by Kari Lydersen
Washington Post
25 October 2009
ACOMA, N.M.-- Uranium from the Grants Mineral
Belt running under rugged peaks and Indian pueblos of New Mexico
was a source of electric power and military might in decades past,
providing fuel for reactors and atomic bombs.
Now, interest in carbon-free nuclear power is
fueling a potential resurgence of uranium mining. But Indian
people gathered in Acoma, N.M., for the Indigenous Uranium Forum
over the weekend decried future uranium extraction, especially
from nearby Mount Taylor, considered sacred by many tribes. Native
people from Alaska, Canada, the Western United States and South
America discussed the severe health problems uranium mining has
caused their communities, including high rates of cancer and
kidney disease.
Uranium companies and government authorities do
not dispute this, and federal environmental remediation and
workers' compensation programs related to past uranium mining are
ongoing. But mining companies say today's methods and regulations
have improved so much that locals have nothing to fear.
Uranium mining and milling in New Mexico began
in the late 1940s but nearly ceased in the late 1980s as prices
dropped. In 2007, prices climbed to a record $139 per pound, and
companies applied for or renewed permits and staked new claims.
The economic crisis has had a chilling effect, with prices now at
about $43 per pound. But industry officials say they expect high
prices soon, especially with the likely passage of a climate bill
putting a price on carbon emissions.
The Grants Mineral Belt, extending 100 miles
west from Albuquerque, holds 300 million pounds of extractable
uranium. Companies are hoping to mine the country's largest single
deposit, about 100 million pounds, around Mount Taylor. This year
the National Trust for Historic Preservation named it one of the
nation's 11 most endangered places, and the state granted
protected status to a swath of the mountain. The company Rio
Grande Resources wants to reopen a former Mount Taylor mine that
yielded 8 million pounds of uranium for previous owner Chevron
from 1986 to 1989.
About 50 miles from Mount Taylor, the company
Hydro Resources Inc. (HRI) also plans to begin mining 101 million
pounds starting around the Navajo towns of Church Rock and
Crownpoint, N.M. HRI plans to do most of its extraction through
in-situ leaching (ISL), where chemicals are injected into an
aquifer to mobilize uranium deposits, then the metal is sucked out
while the water is purified and returned to the aquifer. Rick Van
Horn, senior vice president of operations for HRI's parent
company, Uranium Resources, said the process is environmentally
safe. Opponents fear it could contaminate their water supply.
"This has multi-generational effects. I won't
even live long enough to see what it does to people in 500 years,"
said Earl Tulley, who lives near Church Rock and is vice president
of the Navajo environmental group Diné Citizens Against Ruining
Our Environment. His wife had breast cancer and his daughter had
an ovarian tumor removed, both of which were attributed to uranium
exposure. "People are being taken apart from the inside out."
The Grand Canyon watershed also holds vast
uranium deposits, with more than 8,000 mining claims filed over a
1 million-acre area. Interior Secretary Ken L. Salazar over the
summer instituted a two-year moratorium on awarding new claims or
beginning production on claims not already established as viable.
While it is not tribal land, this region is considered sacred to
many Indians. Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. and other
tribal leaders testified in support of a House bill introduced
this year by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) that would ban Grand
Canyon watershed uranium mining.
Shirley is a staunch proponent of existing and
proposed coal mining and coal-fired power in the Navajo Nation.
For several years his administration has been fighting Navajo and
outside environmentalists over the proposed Desert Rock
coal-burning power plant, which would bring increased coal mining
on the reservation. Shirley, who could not be reached for comment,
has said the coal plant would be an economic boon for the
reservation. Uranium proponents, including some Navajo, likewise
say the industry would create badly needed investment and jobs on
a reservation where unemployment regularly tops 50 percent.
Van Horn said HRI would create about 120 jobs
for locals and would result in nearly $1 million a year in
royalties to the Navajo Nation. Mount Taylor mine manager Joe
Lister said their planned operations would create about 600
temporary construction jobs and 400 permanent jobs.
"Everyone is paying attention to the Native
Americans and the environment, but where is Joe Public, that
working man who comes in his car with his family from Arizona or
Texas and asks, 'Are there any jobs here?' " he said. "No, there's
no jobs now. But we hope there will be."
Chris Shuey, a specialist on uranium mining at
the Southwest Research and Information Center, says many uranium
companies do not intend to mine unless prices soar.
"I don't think they're being honest about the
chances of new mining. They're . . . setting up false
expectations," he said. "It doesn't take a lot of money to put up
a fancy Web site. It's a whole other thing to actually reopen a
mine, hire staff and produce that first ton of ore. If you're
going to propose mining uranium, you should either put up or shut
up. And these guys aren't doing it."