DoomsdaysCW<p>Some good news! Though potential contamination from long-term storage needs to be addressed (what else is new).</p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EPA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>EPA</span></a> to Relocate Toxic <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/UraniumMine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>UraniumMine</span></a> Waste from <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NavajoNation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NavajoNation</span></a> </p><p>By Neely Bardwell, January 08, 2025 </p><p>"The Environmental Protection Agency will move <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/uranium" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>uranium</span></a> mine waste from <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ChurchrockNewMexico" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ChurchrockNewMexico</span></a> to the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RedRock" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RedRock</span></a> regional landfill where it can be safely stored forever. </p><p>"The federal agency signed an action memo to transport radioactive waste at the Quivira Mining Co. Churchrock Mine to a disposal site at the Red Rock regional landfill about six miles east of the Village of Thoreau. The cleanup will begin in early 2025 and continue for 6-8 years.</p><p>"For the Red Water Pond Road Community Association (<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RWPRCA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RWPRCA</span></a>), which has advocated for waste removal since 2006, the decision marks a significant shift in addressing <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/UraniumContamination" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>UraniumContamination</span></a> on Navajo land.</p><p>"'Removing the mine waste from our community will protect our health and finally put us back on a positive track to <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/H%C3%B3zh%C7%AB" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Hózhǫ</span></a> (balance),' said Teracita Keyanna, RPWPRCA executive committee member. 'I think this decision empowers <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/grassroots" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>grassroots</span></a> organizations like ours and our allies to continue to advocate and educate to clean up hundreds of abandoned uranium mines that threaten our <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Din%C3%A9" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Diné</span></a> communities every day.'</p><p>"RWPRCA President Edith Hood said the community has dealt with the impact of uranium mining since the late 1960s. Commercial mining began at the site under <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/KerrMcGee" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>KerrMcGee</span></a> Corporation, which later became the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/QuiviraMiningCompany" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>QuiviraMiningCompany</span></a>. The operation extracted an estimated 1.3 million tons of uranium ore before closing in 1986. The Navajo Nation currently has more than 520 documented <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/AbandonedMines" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AbandonedMines</span></a>, with no disposal facilities for uranium waste within 350 miles of <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/TribalLands" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>TribalLands</span></a>.</p><p>"'Many of us suffer chronic health problems and a degraded homeland as a result,' Hood said. 'We advocate for a regional approach to addressing remediation of nearly 100 abandoned uranium mines in the Eastern Navajo Agency. We are committed to making sure the removal of mine waste from our community does not threaten the health and safety of our Diné neighbors.'</p><p>"Previous attempts to address the waste proved unsuccessful. In 2011 and 2013, the EPA and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a plan to place 1 million cubic yards of waste from NECRM on top of the existing tailings pile located half a mile from RWPRC village. Effectively, neither of those wastes were removed from the communities.</p><p>"The <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RedRockLandfill" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RedRockLandfill</span></a> currently handles municipal waste from McKinley and Cibola counties and Navajo Nation communities as far away as Tuba City. The planned <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/UraniumDisposalCell" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>UraniumDisposalCell</span></a> will occupy a separate area of the 640-acre site adjacent to the shuttered <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Escalante" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Escalante</span></a> power plant.</p><p>"The Northwest New Mexico Regional Solid Waste Authority (<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NNMRSWA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NNMRSWA</span></a>), which owns the landfill, must show that its operations can protect <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/GroundWater" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>GroundWater</span></a>, air and soil, while safeguarding public health for decades to come. The New Mexico Environment Department will oversee long-term monitoring of the site.</p><p>"Chris Shuey, who has documented mining and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/milling" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>milling</span></a> impacts in the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Churchrock" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Churchrock</span></a> area for 40 years as an environmental health specialist at Southwest Research and Information Center in Albuquerque, said relocating uranium waste is essential for tribal communities. </p><p>"'Removing mine wastes from Navajo communities to engineered, regional disposal sites is a <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PublicHealth" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PublicHealth</span></a> imperative,' Shuey said, noting that more than half of all Navajo chapters have at least one source of unhealthy uranium exposure. 'The federal government must continue looking for suitable sites for long-term disposal of mine wastes to protect current and future Navajo populations.'</p><p>"'This decision will remove over 1 million cubic yards of waste that has haunted the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RedWaterPondRoad" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RedWaterPondRoad</span></a> and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PipelineRoad" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PipelineRoad</span></a> communities for too long,' EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman said in a statement. </p><p>"'This solution is a compromise that will get <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RadioactiveWaste" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RadioactiveWaste</span></a> in this area off of the Navajo Nation as soon as possible,' Navajo Nation President <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BuuNygren" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BuuNygren</span></a> said in the EPA statement. 'It’s not everything the three affected communities would wish for but it’s action in the right direction now rather than in the future. Most importantly, this will protect our people from harmful exposure.'"</p><p>Source:<br><a href="https://nativenewsonline.net/environment/epa-to-relocate-toxic-mine-waste-from-navajo-nation" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">nativenewsonline.net/environme</span><span class="invisible">nt/epa-to-relocate-toxic-mine-waste-from-navajo-nation</span></a><br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoNukes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NoNukes</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoWar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NoWar</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoMiningWithoutConsent" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NoMiningWithoutConsent</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoUraniumMining" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NoUraniumMining</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/UraniumMills" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>UraniumMills</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NukingTheNavajo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NukingTheNavajo</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Genocide" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Genocide</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WaterIsLife" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WaterIsLife</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NativeAmericanNews" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NativeAmericanNews</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/HaulNo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>HaulNo</span></a></p>