Uranium

Native Americans Ask: What About Our Water?

February 14, 2016 Cecily Hilleary, www.voanews.com Educate! Coporatism, Flint, health, Indigenous Rights, Uranium, Water

By Cecily Hilleary for Voice of America. Celebrities and politicians have rallied around the city of Flint, Michigan, where thousands of children have been exposed to unsafe levels of lead in drinking water. But Native Americans say they have been facing an even more dangerous water contaminant for decades - uranium - and received far less attention The Cold War arms race triggered a boom in uranium mining in the U.S. Between the 1940s and 1980s, uranium mining operations were carried out under a 19th century mining law that did not require them to clean up after themselves. When demand for uranium waned in the 1980s, companies simply walked away, leaving open pits and tunnels - and enormous amounts of radioactive waste. Today more than 15,000 abandoned uranium mines dot the U.S. West.

Newsletter: Global Solidarity Is Rising

February 7, 2016 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Newsletter Banking and Finance, Blockades, Climate Change, Extraction, Exxon, FERC, Flint, Fracking, Groundwater, Indigenous Peoples, Lead, Leonard Peltier, Pipelines, Police violence, Uranium

By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers for Popular Resistance. A key ingredient of previous successful campaigns to stop 'free trade' agreements is cross-border solidarity. Uniting struggles globally, as well as locally, is critical for other issues as well. Via Campesina, a movement started by peasants in 1993, has grown to become a global movement that recognizes the intersectionality between food security, land rights, the climate crisis and transnational corporate power. They work together to both resist harmful policies and to create necessary alternatives by organizing seed exchanges and impacting public policy. Similarly, global solidarity is increasing around the climate crisis.

Contaminated Water Requires National Public Health Action

February 7, 2016 Drs. Jill Stein and Margaret Flowers, www.truthout.org Educate! Coal, Flint, Fracking, health, Privatization, Uranium, Water, Water Pollution

By Drs. Jill Stein and Margaret Flowers for TruthOut. Most people in the United States know about the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in March 1979. Although the official reports stated that an "insignificant" amount of radiation was released (this understatement has since been refuted), it is called "America's worst nuclear accident." Very few people know about the actual worst nuclear accident in the United States, which happened three months later in Church Rock, New Mexico. Perhaps this is because it mostly impacted people of the Navajo (Diné) Nation. On July 16, 1979, the wall of a tailings pond for a uranium mill broke open and released 93 million gallons of radioactive waste into the Arroyo Pipeline, a tributary to the Puerco River. The waste traveled 80 miles down the Puerco River into Arizona. Not only is it amazing that this spill was not reported in the media, but it is also remarkable that the governor of New Mexico refused to issue a state of emergency.

Navajo, Others Press EPA, Congress To Act On Uranium Mine Cleanup

February 4, 2016 Jessica Swarner, www.cronkitenews.azpbs.org Educate! Congress, EPA, Indigenous Peoples, Mine, Uranium

By Jessica Swarner for Cronkite News - WASHINGTON – Longtime Sanders resident Wayne Lynch was told in July that the water on his ranch contained dangerously high amounts of uranium, yet he is still using it. “There’s no other water source we have,” Lynch said this week. “There’s no other well that they could tap into.” Lynch said the problem extends to the Sanders community, including nearby schools, which have no choice but to use contaminated wells. “People are always getting cancer,” he said, naming his mother, an aunt and a grandmother among those who have been diagnosed with the disease.

Newsletter: Defeating The Oligarchs

January 30, 2016 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.popularresistance.org Newsletter Banks, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Ferguson, Finance and the Economy, Flint, health, Mining, oligarchy, Plutocracy, Solitary Confinement, TPP, Uranium, Water

By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers. People in the US are taught that the way to create change is through voting. But in reality, voting in the US is very limited and ineffective. In an article, “Don’t Count on Elections: Organize or Die” the authors examine the myriad of ways that elections fail to create change; how they are designed to place a middleman, your representative, between you and the change you want and how elections tend to reinforce the status quo rather than change it. They point to South Carolina where there have been numerous attempts to rid the state of the Confederate Flag, but it was not until an activist climbed up a flag pole and took it down, that the government finally acted. Direct action, at the right moment, was more powerful than elections.

