Navajo
Nation’s battle over new uranium projects highlighted
Dorothy Kosich
'23-NOV-06
08:00'
R
ENO, NV (Mineweb.com) --The Los Angeles Times this week
concluded a
four-part series on the historic impacts of uranium
mining on the Navajo, and the Navajo Nation’s renewed
efforts to ban new uranium extraction projects in New
Mexico near their tribal borders.
From 1944
to 1986, 3.9 million tons of uranium ore was mined in
Navajo
county, a reservation spanning Arizona, New Mexico and
Utah, with a current population of more than 180,000
people.
The federal
government was the only customer of the uranium, which
was used for the Manhattan Project and for the weapons
stockpile during the days of the Cold War with the Soviet
Bloc nations. By the 1960s, more than 1,000 mines and
few processing mills on tribal land were shut. Many
were never reclaimed, leaving behind radioactive waste
and open tunnels and pits.
Considerable
portions of the mill tailings and ore found their way
into
ovens, cisterns, fireplaces, floors and walls as the
Navajo used a considerable amount for building materials.
From 1984 to 1995, the U.S. Department of Energy spent
$240 million to cover tailings at old uranium mills.
Federally funded remediation programs have continued
on and off since then.
Recently,
the U.S. EPA concluded that chronic exposure to radiation
levels
from uranium mines in Red Valley, Arizona, could lead
to bone, liver and
breast cancers in Red Valley residents, who have been
complaining about the situation since the 1980s.
Mining and
exploration companies have returned to stake claims,
buy mineral rights, and apply for permits next Navajo
homelands. Navajo County, which covers some 27,000 square
miles, is considered the Saudi Arabia of uranium. Miners
say they will extract uranium through an environmentally
safe chemical process, known as in situ leaching, which
doesn’t require blasting, pits, or result in lasting
contamination.
Navajo Nation
officials, however, are not convinced. Navajo Nation
President
Joe Shirley convinced the tribal council last year to
pass a ban on mining
or uranium processing in their lands. Through executive
order, Shirley
prohibited tribal employees from having any communications
with uranium companies or their representatives.
The Navajo
President recently won re-election, becoming the first
Navajo
leader to win back-to-back terms since 1982. Ironically,
Shirley’s campaign
focused on economic development, including development
of a coal-fired power plant that would generate more
than $50 million annually in taxes and royalties for
the Navajo, and six casinos.
The Times
reported that the tribal government is trying to block
project
financing for uranium projects. Meanwhile, a dispute
is ongoing between New Mexico regulators and the Navajo
Nation. State officials have been granted primacy for
New Mexico’s regulatory program by the EPA. However,
uranium mining activities on Navajo lands are governed
and permitted by the U.S. government through EPA.
U.S. and
Canadian uranium exploration and mining companies have
the backing of New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici, a Republican,
who is soon to be the former chairman of the Senate
Energy Committee as the Senate Majority Leadership comes
under democratic control. The mining companies also
have support from the Bush Administration, which is
advocating nuclear power and other alternatives to oil.
Texas-based
Uranium Resource Inc. is hoping to begin uranium mining
on a
test basis in the township of Church Rock, New Mexico,
by 2008. If its results
prove to be environmentally watertight, the company
would then seek to mine in and around nearby Crownpoint,
a town which is located on the largest known undeveloped
U.S. uranium deposit. URI has invested more than $25
million, according to the Times.
In the meantime,
Canadian junior Strathmore Minerals is advancing permitting
for the development of its Church Rock property toward
in-situ production.
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