Title Uranium Mining on Navajo Land particularly in an area called Grants Mineral Belt Desiree Pollock Urbs

1. TitleUranium Mining on Navajo Land particularly in an area called Grants Mineral BeltDesiree PollockUrbs/Geog 515: Race, Poverty, and the EnvironmentProfessor Raquel Pinderhughes, Urban Studies and Environmental Studies Program, San Francisco State UniversitySpring 2004Public has permission to use the material herein, but only if author(s), course, university, and professor are credited

2. This presentation focuses on the hazardous effects on the Navajo Communities that lived and worked by uranium mines and mills It is designed to access mining practices and what is being done to compensate the Navajo people who have been affected and are still being affected today. It analyzes and describes uranium mining in the Grants Mineral Belt, paying special attention to the social, environmental and public health impacts of the processes associated with uranium mining We start by analyzing what uranium is and the processes involved with uranium mining and milling, including waste. Also, why it is widely used. We then go into the health effects of Uranium and how it has affected the Navajo people that live and work around the mines. I�ll then talk about Grants Mineral Belt and the mills and mines that are there and how they have affected the environment around them. This is followed by what is being done to stop the radiation of the mills and mines and the compensation that is given to the Navajo people who have been affected

3. Uranium, what is it? First discovered in the 18th century Consists of three isotopes- uranium-238, 235 and 234 All are radioactive- having enough energy to break chemical bonds, therefore having the ability to destroy living cells Uranium 238 is the most dangerous to the human body and has the longest half-life of about 4.4 billion years

4. What it is used for In 1938 two German physicists, Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman discovered uranium could be split into parts to yield energy, also called fission They converted uranium-238 to plutonium-239 and it cause a train reaction where fission produced enough neutrons to trigger another and another till finally it creates energy Non-existent in nature until used in the first atomic bomb test in 1945 and the one dropped on Nagasaki Also used on naval reactors and to fabricate armor for weapons and tanks

5. Mining and Milling 3 ways to mine In the early days uranium was predominantly mined in open pits from ore deposits near the surface Later mining was done underground More recently in-situ mining was done- solutions are injected into underground deposits to dissolve uranium, and then is pumped out Lot less expensive and does not produce waste but it contaminates the ground water Milling refers to the process of extracting uranium to form yellowcake, which is used in nuclear weapons

6. Waste The usable portion of uranium is only about 1%, the rest is called mill tailing The large volume and lack of regulations have resulted in major environmental contamination The tailing can leach into the groundwater and cause dangerous levels of contaminates, sometimes up to 100X that of government standards Unfortunately there is no known method presently that totally isolates the tailings

7. Grants Mineral Belt Extends about 15 miles west of Albuquerque to the Arizona border Operating near the towns of Shiprock, Grants and Tuba City In the height of its mining it extracted 25% of all the uranium mined in the U.S> and 11% of the worlds Has the worlds deepest uranium mineshaft and the worlds largest open pit mine lays within a 30 mile radius of many reservations- Laguna Pueblo, Acomita, McCartys, Paraje and Paguat During the jackpile mines 30 years of operation it mined over 24 million tons of uranium 1.7 million tons of abandoned tailing covering 72 acres of land, leaches radioactive particles into the San Juan river where children play and swim The majority of the uranium was produced between 1950-1968 and it went to one source: the atomic energy commission of the United States

8. Who is affected Uranium miners and their families and the communities that surround the mines and mills Workers ate underground and drank the water from the walls of the mines Dust from the miners clothes leaked radiation to their family members when they washed their clothes People built their homes with the radioactive rock or with tailings from the mines Animals who drank the contaminated water are affected, so are the fish that they eat Crops also accumulate radioactive dust Affects air from radon gas and could affect populations 1000�s of miles away, exposing people to low doses, but accumulating doses The worst part was that these people were never informed