15,000 Abandoned Uranium Mines Protested At EPA

January 29, 2016 Klee Benally, www.cleanupthemines.org Resist! Environment, health, Indigenous Rights, Uranium, Water

By Klee Benally for Clean Up The Mines! Washington, DC - Tommy Rock, a member of Diné No Nukes and graduate student from the state of Arizona stated that the water crisis in Flint, Michigan was extremely similar to a crisis near the Navajo Nation in Sanders, AZ. "The regulatory agencies are responding by sending the Army National Guard to provide bottle water for the community of Flint. However, the small community of Sanders which is also predominantly an Indigenous community that is off the reservation are not receiving the same response from the state regulatory agency or the state legislatures and the media,” stated Rock who worked on a recent study that uncovered levels of uranium in the drinking water system of residents and an elementary school in Sanders that violated the drinking water standard for uranium. Rock continues, “The same can be said about two Lakota reservations. They are Pine Ridge and Rock Creek, Standing Rock Reservation that have not received any assistance from regulatory agencies.

The Invisible Killer: Fight Radioactive Pollution In 2016

January 3, 2016 Klee Benally, www.cleanupthemines.org Petitions and Online Actions Environment, health, Mining, Nuclear Energy, Uranium

By Klee Benally for Clean Up The Mines. In 2015 the Gold King Mine spill was a wake up call for the nation to address dangers of abandoned mines, but there are currently more than 15,000 toxic uranium mines that remain abandoned throughout the US. For more than 50 years many of these hazardous sites have already been contaminating our land, air, water, and national monuments such as Mt. Rushmore. Indigenous communities have been disproportionately impacted as approximately 75% of these abandoned uranium mines (AUMs) are located on public and Tribal lands. Each one of these 15,000 AUMs is a potential Gold King mine disaster with the greater added threat of radioactive pollution.

Newsletter: Heroes In The War At Home

December 6, 2015 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.popularresistance.org Newsletter Baltimore, Black Panthers, Carbon infrastructure, Clean Energy, Climate Change, COP21, Corporate crime, Fracking, Fred Hampton, Freddie Grey, Net Neutrality, Paris, Pipelines, Police Brutrality, Racism, TISA, TPP, Uranium, wealth inequality

By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese for Popular Resistance. Forty six years ago this week, 21 year old Black Panther leader Fred Hampton was murdered in his bed by Chicago police and the FBI. Hampton was a hero to many in his community for the work he did to feed hungry schoolchildren, create peace in his high school and within his community as a leader of the Black Panthers. His crime was being intelligent, talented and effective. In his short life, he rattled the power structure. In the war at home - the elite's war on the poor, hungry, homeless, sick, young and old - there are many heroes. Maybe this is one aspect of the US' war culture we can embrace - honoring our heroes and sheroes. In memory of the late Howard Zinn, let's honor those who work everyday for justice and peace. We are making a difference. Let's change the culture by lifting up the change-makers - those who make the world a better place - as our role models and heroes. Let's remember people like Fred Hampton. As Bill Simpich writes about Hampton and others killed for their activism, "They died in the war at home. They died holding this country to its promises. They died so we can be free. Hold them in the place of the highest honor."

Support The Call To Clean Up The Mines

December 3, 2015 Margaret Flowers, www.popularresistance.org Petitions and Online Actions Accountability, Environment, health, Uranium

By Margaret Flowers for Popular Resistance. Throughout the United States, but primarily in the Great Plains and the West, a silent polluter is responsible for cancers, birth defects and many diseases including kidney and autoimmune diseases. Yet, most people living in close proximity to these polluters are aware of the danger. I am talking about the 15,000 abandoned Uranium Mines. Most of them are open pits that continue to emit radiation and clouds of radon gas. When it rains, radioactive and toxic heavy metals are washed into the aquifers and rivers. When it is dry, dust carrying radioactive and heavy metals blows across the land. In the heart of the US' agricultural belt, these radioactive and heavy metals enter our food supply. Animals breathe in the toxic dust or drink contaminated water. Metals are taken up by plants that are harvested for animal feed or human consumption.

