tronox Inc. of Oklahoma City. Tronox is paying $15 million for the clean-up, which is regulated under the federal Superfund law.
The Forest Service is paying $5 million to clean up the site because original mine owners of the brief 1950s uranium boom are long gone, Walters-Clark said. "There were a lot of mom and pop operations," Walters-Clark said. "There were no responsible parties left."
Tronox expects to complete the Cave Hills cleanup in two or three years, Walters-Clark said.
There also were uranium mines in the South Cave Hills and at least one mine in the Slim Buttes, Walters-Clark said, but those operations were smaller. A clean-up there would be at least two years away.
Walters-Clark said the Forest Service had been studying the problem since the early 1990. "It's simply a long process," she acknowledged. "The Forest Service had to prove there was a hazard."
But Walters-Clark said contamination from uranium mines on the national forest did not threaten the health of people who live on the Grand River, which the state monitors. "There are state laws and regulations, and we're adhering to them," she said.
So far, the Forest Service has been unable to convince One Feather and other members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe that the old uranium mines do not pose a threat to their communities downstream. "There's a lack of trust," Walters-Clark said.
The Forest Service has not responded to One Feather's one-man occupation of the Slim Buttes. "I saw him on the road," Walters-Clark said. "He's not doing anything illegal. He's just using his national forest."
Contact Bill Harlan at 394-8424 or bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com
By Bill Harlan, Journal staff
Harold One Feather is waging a one-man protest to spur the U.S. Forest Service into a quicker clean-up of an old uranium mine in the Slim Buttes in northwestern South Dakota.
“I’m a true environmentalist,” One Feather quipped in a static-plagued cell phone conversation from his remote campsite. “I’m actually out in the environment.”
One Feather, founder of the new Grand River Environmental Equality Network, said he was "occupying" the Slim Buttes, which are part of Custer National Forest.
One Feather said he had been mostly alone at his campsite since he arrived Sunday, but he is expecting more protesters from Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
The Grand River runs from Custer National Forest through several communities on the Standing Rock reservation, about 60 miles to the east.
One Feather and other Standing Rock residents say runoff from uranium mines may be making people on the reservation sick, though the Forest Service denies that charge.
"The answer to that is a proven 'no,'" Forest Service spokeswoman Laurie Walters-Clark said.
However, the Forest Service is investigating the extent of contamination caused by at least one a small uranium mine in the Slim Buttes. That investigation began last summer and should be complete by the end of this summer, Walters-Clark said. The investigation also includes several small exploration pits.
Walters-Clark is the Forest Service's on-scene coordinator for a $20 million Superfund clean-up of uranium mines set to begin this summer in the nearby Cave Hills, also in Custer National Forest.
A Forest Service study in 2005, and a study released this year by the South Dakota School of Mines &Technology, found higher than normal levels of uranium, molybdenum, arsenic and other metals on federal and private land near the mines.
The studies tested sediment, topsoil, groundwater and air. "Most of the health risks would be from ingesting materials," Walters-Clark said.
The clean-up on federal land in the Cave Hills will include re-grading and re-vegetating some ground. On land with the highest level of contamination, sediment and topsoil will be scraped off and removed to a clay-lined dump, Walters-Clark said.
Private land affected by run-off from federal land also will be cleaned up, Walters-Clark said.
Mines in the North Cave Hills unit of the national forest were operated by Kerr-McGee, now Tronox Inc. of Oklahoma City. Tronox is paying $15 million for the clean-up, which is regulated under the federal Superfund law.
The Forest Service is paying $5 million to clean up the site because original mine owners of the brief 1950s uranium boom are long gone, Walters-Clark said. "There were a lot of mom and pop operations," Walters-Clark said. "There were no responsible parties left."
Tronox expects to complete the Cave Hills cleanup in two or three years, Walters-Clark said.
There also were uranium mines in the South Cave Hills and at least one mine in the Slim Buttes, Walters-Clark said, but those operations were smaller. A clean-up there would be at least two years away.
Walters-Clark said the Forest Service had been studying the problem since the early 1990. "It's simply a long process," she acknowledged. "The Forest Service had to prove there was a hazard."
But Walters-Clark said contamination from uranium mines on the national forest did not threaten the health of people who live on the Grand River, which the state monitors. "There are state laws and regulations, and we're adhering to them," she said.
So far, the Forest Service has been unable to convince One Feather and other members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe that the old uranium mines do not pose a threat to their communities downstream. "There's a lack of trust," Walters-Clark said.
The Forest Service has not responded to One Feather's one-man occupation of the Slim Buttes. "I saw him on the road," Walters-Clark said. "He's not doing anything illegal. He's just using his national forest."
Contact Bill Harlan at 394-8424 or bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com
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Thursday, August 23, 2007
My Personal Agenda Against South Dakota Abandoned Uranium Mines
My Personal Mission against Uranium Mining and the Nuclear Industry
1. To demand the comprehensive and total clean up of abandoned uranium mines with the Slim Buttes and Cave Hills, and not just one at a time as the US Forest Service is stating it is doing.
2. To consider the negative health effects of low-dose ionizing radiation exposure through surface water, ground water and air transport; especially as this has been occurring to my community Rock Creek (Bullhead, SD). We feel that the US Forest Service's negligence of considering the Rock Creek communities concern that the uranium mines are causing extreme health crises within the community is tantamount to genocide and racism.
3. To revise the US Forest Service Sioux Oil and Gas Leasing Final Environmental Impact Statement to either start an Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement or start the EIS process anew to include tribal communities' extreme health concerns. This is our main point that the US Forest Service although hearing testimony from Rock Creek community members about their increasing rates of cancer, birth problems, and diabetes, they didn't include this in the FEIS and replied that the commenting period is over. They were told numerous times about what the sickness and deaths happening downstream, yet they purposefully ignore our concerns. This too is genocide and racism!
4. We demand that all current leases involving uranium, oil, gas as well as other mineral resources be outlawed in the Slim Buttes and Cave Hills and those existing outstanding leases be allowed to expire without renewal of these leases.
