nuclear-news

Navajo water supply would be contaminated by uranium mining’s radiation

The group Eastern Navajo Dine against Uranium Mining presented convincing evidence that mining would contaminate groundwater, including the communities’ primary drinking water source, the NMELC said.

NM uranium mining case appealed to US Supreme Court « New Mexico Independent, By Marjorie Childress 9/16/10 The New Mexico Environmental Law Center filed an appeal Wednesday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower court’s decision to allow (ISL) uranium mining in the Four Corners region of New Mexico.

That decision threatens the safety of all of the residents in the area with nuclear contamination as the mine endangers the sole source of drinking water for approximately 15,000 people in the Crownpoint and Church Rock communities, the NMELC said in a statement…….

The group Eastern Navajo Dine against Uranium Mining presented convincing evidence that mining would contaminate groundwater, including the communities’ primary drinking water source, the NMELC said.

Environmental groups are also concerned that the mining company, Hydro Resources, Inc., will not be forced to clean up existing Cold War-era radioactive waste on its Church Rock Sec. 17 property.  That waste exposes residents in the area to dangerous levels of radiation that are above regulatory limits; and new mining would add even more radioactivity to the air, the statement said.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has granted Hydro Resources, Inc. a license to mine uranium in Crownpoint and Church Rock.  HRI is the subsidiary of the Texas-based Uranium Resources, Inc. There will still be state permitting procedures that Hydro Resources will have to go through before mining begins.

The Eastern Navajo Dine against Uranium Mining and the Southwest Research and Information Center, represented by the NMELC, have been fighting the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Hydro Resources, Inc., for the past 16 years demanding that they keep out of Navajo communities in New Mexico.

“It’s been a very frustrating and long road but we won’t back down.  We plan to continue working together to protect our land, water and families,”said Larry King, ENDAUM Board Member and one of the 15,000 Navajo people who would be impacted by mine……..

NM uranium mining case appealed to US Supreme Court « New Mexico Independent

September 17, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, Uranium, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, uranium