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EPA study into uranium contamination of Navajo land

The Mariano Lake Mine is one of a handful of sites that the EPA and its Navajo Nation counterpart have targeted for investigation or cleanup so far. They’ve been assessing hundreds of abandoned uranium mines to address what has become a legacy of death and disease across the reservation.

EPA announces deal for uranium contamination probe, Canadian Business,  August 01, 2011 FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is overseeing an effort to determine the extent of contamination at a former uranium mining site on the Navajo Nation that marked a high priority for assessment.

The EPA announced Monday that it has reached a deal with Chevron USA Inc. to survey the 31-acre Mariano Lake Mine site near Gallup, N.M., and surrounding homes and water wells. Chevron is to report its findings from radiological survey and soil samples to the EPA early next year and is on the hook for EPA’s oversight costs.

The Mariano Lake Mine is one of a handful of sites that the EPA and its Navajo Nation counterpart have targeted for investigation or cleanup so far. They’ve been assessing hundreds of abandoned uranium mines to address what has become a legacy of death and disease across the reservation.

In 2005, the Navajo Nation banned uranium mining on the 27,000 square-mile reservation that stretches into parts of New Mexico, Utah and Arizona. Nearly four million tons of uranium ore were mined from the reservation over more than four decades.

The tribe and the EPA began aggressively targeting the abandoned mines within the last decade. That includes the development of a five-year, multi-agency plan to address contamination that now is in its fourth year…..

The Navajo Nation has been pushing for mining waste — tailings or rocks that weren’t rich enough in uranium — to be removed from the reservation. Navajo President Ben Shelly commended the EPA and Chevron for coming to an agreement he said will protect the communities in and around Mariano Lake.

“I look forward to the data that will be generated in this investigation, and I respectfully request U.S. EPA to understand our desires for the most protective clean-up plans that will help restore harmony in our communities and homes,” Shelly said in a statement.

The Skyline Mine near Monument Valley, Utah, is the first mine that EPA itself is cleaning up at a cost of $8 million…..

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/37331–epa-announces-deal-for-uranium-contamination-probe

August 2, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | indigenous issues, Uranium, USA