5. We demand that the name of the Custer National Forest be changed to Crazy Horse National Forest; this is upon the advice of the story told to LaDonna Brave Bull-Allard by Johnson Holy Rock and Elaine Quiver: that the Slim Buttes and Cave Hills was one of Crazy Horse's favorite places and is part of the Powder River basin that as a condition of his surrender would be his permanent reservation. For this he was murdered at Fort Robinson.
6. We demand that the Sioux Ranger District be renamed Paha Zizipila as this is its true Lakota name.
1. To demand the comprehensive and total clean up of abandoned uranium mines with the Slim Buttes and Cave Hills, and not just one at a time as the US Forest Service is stating it is doing.
2. To consider the negative health effects of low-dose ionizing radiation exposure through surface water, ground water and air transport; especially as this has been occurring to my community Rock Creek (Bullhead, SD). We feel that the US Forest Service's negligence of considering the Rock Creek communities concern that the uranium mines are causing extreme health crises within the community is tantamount to genocide and racism.
3. To revise the US Forest Service Sioux Oil and Gas Leasing Final Environmental Impact Statement to either start an Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement or start the EIS process anew to include tribal communities' extreme health concerns. This is our main point that the US Forest Service although hearing testimony from Rock Creek community members about their increasing rates of cancer, birth problems, and diabetes, they didn't include this in the FEIS and replied that the commenting period is over. They were told numerous times about what the sickness and deaths happening downstream, yet they purposefully ignore our concerns. This too is genocide and racism!
4. We demand that all current leases involving uranium, oil, gas as well as other mineral resources be outlawed in the Slim Buttes and Cave Hills and those existing outstanding leases be allowed to expire without renewal of these leases.
5. We demand that the name of the Custer National Forest be changed to Crazy Horse National Forest; this is upon the advice of the story told to LaDonna Brave Bull-Allard by Johnson Holy Rock and Elaine Quiver: that the Slim Buttes and Cave Hills was one of Crazy Horse's favorite places and is part of the Powder River basin that as a condition of his surrender would be his permanent reservation. For this he was murdered at Fort Robinson.
6. We demand that the Sioux Ranger District be renamed Paha Zizipila as this is its true Lakota name.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Hunkpapa means HOSTILE
Growing up as an orphan, I was told many stories about how our people, the Hunkpapa, came to be living in a concentrated cluster housing project. Asking my grandfather, where was our tipi and he started telling me the history of the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation.
I am related to several families in Bullhead, South Dakota, collectively known as the Hunkpapa, loosely translated as the northern horn. The Hunkpapa are related to a larger group of families known as the Oceti Sakowin, the Seven Council Fires.
We are totally dispossessed and have been persecuted by others even our own tribal government since the day my relatives returned from political exile in Canada. The reason for our exile was the 1876 honorable defeat of General Custer and the 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Afterwards my relatives, the Hunkpapa headed north into Canada where they stayed for nearly 5 years under starvation and exposure to the elements, yet they endured this hardship since they knew that returning to the US was to concede defeat and would become great suffering to our people.
In 1881 Sitting Bull returned to the US and was imprisoned but was released to the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation. Although many say that he led the Ghost Dance, he really didn't have anything to do with it. In 1890 they assassinated Sitting Bull, causing an mass exodus south to the Pine Ridge Reservation where the Hunkpapa again sought political asylum under Chief Red Cloud. Rumors and the stories told me that he refused to help my relatives then and even refused to greet them before they rounded up and slaughtered in cold blood at Wounded Knee by the 7th Cavalry.
This caused my relatives still staying on Standing Rock to withdraw from the tribal and federal government, moving to the southwestern corner of Standing Rock. It was here that our ceremonies were held in secrecy.
During the following years, the massive cattle herds polluted the drinking water, causing my relatives to move further and further east to where they finally formed the Rock Creek community, formally known as Bullhead, South Dakota.
Prior to this, other than having bad drinking water, they were totally self-sufficient. They even opposed the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act and the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act as they knew these were against our human rights and were instruments of genocide.
In 1976, my relatives also opposed the Indian Self-Determination and Education Act for the same reasons which they knew to be contrary to self-sufficiency and would cause great harm and deaths to our small group of families.
It was during these times of great change, falling upon our people that I became aware of my duty, my sacred mission in life. The American Indian Movement was out there fighting for our rights but other than the 1974 International Treaty Council, their impact on improving our living conditions was barely felt. But they did help us in one way, they gave us back our spirit of resistance and showed us that we were very special since we never agreed to the selling of the Black Hills or the Allotment Act as well as the following Acts that are genocidal.
During 1985 while staying south on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation with my friends that were teaching me the old ways and the ceremonies, I was given a copy of the Sioux Nation Black Hills Act. Immediately after reading it, I saw more acts of genocide and treachery within its highfalutin words. I returned the next day to Standing Rock where I showed my cousin who was on the tribal council what I had read. He replied that those sections weren't in the first readings and they were inserted after the tribes agreed to accept the money and the land to be returned. On the next day he introduced the motion to refuse the Sioux Nation Black Hills Settlement Act; like a strong wind the rest of the tribes also refused the act.
My point for this slight history of my past is to show you that one person can make changes that are right and just! Ever since that time, I was being taught our sovereign treaty rights, our superior water rights, our rights to have a safe and pure environment.
Then, in 1997, I was told about the uranium mine contamination out at the Cave Hills. Studying this mine has become a very dear fascination to me. I fully oppose all actions out there as they are a cover-up for the genocide being perpetuated against my relatives downstream who had no choice but to drink the radiologically contaminated water during the late 60's. We no longer have that many elders left in our community, they are all dying from cancer and diabetes. Our younger relatives are experiencing miscarriages, diabetes and cancer. Recently I was told by a federal employee that the reasons for this is that we drink, we smoke cigarettes, and we have a bad diet; little did that person know that I was already given this answer: that before the upstream mining in the 50's and 60's cancer, diabetes and miscarriages were totally unknown and they did drink, smoke and have a bad diet so that statement just reflects their prejudice, racism and further the genocide against my relatives.