9. Opinions of the Navajo People .... several of my brothers have died from the effects of uranium (one was married to Mary Frank). So their lives ended in front of my eyes, and several others who are related to me have had the same thing happen to them .... My sympathy goes to them and I am affected from it (I have silicosis) and have become weak. I lack energy to work even at my own home. If they told us about it at the time of uranium mining, perhaps we would not have worked. This is what I think, and our families .... are worried and concerned about how I worked, and its effect on me .... And later, when it really starts to affect me, I think I'll also be one of the victims. ~ Floyd Frank As far as I am aware, there were no safety warnings told to us. But when I was working with Kerr McGee they did tell us something. Just before we began our work every morning, they told us to be sure before you enter in there where you are going to work .... to feel the ceiling for any loose rocks. Do not stay under too long. I knew what they were telling us. So I obeyed their rules ~ Logan Peet How it is, I'm not sure, but what I think is that all the residents of Cove Community have been affected in one or more ways, this is what I think. From there (pointing), waste and ore that were hauled out, some of these washed down with water. Also here (pointing), they hauled some in front of where the trading post is. It used to be piled over across; there was a pile. Then they hauled it over the roads, uranium fell off the trucks, so this makes uranium everywhere. Some homes, they used rocks for foundations which are radioactive; perhaps in the community there are also some like that. Some houses are also built with these same rocks. Water too, this wash, irrigation ditch-the same water. Dig wells, you drank the same water, there was no water system then. We carried water home in buckets from there. So, they just dumped the waste into the washes, they flow down, that way everything was exposed, animals as well. This is what I think. Even down to the babies are like that. Effects are not noticed until later on, some years later. From observation, this is what I have determined. When it starts on you, there is no turning it, nothing to back it off with. It just progresses to the end. Several people here in Cove, this happened to them, from that came my thinking. If they had informed the people, perhaps something would have been done then, perhaps our leaders could have done something about it, this I think about sometimes. ~Donald Yellowhorse

11. Health Effects As long as uranium-238 remains outside the body it poses little health hazards Most common health risk is breathing in radon-22 gas, which will continue to seep from the leftover tailings for thousands of years if inhaled or ingested, it increases risks of lung cancer and bone cancer due to uranium decay products At high concentrations it can cause damage to internal organs, especially the kidneys It also affects the reproduction of the developing fetus and causes high birth defects and mental retardation The kidney is said to be critical organ most susceptible to uranium exposure

12. Radioactive Water, Church Rock Disaster On July 16, 1979 the dam at church rock burst sending 11,000 tons of radioactive wastes and 90 million gallons of contaminated liquid on Navajo Land It ruined the Rio Puerio as a water source and set contaminates at least 70 miles downstream Not only contaminated the drinking water of New Mexico, but also as far as Las Vegas and Los Angeles Was the biggest single release or radioactive poisons on American soil Could have been avoided was not built to legal specifications and there were cracks in the dam when it was built and they were ignored Little was done to clean up the mess and only about 1% of the tailing was removed

13. What is being done They are trying to cover the dirt piles but how long will that last? In 2000 Bush implemented the Radiation Exposure Compensation act, which greatly expanded the population of miners who were eligible to receive compensation of up to 1000,000 in a ten year period The bill also gave over three million dollars in funds to education programs on radiogenic diseases Since the act, almost $550 million dollars have been given out to 11,882 victims and their families Church Rock Mill, which lies � mile from a Navajo Indian Reservation is having remedial action done to address tailing seepage in ground water Now it is being used for cow grazing, which in turn the cows eat the grass and we eat the cows

14. Benally, T. 2000. Navajo Uranium Miners Fight for Compensation. http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/miners.html. 8/24/00. Brugge, D., Benally, T., and Harrison, P. 1997.Memories Come to Us in the Rain and the Wind: Oral Histories and Photographs of Navajo Uranium Miners & Their Families. Navajo Uranium Miner Oral History And Photography Project. Red Sun Press, Jamaica Plain, MA. Eichstaedt, P. H. 1994. If You Poison Us: Uranium and Native Americans. Crane Books. Santa Fe, NM. Pino, M. 1992.�Testimony.� Pp. 146-148 In: Poison Fire, Sacred Earth: Testimonies, Lectures, Conclusions. The World Uranium Hearing, Salzburg. http://www.ratical.org/radiation/WorldUraniumHearing/ManuelPino.html Wasserman, H. and Solomon, N. 1982. �Uranium Milling and the Church Rock Disaster.� In: Killing Our Own, The Disaster of America�s Experience with Atomic Energy. http://www.ratical.com/radiation/KillingOurOwn/KOO9.html 10/11/00. WISE Uranium Project. 2004. http://www.antenna.nl/wise/uranium/index.html Wasserman, H. and Solomon, N. 1982. �Uranium Milling and the Church Rock Disaster.� In: Killing Our Own, The Disaster of America�s Experience with Atomic Energy. http://www.ratical.com/radiation/KillingOurOwn/KOO9.html 10/11/00.