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The stripping of Australian Aboriginal land for the nuclear industry

As we moved forward into the 21st century, consuming our way through limited resources, we need to re-consider the cost of our fuel, our technology, our lifestyles; and I’m not talking about in the sense of pounds, euros or dollars. Your tank of gas, my computer’s electric consumption, is costing us our humanity. The price paid is the continual marginalization, oppression and dehumanization of the original inhabitants of colonized territories. They are losing their culture, their livelihoods, their country.
Aboriginal Land Management Equates to a Healthy Environment,WIP Talk by AdrienneStrubb 13 April, “…….Australia’s Northern Territory Emergency Response (also known as the Northern Territory Intervention) of 2007: a territory initiative that continues to greatly restrict human rights of the Yolngu and other Indigenous clans in the area;…… Quite a brutal action this was, given that it had taken centuries for the Aboriginal clans to get native rights recognized by Australian law (in some cases longer: Native Title was finally acknowledged in 1993 in Queensland in the High Court ruling [Mabo v. Queensland])……
…from where these Indigenous land rights are being stripped and leased out by the government (in 5 year intervals), is a land rich in minerals: uranium, aluminum and coal. Severe repercussions on local residents? Yeah.

In May 2010, Ranger – a uranium mine in the Kakadu which local indigenous people resisted since the 1970s – released large quantities of radioactive water into ecologically sensitive wetlands. And in late 2010, controversy emerged over attempts by local officials and mining giant Rio Tinto Alcan to sideline independent indigenous voices during negotiations to re-sign leases for the Nabalco bauxite mine. (Irving, 2011)
Sound familiar? Anyone heard of Tar Creek? Closer to home (relatively), in Oklahoma, there exists an Environmental Protection Agency superfund site called Tar Creek. A terrifying documentary, directed by Matt Myers in 2007 , detailing an American history in which mining for lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) had been allowed on Native American territory regardless of the Indigenous community’s consent and rightful concern (those in the Bureau of Indian Affairs who objected to the mining were overruled as incompetent and stripped of authority). Over a hundred years has passed and the exploitation had left both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities marginalized and suffering from Pb and Zn poisoning and water pollution…….

non-governmental organizations , interested in Indigenous human rights, continue to present one example after another in which land tenure and native rights of forest peoples are being ignored.

As we moved forward into the 21st century, consuming our way through limited resources, we need to re-consider the cost of our fuel, our technology, our lifestyles; and I’m not talking about in the sense of pounds, euros or dollars. Your tank of gas, my computer’s electric consumption, is costing us our humanity. The price paid is the continual marginalization, oppression and dehumanization of the original inhabitants of colonized territories. They are losing their culture, their livelihoods, their country.

We can help. We can change. That’s the greatest part about being human: we’re quite resilient and adaptable. Start thinking about where things come from, support those who do it right and debunk those who don’t.

Debunk unjust mineral extraction propaganda that tells you that everything is all right: April Fools, it’s not. Support research that shows that Aboriginal land management equates to a healthy environment and truly see that Australia is amazing.

WIP Talk: Aboriginal Land Management Equates to a Healthy Environment

 

April 14, 2011 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, indigenous issues | Leave a comment

Amti uranium concerns in Nanavut

(Canada) Japan’s reactor disaster raises Nunavut nuclear fears ,The Canadian Press  Apr. 3, 2011  The hall in the tiny Nunavut community of Baker Lake was packed last Thursday and the debate lasted all night and into the morning.The crowd of about 150 people — nearly 10 per cent of hamlet’s entire population — didn’t stop talking until 1:30 a.m.They were talking about uranium, a familiar subject in the community where French nuclear giant Areva has proposed a $1.5-billion mine for the radioactive metal.But this forum, one of several organized by the territorial government, was different than so many previous community meetings on the topic. About halfway through, an elderly Inuit man stood and asked the question that underlined why.

“His question was, if it’s so safe, why are people in Japan asked to leave their homes and not to come back?” recalled Sandra Inutiq, a member of a Nunavut anti-nuclear group. “If it’s so safe, why are people in Japan so scared?”