In 2004 I approached the Defenders of the Black Hills while they were celebrating their success stopping the proposed shooting range that would have been built by Bear Butte. Giving them maps and documents, I left knowing that they'd help us get our genocide publicized in the mainstream media. Then I became one of their advocates and volunteers. My other purpose is to find lawyers and doctor sympathetic to us and our health crises so that our leaders can make better decisions on unbiased scientific studies at the Cave Hills. Just recently the US Forest Service and the potentially responsible party Tronox outsourced the reclamation of the Riley Pass abandoned uranium mine to two companies: ENSR; and Millenium Science and Engineering; which I feel only adds more controversy to our charge of racial genocide and environmental justice.
And now I am doing what I asked of the Defenders of the Black Hills and received their approval; this is to start approaching all the environmental movements involved in water pollution issues, radiation contamination, and air pollution, seeking to build bridges because the war against our environment, against the people, is still going on, even though the aggressors know that in the long run, they are on a path of suicide.
To add more to this conundrum, my tribe is lacking the technical capacity to truly make these decisions and are just fence sitting. I am not relying on them for this but they are also watching me with great curiosity.
Ending this I'll say that this is our cause, our duty, our self-sacrifice...it can't be compartmentalized into a radiation poisoning issue, or water contamination issue, or an air pollution issue; rather it is a total assault on every human being on this earth! Our earth is dying, we are killing her, we have to learn how to work with her or she will kill us! We are the hostiles!
I am related to several families in Bullhead, South Dakota, collectively known as the Hunkpapa, loosely translated as the northern horn. The Hunkpapa are related to a larger group of families known as the Oceti Sakowin, the Seven Council Fires.
We are totally dispossessed and have been persecuted by others even our own tribal government since the day my relatives returned from political exile in Canada. The reason for our exile was the 1876 honorable defeat of General Custer and the 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Afterwards my relatives, the Hunkpapa headed north into Canada where they stayed for nearly 5 years under starvation and exposure to the elements, yet they endured this hardship since they knew that returning to the US was to concede defeat and would become great suffering to our people.
In 1881 Sitting Bull returned to the US and was imprisoned but was released to the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation. Although many say that he led the Ghost Dance, he really didn't have anything to do with it. In 1890 they assassinated Sitting Bull, causing an mass exodus south to the Pine Ridge Reservation where the Hunkpapa again sought political asylum under Chief Red Cloud. Rumors and the stories told me that he refused to help my relatives then and even refused to greet them before they rounded up and slaughtered in cold blood at Wounded Knee by the 7th Cavalry.
This caused my relatives still staying on Standing Rock to withdraw from the tribal and federal government, moving to the southwestern corner of Standing Rock. It was here that our ceremonies were held in secrecy.
During the following years, the massive cattle herds polluted the drinking water, causing my relatives to move further and further east to where they finally formed the Rock Creek community, formally known as Bullhead, South Dakota.
Prior to this, other than having bad drinking water, they were totally self-sufficient. They even opposed the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act and the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act as they knew these were against our human rights and were instruments of genocide.
In 1976, my relatives also opposed the Indian Self-Determination and Education Act for the same reasons which they knew to be contrary to self-sufficiency and would cause great harm and deaths to our small group of families.
It was during these times of great change, falling upon our people that I became aware of my duty, my sacred mission in life. The American Indian Movement was out there fighting for our rights but other than the 1974 International Treaty Council, their impact on improving our living conditions was barely felt. But they did help us in one way, they gave us back our spirit of resistance and showed us that we were very special since we never agreed to the selling of the Black Hills or the Allotment Act as well as the following Acts that are genocidal.
During 1985 while staying south on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation with my friends that were teaching me the old ways and the ceremonies, I was given a copy of the Sioux Nation Black Hills Act. Immediately after reading it, I saw more acts of genocide and treachery within its highfalutin words. I returned the next day to Standing Rock where I showed my cousin who was on the tribal council what I had read. He replied that those sections weren't in the first readings and they were inserted after the tribes agreed to accept the money and the land to be returned. On the next day he introduced the motion to refuse the Sioux Nation Black Hills Settlement Act; like a strong wind the rest of the tribes also refused the act.
My point for this slight history of my past is to show you that one person can make changes that are right and just! Ever since that time, I was being taught our sovereign treaty rights, our superior water rights, our rights to have a safe and pure environment.
Then, in 1997, I was told about the uranium mine contamination out at the Cave Hills. Studying this mine has become a very dear fascination to me. I fully oppose all actions out there as they are a cover-up for the genocide being perpetuated against my relatives downstream who had no choice but to drink the radiologically contaminated water during the late 60's. We no longer have that many elders left in our community, they are all dying from cancer and diabetes. Our younger relatives are experiencing miscarriages, diabetes and cancer. Recently I was told by a federal employee that the reasons for this is that we drink, we smoke cigarettes, and we have a bad diet; little did that person know that I was already given this answer: that before the upstream mining in the 50's and 60's cancer, diabetes and miscarriages were totally unknown and they did drink, smoke and have a bad diet so that statement just reflects their prejudice, racism and further the genocide against my relatives.
In 2004 I approached the Defenders of the Black Hills while they were celebrating their success stopping the proposed shooting range that would have been built by Bear Butte. Giving them maps and documents, I left knowing that they'd help us get our genocide publicized in the mainstream media. Then I became one of their advocates and volunteers. My other purpose is to find lawyers and doctor sympathetic to us and our health crises so that our leaders can make better decisions on unbiased scientific studies at the Cave Hills. Just recently the US Forest Service and the potentially responsible party Tronox outsourced the reclamation of the Riley Pass abandoned uranium mine to two companies: ENSR; and Millenium Science and Engineering; which I feel only adds more controversy to our charge of racial genocide and environmental justice.
And now I am doing what I asked of the Defenders of the Black Hills and received their approval; this is to start approaching all the environmental movements involved in water pollution issues, radiation contamination, and air pollution, seeking to build bridges because the war against our environment, against the people, is still going on, even though the aggressors know that in the long run, they are on a path of suicide.
