by
Brendan Giusti
The Daily Times, Farmington, NM
16 July 2009
CHURCH ROCK —
Thirty years ago today on July 16, 1979, a dam at the United
Nuclear Corporation's Church Rock Uranium Mill broke, spilling 90
million gallons of radioactive waste into the Rio Puerco.
It was the largest
radioactive accident in U.S. history, releasing more radiation
than the Three Mile Island accident, which happened in March of
the same year. The spill in Church Rock is the second largest in
the world, only surpassed by the 1986 Chernobyl reactor meltdown
in Ukraine.
The contaminated
water from the Church Rock spill traveled downstream, reaching as
far as Chambers, Ariz.
Thirty years
later, fallout from the disaster still lingers on the Navajo
Nation.
"Just being in the
community and talking to people, you begin to realize the huge
health effect," said Nadine Padilla, coordinator of Multicultural
Alliance for a Safe Environment, a coalition of grassroots groups
in the fight to end uranium mining.
It affected the
miners as well as others in the community.
Teddy Nez
remembers that day in 1979.
The now
65-year-old lived less than a mile from the Northeast Church Rock
Mine.
At about 6 a.m. on
a Friday morning, the dam broke and waste rushed out of a
previously contained waste pond.
"I just heard a
big roar," Nez said.
It sounded like
heavy rains running through the nearby ditches, he said. But July
16, 1979, was a dry day with no clouds in sight.
The area flooded
with nearly 100 million gallons of wastewater, but residents near
the spill didn't know the extent of the damage the contaminated
water would cause.
"At the time it
was kind of like a rain storm. We didn't know the content of the
water," Nez said.
Church Rock
residents waded through the flood with bare feet. That's when
concern started.
"People started
complaining about their feet getting hot," Nez said.
Some residents
went to the hospital but were released with a diagnosis of simple
heat stroke, Nez said.
Three decades
after the spill, not much has changed for Church Rock residents,
some of them say.
"We're living in
the waste," Nez said.
Hundreds of mines
in the area were abandoned and never reclaimed. The ground water
in the area was contaminated and people today are still seeing the
mining's health effects, which include high rates of cancers and
rare forms of cancers.
Entire herds of
cattle and sheep died in the wake of the disaster, Padilla said.
"After the spill
we started to hear a lot of stories of cattle being born with two
heads," she said.
The stories
continue.
The liquid and
solid waste coated and soaked into the nearby river and stream
beds, said Paul Robinson, research director at the Southwest
Research and Information Center. Only about 3,400 barrels of waste
materials were cleaned up and very little of the spilled liquid
was pumped out of the water supply.
"Those
contaminants are still there, so it is still affecting the area,"
Robinson said.
Contaminants from
the other mines in the area also polluted the air, water and
ground, he said.
There are enough
contaminants to still pose a significant risk to people, Robinson
said. But there is no evidence to confirm that commonly held
belief. There were no health studies conducted in the area and no
available data.
Yet, residents say
they have seen the effects first hand.
In 2000, Nez was
diagnosed with colon cancer.
Many others in the
area have died from cancer, Nez said.
Hydro Resources,
Inc., in recent years has tried to re-open the old Church Rock
mine.
This worries the
people who remember the disaster 30 years ago.
"There's very
serious problems of several kinds," Robinson said.
Cleanup of the
original mines in the area are still a long way off, he said.
At the time of the
disaster, the company thought it was operating a state-of-the-art
facility and the government thought it was exercising proper
oversight, he said.
"Everyone thought
they were doing a good job," Robinson said.
Then disaster
struck.
"The spill
resulted from poor oversight, poor siting and poor construction
and is an example of the types of problems that occur at uranium
mines and mills," Robinson said.
Now the mines sit
abandoned, some uncovered, while the industry pushes to re-open
mining operations with new technology.
"There is quite a
bit at stake in the Church Rock area," said Robert Tohe,
environmental justice organizer with the Sierra Club.
The community is
concerned with the quality of ground water, which for many serves
as the only drinking supply for both community members and
livestock. Navajo Nation officials are concerned with making sure
its ban on uranium mining remains in effect.
And three decades
after the disaster, the disdain for uranium mining companies
continues.
"They left without
cleaning up their mess," Padilla said.
Remembering the
day:
A prayer walk to
remember the Church Rock spill will be held today on State Route
566 from Red Water Pond Road to Old Church Rock Mine Road and
begins at 7 a.m.
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