Nunavummiut have been asking whether they want uranium mining on their land for years……..Japan’s reactor disaster raises Nunavut nuclear fears – CTV News

April 4, 2011 Posted by | Canada, indigenous issues | Leave a comment

Uranium mining threatens Hualapai, Havasupai and Navajo nations, and tourism industry

Salazar’s decision to halt new uranium claims would be consistent with permanent bans by Hualapai, Havasupai and Navajo nations on their lands that surround the park….mining is a minor part of northern Arizona’s economy (unlike tourism at the Grand Canyon,

Uranium mining would hurt Grand Canyon area, The Arizona Republic, Tom Chabin,  28 Feb 2011, FLAGSTAFF — I support Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar’s proposed 20-year ban on new mining claims on public-land watersheds that drain into Grand Canyon National Park. Continue reading →

March 1, 2011 Posted by | indigenous issues, Uranium, USA | 2 Comments

133 Native Chiefs oppose shipment of radioactive reactor parts across Great Lakes

Ontario chiefs oppose nuclear shipments The Sarnia Observer – Ontario, CA, 26 Feb 2011, A collective of 133 First Nations chiefs in Ontario has restated its objection to the shipment of 16 decommissioned nuclear steam generators through the Great Lakes. During the Chiefs of Ontario annual health forum on Tuesday, an emergency meeting was called by Grand Council Chief Patrick Madahbee. On Feb. 4, Bruce Power was authorized by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to transport the shipment…….Ontario chiefs oppose nuclear shipments – The Sarnia Observer – Ontario, CA

February 27, 2011 Posted by | Canada, indigenous issues, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Preserve St Lawrence River from radioactive risk – say Mohawks

“The [River] provides drinking water to some 40 million people,” says Kahnawà:ke Grand Chief Michael Ahrihron Delisle, Jr., in the joint statement issued February 9. “But for us, it’s much more than that. If there is an accident, there is no place for us to go.”

The Mohawk people have been living in the area of the Seaway for at least 9,000 years – and they’re still there today.

Mohawk Communities Oppose Nuclear Waste Shipment ,  GroundReport by  John Schertow February 14, 2011 The Mohawk Councils of Kahnawà:ke, Tyendinaga and Akwesasne have issued a joint statement rejecting the shipment of nuclear waste through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway system.On Feb. 4, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC),  gave Bruce Power one full year to get 16 containers filled with radioactive waste to Sweden, where the waste can be recycled. Continue reading →

February 16, 2011 Posted by | Canada, indigenous issues | Leave a comment

Warning on uranium mining from Navajo speaker

mining firms “scoured the land” looking for ore deposits, Tohe said. They hired local workers, Navajos and Pueblos, to enter the mines, where radioactive dust settled into miners’ clothes before they went home and contaminated their families, Tohe said.

“The workers were never told that this was dangerous,” Tohe said……There may be short-term jobs, but the mining industry is susceptible to the market,”…“The communities are held hostage by the boom and bust cycle,”

Anti-uranium mining activist speaks out on project | GoDanRiver.com, 7 Feb 2011, If uranium is mined and milled at Coles Hill in Pittsylvania County, what happened in the U.S. West could happen in Chatham, Continue reading →

February 8, 2011 Posted by | indigenous issues, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

Legal technicality leaves Navajo no redress for uranium contaminated land

The Navajo Nation only became aware that the two sites nearby were also contaminated in the early 2000s.

Federal Appeals Court Rules DOE Not Responsible for Navajo Uranium Cleanup By LAWRENCE HURLEY, NYTimes.com January 28, 2011 A federal appeals court ruled today that the Department of Energy does not have to remediate two sites on Navajo Nation land that are adjacent to an old uranium mine. Continue reading →

January 29, 2011 Posted by | indigenous issues, Legal, USA | Leave a comment

Navajo victims of uranium mining

why should they [the Navajo] be victimized from another wave of uranium mining?”

A legacy of uranium, a prayer for healing | The Salt Lake Tribune, by Judy Fahys, 2 Jan 2011, Monument Valley, Utah • The sickness in Elsie Mae Begay’s family troubled her for a long time. So she turned to a Navajo medicine man.The healer took measure of the family settlement here and told her the poison was in the dust kicked up by the wind that sometimes rips through the desert. In years to come, environmental scientists for the tribe and the U.S. government would confirm that diagnosis in their own way, saying the family was at risk from radiation left over from uranium at the Skyline Mine on the mesa above the homes…….. Continue reading →

January 2, 2011 Posted by | indigenous issues, USA | Leave a comment

Hanford nuclear wastes – shameful injustice to the Yakama tribe

Some 400 billion gallons of liquid wastes were dumped into the [Hanford] soil — enough to create a poisonous lake the size of Manhattan Island — 80 feet deep. Enormous groundwater plumes containing radioactive and other hazardous wastes are migrating into the river….…..the Federal government has a moral and legal trust responsibility to ensure that tribal treaty resources are protected and that the health of tribal people is not being harmed