To add more to this conundrum, my tribe is lacking the technical capacity to truly make these decisions and are just fence sitting. I am not relying on them for this but they are also watching me with great curiosity.
Ending this I'll say that this is our cause, our duty, our self-sacrifice...it can't be compartmentalized into a radiation poisoning issue, or water contamination issue, or an air pollution issue; rather it is a total assault on every human being on this earth! Our earth is dying, we are killing her, we have to learn how to work with her or she will kill us! We are the hostiles!
Friday, July 27, 2007
Uranium mine clean-up underway
Rapid City Journal Jul 26, 2007
Uranium mine clean-up underway
Journal staff
A minerals-reclamation company and an engineering company have nearly completed surface gamma surveys of five bluffs in Harding County as remediation work at the Riley Pass Site at North Cave Hills Abandoned Uranium Mines area continues.
The gamma surveys will allow the reclamation company, Tronox, and engineering company, ENSR, to determine the extent of excavation, re-grading and how much contaminated spoils, soils and sediment will be buried at the site. The clean-up criteria are based on surface readings. ENSR also will assess vegetation planted last year, which will help with this year's replanting efforts on site.
The engineering firm soon will conclude design work for an additional sediment pond needed at the site. The pond's planned location was originally on U.S. Forest Service lands, but Tronox has proposed moving the pond farther downstream onto private land. The new site provides more room for construction and will allow more sediment to be captured. Forest Service officials approved the new location, pending the landowner's approval.
Forest Service officials have awarded a contract to Millennium Science & Engineering of Salt Lake City to help with technical support on site. The engineering firm will perform quality control and quality-assurance oversight to the Forest Service, according to regulations of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, commonly known as the Superfund.
Uranium mine clean-up underway
Journal staff
A minerals-reclamation company and an engineering company have nearly completed surface gamma surveys of five bluffs in Harding County as remediation work at the Riley Pass Site at North Cave Hills Abandoned Uranium Mines area continues.
The gamma surveys will allow the reclamation company, Tronox, and engineering company, ENSR, to determine the extent of excavation, re-grading and how much contaminated spoils, soils and sediment will be buried at the site. The clean-up criteria are based on surface readings. ENSR also will assess vegetation planted last year, which will help with this year's replanting efforts on site.
The engineering firm soon will conclude design work for an additional sediment pond needed at the site. The pond's planned location was originally on U.S. Forest Service lands, but Tronox has proposed moving the pond farther downstream onto private land. The new site provides more room for construction and will allow more sediment to be captured. Forest Service officials approved the new location, pending the landowner's approval.
Forest Service officials have awarded a contract to Millennium Science & Engineering of Salt Lake City to help with technical support on site. The engineering firm will perform quality control and quality-assurance oversight to the Forest Service, according to regulations of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, commonly known as the Superfund.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
The Nuclear Renaissance, a step backwards into the Dark Ages
My point here in my blog is not denigrate the global warming theory, but to show you that it is being used to further concentrate political power in the hands of the certain nuclear energy companies. I firmly believe that this is illegal and contrary to the US Constitution. The names of the key players in this lawless game are: Exelon, Entergy, Dominion, Constellation, Uranez, Uranium Resources, Hydro Resources, Cameco, Strathmore, Westinghouse, Fluor and several other lesser known nuclear-related companies.
The Propaganda
As the nuclear renaissance in allegiance with the global warming buffs continues its onward march through the history as one of the most controversial and concentrated political movements, using outright media fabrication of an decade's old problem, formerly known as pollution, now as global warming to foster a society-wide delusion that we need more nuclear power plants, that we need more sources of uranium, that we need more nuclear waste repositories and that nuclear energy is inherently safe. Being associated with global warming must indicate to the unknowing earning their well-meant support.
Supporting the nuclear renaissance is the mass media, owned by only a few individuals and corporations, who are, in turn, responsible to others with just as nefarious ties to unlawful and illegal trusts, syndicates, front companies, and outright mafioso mobs.
This propaganda, at first, confused all the environmental groups and anti-nuclear groups but as certain contradictions within it are becoming more apparent, this propaganda is being attacked by all sides as a gross lie. Although the dividing lines in the sand have been drawn with several fence sitters being knocked off their fence into the wrong pasture, this propaganda serves only to illustrate the level and number of front groups that covertly sponsor nuclear energy as an alternative to coal and other power generation industries. On the other hand, this dividing line is providing intelligent decision making possibilities for investment to those groups that are truly for protecting and preserving the environment.
Advanced Burner Reactors (ABR) is most often used in the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) as its poster child of hope. Advanced Burner Reactors are still in the design stages expecting to come on line in nearly 20 years as stated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). This type of reactor recycles spent uranium, converting it to plutonium to be used again in the fuel cycle. Instead of decreasing the safety risks, these types of reactors actually increase the danger. But again nothing says that they can't spend research funds studying the ABR technologies. Also after reading the GNEP, I can't help but feel a sense of irony since it reminds me of a pipe dream and doesn't consider any potential accidents or disasters.
The Conspiracy
As our society's economy is based on the exploitation of our earth's natural resources, then adding value to this through taxation and tariffs, stocks, bonds and dividends, corporations and political parties. Given this, we were told that the name of this diffuse organization is the military industrial complex, named as such duing the Viet Nam War. Owned by forces unseen, our economy is being driven in directions that are environmentally dangerous; all in the name of profit. Yet what can one individual do to resist this control; you can't stop purchasing their products especially food, gas, medicine and others, that would be suicide. And as they know that we can't stop using electricity, so again the conspiracy emerges, are they promoting this nuclear renaissance to promote coal-fired power plants although these contribute significantly to the problem?
A very illustrative example of the conspiratorial nature of this issue is the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) and its Megatons to Megawatts program. This program buys from Russia uranium that formerly in nuclear warheads. As of April 2007, more than 12,000 nuclear warhead material has been sold to the US. This uranium is then converted to fuel for the 103 reactors spread across this country. The implications herein cause me great consternation in terms of world peace and stability.