Radioactive Legacy, Part 1: A Yellowcake Gold Rush

November 3, 2015 Staff, www.rapidcityjournal.com Educate! Uranium

By Staff of Radio City Journal - On a warm fall day, Oct. 5, 1954, in the Red Canyon region north of Edgemont, a woman stood in front of an advancing bulldozer. But unlike most days in the history of the remote southwestern edge of the Black Hills, where dry plains meet pine-covered mountains and sandstone rocks jut among the grass and sage, all was not quiet. For three years, the natural beauty and stillness had been punctured by jackhammers, dynamite explosions and the roar of heavy machinery. Uranium was the era’s new gold, and the rush was on. Eugenia Chord, the woman in front of the bulldozer, had found some interlopers on her mining claim and told them to leave. They refused.

School Water Poisoned With Uranium: ‘Where’s The Help?’

October 14, 2015 Arlyssa Becenti, www.gallupindependent.com Educate! health, Nuclear Energy, Uranium, Water

By Arlyssa Becenti for the Gallup Independent. SANDERS, AZ — The Sanders Unified School District is trying to figure out how to ensure the safety and cleanliness of water that serves nearly 16,000 people who teach, study or work inside the Sanders middle and elementary schools and administration office. In July, a test determined that the community of Sanders had water contaminated with a high rate of uranium. Although the Arizona Windsong Company gives water to the community of Sanders, it does not provide any to parts of the Sanders Unified School District. However, the district still found that it also has dangerous levels of uranium contamination within its water system.

Six Million Drinking Uranium-Contaminated Water

August 21, 2015 Barbara Tasch, www.businessinsider.com Educate! Environment, Mining, Uranium

By Barbara Tasch in Business Insider - Water from two aquifers in the US contains uranium levels that are significantly higher than the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) maximum contaminant level (MCL). What's more, these two aquifers provide drinking water to almost 6 million people, and almost 2 million of them live less than a mile from the contaminated groundwater, according to a study led by two researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. And according to the EPA: "Intakes of uranium exceeding EPA standards can lead to increased cancer risk, liver damage, or both." The researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln analyzed almost 275,000 groundwater samples collected from about 62,000 locations from two aquifers that provide millions of people in the US with drinking water: the High Plains and Central Valley.

New Documentary: Crying Earth Rise Up

March 5, 2015 Staff, www.cryingearthriseup Educate! health, Uranium, Water

Residents living in Crawford, NE, the town nearest to the mine, have historically supported it for its positive financial impact, but recent questions about the mine's safety are raising doubt about the wisdom of tolerating its continued operation. At a public hearing in Hot Springs, SD, Lakota tribal members and white ranchers sound off about pending permits that would expand the uranium mining industry in the area. The question on the table among those assembled boils down to this: Can we afford the depletion and possible contamination of our water supply? Crying Earth Rise Up is an intimate portrait of the human cost of uranium mining and its impact on sacred water. It tells a timely story of protecting land, water and a way of life.

Young Navajos Stage 200 Mile Journey For Existence

January 29, 2015 Lyla Johnston, www.idlenomore.ca Organize! Indigenous Women, Mining, Oil & Gas, Social Justice, Uranium

At dawn on January 6, 2015, a group of young Diné (Navajo) women and their supporters gathered at sunrise near the fire department at the base of Dził Na’oodiłii (Huerfano Mountain). From there the group embarked on a 200-mile trek through eastern New Mexico—a tribute to the 150th anniversary of the tragic “Long Walk.” Throughout this journey they have been raising awareness about the historical and present day challenges faced by Diné people and inspiring hopeful solutions to address these issues. Organizers are calling out for community support in the form of walking, hosting or helping to garner basic materials. This first journey will end at Tsoodził (Mount Taylor), their southern sacred mountain.

Cree Building Opposition To Uranium Mining

October 29, 2014 CBC News, www.cbc.ca Resist! Environment, Human Rights, Indigenous Rights, Uranium

Cree leaders in Quebec are taking to social media to drum up support for their campaign against uranium development in their territory. The community leaders say they may be far from urban centres — anywhere from an eight to 18-hour drive north of Montreal — but almost everyone has access to high speed internet and 3G cell service. They want to make sure Crees show up and voice their concerns when the Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement (BAPE) province-wide hearings into the uranium industry come to northern Quebec next month. They're also using Twitter to spread the word and gain support outside of Cree territory. "We are encouraging the Cree Nation to participate in this important public process and to tell the BAPE what the Crees are thinking about uranium development in Eeyou Istchee," said Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come. The Cree government has launched a website and social media campaign, #StandAgainstUranium. They are asking people to take selfies with the Stand Against Uranium sign.

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