Endangerment Near a Nuclear Weapons Site. THE HUFFINGTON POST , Robert Alvarez, 17 Dec 10, Yesterday President Obama held a meeting with the leaders of indigenous people in the U.S. One important issue is the fact that tribal people, because of their subsistence lifestyle, are the most vulnerable group of humans to environmental contaminants. Continue reading →

December 18, 2010 Posted by | indigenous issues, USA | Leave a comment

Indigenous peoples bypassed at Cancun Climate Change conference

….Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD). pays lip service to indigenous land tenure and practices, while often undermining and even prohibiting them.

The Missing Delegate at Cancún: Indigenous Peoples, NatGeo News Watch, 10 Dec 10, As nearly 200 delegates gather at the Conference of the Parties in Cancun, Mexico, writer Dennis Martinez points out that Indigenous peoples and their advocates have no official seat among nations, and yet have experienced the worst impacts of climate change. Continue reading →

December 10, 2010 Posted by | 2 WORLD, climate change, indigenous issues | Leave a comment

Nuclear company will pay to ‘educate’ Saskatchewan Indian Nations about Nuclear Wastes

The money comes from the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, the group created by Canada’s nuclear electricity industry to find a new home for nuclear fuel waste.

Nuclear group gives First Nations $1M for meetings, November 18, 2010  CBC News The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations has been given $1 million to hold information sessions on nuclear waste storage, but environmentalists are leery about the idea. Continue reading →

November 19, 2010 Posted by | Canada, indigenous issues, spinbuster | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Toxic uranium spill still affecting Navajo in New Mexico

People still remember, in part because of lingering illnesses they attribute to the spill,…People got compensated quickly at Three Mile Island – around here, I don’t think anyone got compensated for anything,

Uranium spill elicits traditional approach,  Indian Country Today By Carol Berry,  Oct 19, 2010 CHURCH ROCK, N.M. – About 10 miles north of this predominantly Navajo community, Highway 566 transects Red Water Pond Road, which is blocked at the entrance to an abandoned United Nuclear Corp. mine site from which nearly 1 million gallons of toxic wastewater spilled into the nearby Puerco River 31 years ago. Continue reading →

October 19, 2010 Posted by | indigenous issues, Uranium, USA | , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Native Americans lead the way in Solar Energy Education

Native Americans ….. lead the five groups of recipients taking advantage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (also known as ARRA, or the stimulus) and as a result eligible for the IREC awards.

Native Americans Turn to Solar Energy, CALFINDER  15 Oct 10, In an interesting show of how established solar energy has become, on Monday Oct 12October 12, the New York-based Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) gave one of its 2010 Innovation Awards to Lakota Solar Enterprises, a renewable energy company owned entirely by Native Americans and located on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Continue reading →

October 15, 2010 Posted by | indigenous issues, USA | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mohawks join opposition to shipment of nuclear wastes over Great Lakes

Mohawks will not stand for nuclear shipment By Michelle Lalonde, Montreal Gazette September 30, 2010 The Mohawk community of Kahnawake is determined to stop a plan by Ontario’s Bruce Power to ship 16 massive steam generators from its nuclear facility in southwestern Ontario along the St. Lawrence Seaway for recycling in Sweden.”The fact that the Seaway was built through our territory without our approval in the first place is bad enough,” said Clinton Phillips, the chief responsible for environmental issues on the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake.

“To use it to transport nuclear waste literally through our backyard would be adding insult to injury in a huge way. There is absolutely no way we’ll stand for it.”……………

October 1, 2010 Posted by | Canada, indigenous issues | , , , , , | Leave a comment

International church group slams Australia’s Aboriginal Intervention

“The Intervention has taken control of the lives of Aboriginal peoples through such measures as compulsory income management and compulsory acquisition of leases over Aboriginal land.

“The Labor Government has continued the Intervention which remains a blight on Australia’s reputation.”

Territory shame The Catholic Leader: : 26 September 2010By: Paul Dobbyn AUSTRALIA’S “shameful treatment” of indigenous people in remote Northern Territory communities has been exposed during a six-day fact-finding mission by local and international visitors, Continue reading →

September 23, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, indigenous issues | , , | Leave a comment

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