The Mining
The nuclear renaissance has also increased the demand for the uranium, causing a boom in the in situ leach uranium mining industry. But sadly it has not caused increase attention to the abandoned uranium mines located in and around Native American communities.
In the Midwest in states such as Wyoming, ISL uranium mining is growing rapidly with former uranium strip mines being reopened for extraction. Nunn County in Colorado is one of the few places that the ISL operation where the community is actively opposing the mining operation over concerns about the effects on drinking water. In Goliad, TX community residents are wondering why they fell for the lies that the ISL uranium mining could return water quality to pre-mining levels. In South Dakota, abandoned uranium mines and current attempts by an ISL uranium mining operation are very major concerns in terms of water quality and current health crises in the downstream reservation communities.
These concerns are not heeded, only the desire for profit stands tall.
The fact is that most mining companies that are now producing uranium are capitalized by banks and financial investment corporations which I presume are owned by foreign countries who have long realized that control of the interest rates is more important than owing physical assets such as manufacturing industries, mineral extraction industries and energy corporations. Controlling interest rates does major significance in the common day lives of our society. Financing the nuclear renaissance is debt or government subsidies. And without the source materials for enrichment, the nuclear renaissance is supposedly going to be held to a standstill but not necessarily, there are other mining locations in this world other than in the US.
The Hypothesis
Therefore herein I state my new hypothesis; the nuclear renaissance is meant mainly for the Asian countries as they are in the construction phases of many new reactors using US technology and companies. The uranium demand is needed for these Asian reactors, not US reactors.
I agree with global warming but I know for a fact that nuclear energy will not be the solution to it. Only conserving what we have now is the only way to preventing future climate disasters, educating ourselves about the nature of the nuclear renaissance helps in this regard.
The Propaganda
As the nuclear renaissance in allegiance with the global warming buffs continues its onward march through the history as one of the most controversial and concentrated political movements, using outright media fabrication of an decade's old problem, formerly known as pollution, now as global warming to foster a society-wide delusion that we need more nuclear power plants, that we need more sources of uranium, that we need more nuclear waste repositories and that nuclear energy is inherently safe. Being associated with global warming must indicate to the unknowing earning their well-meant support.
Supporting the nuclear renaissance is the mass media, owned by only a few individuals and corporations, who are, in turn, responsible to others with just as nefarious ties to unlawful and illegal trusts, syndicates, front companies, and outright mafioso mobs.
This propaganda, at first, confused all the environmental groups and anti-nuclear groups but as certain contradictions within it are becoming more apparent, this propaganda is being attacked by all sides as a gross lie. Although the dividing lines in the sand have been drawn with several fence sitters being knocked off their fence into the wrong pasture, this propaganda serves only to illustrate the level and number of front groups that covertly sponsor nuclear energy as an alternative to coal and other power generation industries. On the other hand, this dividing line is providing intelligent decision making possibilities for investment to those groups that are truly for protecting and preserving the environment.
Advanced Burner Reactors (ABR) is most often used in the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) as its poster child of hope. Advanced Burner Reactors are still in the design stages expecting to come on line in nearly 20 years as stated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). This type of reactor recycles spent uranium, converting it to plutonium to be used again in the fuel cycle. Instead of decreasing the safety risks, these types of reactors actually increase the danger. But again nothing says that they can't spend research funds studying the ABR technologies. Also after reading the GNEP, I can't help but feel a sense of irony since it reminds me of a pipe dream and doesn't consider any potential accidents or disasters.
The Conspiracy
As our society's economy is based on the exploitation of our earth's natural resources, then adding value to this through taxation and tariffs, stocks, bonds and dividends, corporations and political parties. Given this, we were told that the name of this diffuse organization is the military industrial complex, named as such duing the Viet Nam War. Owned by forces unseen, our economy is being driven in directions that are environmentally dangerous; all in the name of profit. Yet what can one individual do to resist this control; you can't stop purchasing their products especially food, gas, medicine and others, that would be suicide. And as they know that we can't stop using electricity, so again the conspiracy emerges, are they promoting this nuclear renaissance to promote coal-fired power plants although these contribute significantly to the problem?
A very illustrative example of the conspiratorial nature of this issue is the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) and its Megatons to Megawatts program. This program buys from Russia uranium that formerly in nuclear warheads. As of April 2007, more than 12,000 nuclear warhead material has been sold to the US. This uranium is then converted to fuel for the 103 reactors spread across this country. The implications herein cause me great consternation in terms of world peace and stability.
The Mining
The nuclear renaissance has also increased the demand for the uranium, causing a boom in the in situ leach uranium mining industry. But sadly it has not caused increase attention to the abandoned uranium mines located in and around Native American communities.
In the Midwest in states such as Wyoming, ISL uranium mining is growing rapidly with former uranium strip mines being reopened for extraction. Nunn County in Colorado is one of the few places that the ISL operation where the community is actively opposing the mining operation over concerns about the effects on drinking water. In Goliad, TX community residents are wondering why they fell for the lies that the ISL uranium mining could return water quality to pre-mining levels. In South Dakota, abandoned uranium mines and current attempts by an ISL uranium mining operation are very major concerns in terms of water quality and current health crises in the downstream reservation communities.
These concerns are not heeded, only the desire for profit stands tall.
The fact is that most mining companies that are now producing uranium are capitalized by banks and financial investment corporations which I presume are owned by foreign countries who have long realized that control of the interest rates is more important than owing physical assets such as manufacturing industries, mineral extraction industries and energy corporations. Controlling interest rates does major significance in the common day lives of our society. Financing the nuclear renaissance is debt or government subsidies. And without the source materials for enrichment, the nuclear renaissance is supposedly going to be held to a standstill but not necessarily, there are other mining locations in this world other than in the US.
The Hypothesis
Therefore herein I state my new hypothesis; the nuclear renaissance is meant mainly for the Asian countries as they are in the construction phases of many new reactors using US technology and companies. The uranium demand is needed for these Asian reactors, not US reactors.
I agree with global warming but I know for a fact that nuclear energy will not be the solution to it. Only conserving what we have now is the only way to preventing future climate disasters, educating ourselves about the nature of the nuclear renaissance helps in this regard.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Uranium Mining Boom
Below is a list of the exploratory uranium prospecting actions by the various uranium mining companies. I wonder if anyone will notice that once a mining company decides to prospect, it eventually will begin mining; and again either leaving an environmental mess for Superfund in the case of an abandoned toxic surface or leave for someone else to worry about, groundwater contamination issues as in an In Situ Leach uranium extraction operation.
Just amazes me that most environmentalist have become pro-nuclear. Probably because they don't realize that during mining booms, all concern for the environment is lost to the madness for profits as in "gold fever."
Uranium Exploration Projects
Northern Miner, Query 6/8/07
State Organization Status Property Name
AK Full Metal Minerals Ltd Exploration McCarthy Marsh
AK Full Metal Minerals Ltd Exploration Boulder Creek Property
AZ Denison Mines Corp Exploration Arizona Strip Property
AZ Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Anderson
AZ Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Colorado Property
AZ Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Rose Property
AZ Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Wate
AZ Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Arizona Strip Resources Joint Venture, LLC
AZ Golden Patriot Corporation Exploration Lucky Boy Project
AZ Liberty Star Gold Corp Exploration North Pipes Project
AZ Quaterra Resources Inc Exploration Arizona Stip Project
AZ Rodinia Minerals Inc Exploration Workman Creek Property
AZ Rodinia Minerals Inc Exploration Lucky Bay Project
AZ Rodinia Minerals Inc Exploration Mormon Lake Property
AZ Rodinia Minerals Inc Exploration Red Bluff Property
AZ Rodinia Minerals Inc Exploration Middleton Mountain Property
AZ Rodinia Minerals Inc Exploration Buckaroo Flats Property
AZ Rodinia Minerals Inc Exploration Pendleton Mesa Property
AZ Tournigan Gold Corporation Exploration
AZ Universal Uranium Ltd Exploration Artillery Peak Property
AZ Uranium Energy Corp Exploration
AZ Uranium Star Corp Exploration Arizona Project
CA Kilgore Minerals Ltd Exploration
CO Anglo-Canadian Uranium Corp Exploration Spider Rock Property
CO Denison Mines Corp Exploration Sunday Mine Complex
CO Energy Fuels Inc Exploration Whirlwind Property
CO Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Hanson Creek Property
CO Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Maybell Project
CO Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Skull Creek Project
CO Powertech Uranium Corp Exploration Centennial Project
CO Universal Uranium Ltd Exploration Marshall Pass Property
CO Universal Uranium Ltd Exploration Jamestown Property
CO Uranium Energy Corp Exploration
CO Laramide Resources Ltd Exploration Los Ochos Property
ID Magnum Uranium Corp Exploration Stanley Property
MT Kilgore Minerals Ltd Exploration
NV Duran Ventures Inc Exploration Smokey Valley Property
NV Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Auto Property
NV Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Babbit Property
NV Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Blackbox Property
NV Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Clearwater Property
NV Energy Metals Corporation Exploration New Year Property
NV Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Shale Property
NV Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Findlay Tank Property
NV Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Grama Property
NV Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Little Robinson Property
NV Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Lost Calf Property
NV Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Rim Property
NV Energy Metals Corporation Exploration White River Valley Property
NV International Arimex Resources Exploration California Creek Property
NV Kilgore Minerals Ltd Exploration
NV Northern Canadian Minerals Inc Exploration Carol R Mine Claims
NV Thelon Ventures Ltd Exploration White River Valley Project
NV Western Uranium Corporation Exploration Kings Valley Property
NM Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Crownpoint Property
NM Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Hosta Butte Property
NM Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Nose Rock Project
NM Laramide Resources Ltd Exploration La Jara Mesa Project
NM MAX Resource Corp Exploration C de Baca Project
NM Strathmore Minerals Corp Exploration Church Rock Property
NM Strathmore Minerals Corp Exploration Roca Honda Property
NM Uranium Resources, Inc Exploration Churchrock Project
NM Uranium Resources, Inc Exploration Crownpoint Property
NM Uranium Resources, Inc Exploration Rocha Honda Property
NM Uranium Resources, Inc Exploration West Largo Property
NM Western Uranium Corporation Exploration Treeline Project
NM Laramide Resources Ltd Exploration Melrich Property
OR Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Aurora Property
SD Energy Metals Corporation Exploration
SD Energy Metals Corporation Exploration
SD Northern Canadian Minerals Inc Exploration
SD Powertech Uranium Corp Exploration Dewey-Burdock Property
SD Strathmore Minerals Corp Exploration Chord Property
SD Tournigan Gold Corporation Exploration
SD Trans America Industries Ltd Exploration Edgemount Project
TX Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Chevron Project
TX Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Hobson Facility
TX Energy Metals Corporation Exploration La Palangana Project
TX Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Swinney Switch Project
TX Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Cadena Property
TX Uranium Energy Corp Exploration
UT Anglo-Canadian Uranium Corp Exploration East Canyon Wash Property
UT Denison Mines Corp Exploration Henry Mountains Complex
UT Denison Mines Corp Exploration Deer Creek Complex
UT Denison Mines Corp Exploration Rim Mine
UT Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Congress Property
UT Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Frank M Property
UT Energy Metals Corporation Exploration San Rafael Property
UT Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Velvet Property
UT Energy Metals Corporation Exploration
UT Glen Hawk Minerals Ltd Exploration San Rafael Property
UT Global Uranium Corporation Exploration Lisbon Valley Property
UT Global Uranium Corporation Exploration Pine Ridge Property
UT Global Uranium Corporation Exploration Harts Point Property
UT Global Uranium Corporation Exploration Fry Canyon Property
UT Global Uranium Corporation Exploration San Rafael Property
UT Global Uranium Corporation Exploration Dome Plateau Property
UT Laramide Resources Ltd Exploration La Sal Project
UT MAX Resource Corp Exploration PPCO Property
UT Magnum Uranium Corp Exploration Little Egypt Property
UT Magnum Uranium Corp Exploration Big Muddy Property
UT Magnum Uranium Corp Exploration Cedar Mountain Property
UT Mesa Uranium Corp Exploration Lisbon Valley Property
UT Mill Bay Ventures Inc Exploration BP Claims
UT Quaterra Resources Inc Exploration
UT Trigon Uranium Corp Exploration Henry Mountains Project
UT Trigon Uranium Corp Exploration Marysvale Property
UT U.S. Energy Corp Exploration Velvet Mine
UT Universal Uranium Ltd Exploration Lisbon Valley Property
UT Uranium Energy Corp Exploration
UT Uranium Power Corp Exploration Sahara Mine
WA International Arimex Resources Exploration
WA Magnum Uranium Corp Exploration Bond Property
WA Magnum Uranium Corp Exploration Nancy Creek Property
WY Cameco Corporation Exploration Gas Hills-Peach Property
WY Cameco Corporation Exploration Ruby Ranch Property
WY Canyon Resources Corporation Exploration Converse Jt Vent
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration AC Block
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Antelope Property
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Battle Spring Property
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration BL Block
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration CD Block
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Cyclone Property
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration DW Block
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration EC Block
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Horse Creek Property
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration JAB Property
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration JK Block
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration KM & KME Blocks
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Laramie Project
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Midway Property
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Moore Ranch Property
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Moss Agate Property
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Nine Mile Lake Property
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration OZ Block
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Peterson Property
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration PN Block
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Red Rim Property
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Rocky Draw Property
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration RM Block
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration South Powder River Basin Property
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Twin Buttes Property
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Western Sheep Mountain Property
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration VR Property
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Allemand-Ross Project
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration North Platte Property
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration North Platte Extension and Herma Property
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Le Bar-Hall Property
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration East Douglas Property (Sand Creek Joint Venture)
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Reno Creek Property
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Ruby Ranch Property
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Red Desert Property
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Gas Hills
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration Sweet Claims
WY Energy Metals Corporation Exploration QC Claims
WY Kilgore Minerals Ltd Exploration
WY Magnum Uranium Corp Exploration Lye Property
WY Malapai Resources Company Exploration
WY Northern Canadian Minerals Inc Exploration
WY Pathfinder Mines Corporation Exploration
WY Powertech Uranium Corp Exploration Dewey Terrace Property
WY Powertech Uranium Corp Exploration Aladdin Project
WY Quaterra Resources Inc Exploration
WY Strathmore Minerals Corp Exploration
WY Strathmore Minerals Corp Exploration Cedar Rim
WY Tournigan Gold Corporation Exploration
WY Trans America Industries Ltd Exploration
WY Trans America Industries Ltd Exploration Sundance Project
WY U.S. Energy Corp Exploration Sheep Mountain Property
WY Ur-Energy Inc Exploration Great Divide Basin Project
WY Ur-Energy Inc Exploration Shirley Basin Project
WY Ur-Energy Inc Exploration Kaycee Project
WY Ur-Energy Inc Exploration Shamrock Project
WY Uranerz Energy Corporation Exploration
WY Uranerz Energy Corporation Exploration
WY Uranium Energy Corp Exploration
WY Uranium Power Corp Exploration Sheep Mountain
Laramide Resources Ltd Exploration Sioux Project
Friday, May 26, 2006
Report on Uranium Project
by Harold J. One Feather
May 27, 2006
First of all, I am a volunteer for the Defenders of the Black Hills and am honored to be one.
My report will be short and will describe to you my goals, objectives and accomplishments as this relates to the Custer National Forest abandoned uranium mines and the extreme health crises in Rock Creek (Bullhead, SD) on the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation.
I call your attention to the issue of extreme genocide and racism against our people occurring in northern South Dakota resulting from the radioactively contaminated abandoned uranium mines in the Custer National Forest. I have been involved in this issue for nearly ten years beginning in 1997 and have conducted an intensive examination of the facts relating to this critical issue.
In the Rock Creek community, there is an increasing rate of health problems: cancer and cancer deaths, miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies, diabetes and kidney diseases, and, sadly, birth defects. I have lost my mother to cancer, my father died of a heart disease, two of my aunts died of cancer, my niece has had two miscarriages and an ectotopic pregnancy; this is my testimony to you, others in the Rock Creek community have the same health problems. That there is an extreme health emergency on the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation is not the question, I ask what can we do about this, for our future generations, for those that have lost our relatives?
As one man with limited resources, I could do nothing, my pleas were routinely ignored although I presented the facts to our tribal leadership, and to my community. Feeling a sense of hopelessness, I almost gave up and would have left my reservation with a guilty conscience knowing that our people are dying needlessly.
I have then asked in 2004 for the,help of'the Defenders of the Black Hills to deliver this message to concerned individuals and to governmental officials: Our people are dying and are getting sick from the abandoned uranium mines.
To date, the Defenders and I have attended several crucial meetings with the US Forest Service relating to their CERCLA/Superfund remediation actions. I like to think that because of our insistence, they received the $22 million reclamation grant from the US EPA and hopefully will reclaim the mines in the near future. Our next step should be to cause the US Forest Service to consider the extreme health crises on the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation under the CERCLA/Superfund. This will cause the US Forest Service to speed up the Riley Pass abandoned uranium mine reclamation action as well as reclaim the other mines at the South Cave Hills and Slim Buttes. And hopefully this will cause the US EPA to give technical assistance grants to the affected communities and to the Defenders of the Black Hills to have CERCLA/Superfund explained in layman's terms. This way the rights of the people to have a safe environment will assured for future generations of our people.
We must also never forget to make those atomic bombs and nuclear power plants, they, the mining companies, have poisoned our environment and hurt our people, and they must be held accountable for their radioactively contaminated toxic mines. Tronox, formerly Kerr-McGee, must not be allowed any leniency since they have did a very unexcusable crime against our people.
We have also caused the State of South Dakota to initiate their surface water quality monitoring program for the western river basins except for the Bad River and will sample the water for radionuclide contamination. The Defenders must establish their proposed water quality monitoring project to compare these results with the States' results. To do properly implement the project, we will need funds and a budget, a sampling plan, sampling kits and supplies, intensive research on water issues, a quality assurance and assessment policy manual, and maps.
As some of you know I have volunteered to lead the MySpace group "Defenders of the Black Hills" (http://groups.myspace.com/defendblackhills) and have gained the support for several key MySpacers. I have placed four videos on the group main page: 1.) Destruction of the Black Hills; 2.) Riley Pass Mining Spoils; 3.) Picnic Springs; and, 4.) Riley Pass Mine. I have also included many important links to the uranium issues in our area including several key photographs of the Riley Pass uranium mine. In my photoblog at MSN Spaces (http://spaces.msn.com/uraniummine) I have many more photos and links to this areas newspaper story about the uranium issue. We have 124 members who are very interested in our activities concerning the Riley Pass mine and the others in the Custer National Forest. We have also all worked on a letter that we should all send to the State governor and to our Congress persons.
With the help of John LeKay (http://www.heyokamagazine.com), we have also established the Silkwood Project (http://www.silkwoodproject.com) which has interviews from myself, Dr. Helen Caldicott, world-renown nuclear activist; Timothy Benally, Navajo nuclear activist; Doug Brugge, Tufts University nuclear activist; Diane Stearns, Northern Arizona University biochemist, and William Under Baggage, Indigenous Nations Network environmentalist. The site is full of interesting and scary articles about uranium issues. I would highly recommend that everyone read these articles, John is very thorough in his writing and is extremely intelligent; we are very fortunate that he is helping the Defenders by publicizing our fight for environmental protection and for the uranium issue
May 27, 2006
First of all, I am a volunteer for the Defenders of the Black Hills and am honored to be one.
My report will be short and will describe to you my goals, objectives and accomplishments as this relates to the Custer National Forest abandoned uranium mines and the extreme health crises in Rock Creek (Bullhead, SD) on the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation.
I call your attention to the issue of extreme genocide and racism against our people occurring in northern South Dakota resulting from the radioactively contaminated abandoned uranium mines in the Custer National Forest. I have been involved in this issue for nearly ten years beginning in 1997 and have conducted an intensive examination of the facts relating to this critical issue.
In the Rock Creek community, there is an increasing rate of health problems: cancer and cancer deaths, miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies, diabetes and kidney diseases, and, sadly, birth defects. I have lost my mother to cancer, my father died of a heart disease, two of my aunts died of cancer, my niece has had two miscarriages and an ectotopic pregnancy; this is my testimony to you, others in the Rock Creek community have the same health problems. That there is an extreme health emergency on the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation is not the question, I ask what can we do about this, for our future generations, for those that have lost our relatives?
As one man with limited resources, I could do nothing, my pleas were routinely ignored although I presented the facts to our tribal leadership, and to my community. Feeling a sense of hopelessness, I almost gave up and would have left my reservation with a guilty conscience knowing that our people are dying needlessly.
I have then asked in 2004 for the,help of'the Defenders of the Black Hills to deliver this message to concerned individuals and to governmental officials: Our people are dying and are getting sick from the abandoned uranium mines.
To date, the Defenders and I have attended several crucial meetings with the US Forest Service relating to their CERCLA/Superfund remediation actions. I like to think that because of our insistence, they received the $22 million reclamation grant from the US EPA and hopefully will reclaim the mines in the near future. Our next step should be to cause the US Forest Service to consider the extreme health crises on the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation under the CERCLA/Superfund. This will cause the US Forest Service to speed up the Riley Pass abandoned uranium mine reclamation action as well as reclaim the other mines at the South Cave Hills and Slim Buttes. And hopefully this will cause the US EPA to give technical assistance grants to the affected communities and to the Defenders of the Black Hills to have CERCLA/Superfund explained in layman's terms. This way the rights of the people to have a safe environment will assured for future generations of our people.
We must also never forget to make those atomic bombs and nuclear power plants, they, the mining companies, have poisoned our environment and hurt our people, and they must be held accountable for their radioactively contaminated toxic mines. Tronox, formerly Kerr-McGee, must not be allowed any leniency since they have did a very unexcusable crime against our people.
We have also caused the State of South Dakota to initiate their surface water quality monitoring program for the western river basins except for the Bad River and will sample the water for radionuclide contamination. The Defenders must establish their proposed water quality monitoring project to compare these results with the States' results. To do properly implement the project, we will need funds and a budget, a sampling plan, sampling kits and supplies, intensive research on water issues, a quality assurance and assessment policy manual, and maps.
As some of you know I have volunteered to lead the MySpace group "Defenders of the Black Hills" (http://groups.myspace.com/defendblackhills) and have gained the support for several key MySpacers. I have placed four videos on the group main page: 1.) Destruction of the Black Hills; 2.) Riley Pass Mining Spoils; 3.) Picnic Springs; and, 4.) Riley Pass Mine. I have also included many important links to the uranium issues in our area including several key photographs of the Riley Pass uranium mine. In my photoblog at MSN Spaces (http://spaces.msn.com/uraniummine) I have many more photos and links to this areas newspaper story about the uranium issue. We have 124 members who are very interested in our activities concerning the Riley Pass mine and the others in the Custer National Forest. We have also all worked on a letter that we should all send to the State governor and to our Congress persons.
With the help of John LeKay (http://www.heyokamagazine.com), we have also established the Silkwood Project (http://www.silkwoodproject.com) which has interviews from myself, Dr. Helen Caldicott, world-renown nuclear activist; Timothy Benally, Navajo nuclear activist; Doug Brugge, Tufts University nuclear activist; Diane Stearns, Northern Arizona University biochemist, and William Under Baggage, Indigenous Nations Network environmentalist. The site is full of interesting and scary articles about uranium issues. I would highly recommend that everyone read these articles, John is very thorough in his writing and is extremely intelligent; we are very fortunate that he is helping the Defenders by publicizing our fight for environmental protection and for the uranium issue
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