FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                             
Monday, Oct. 24, 2011

N.M. ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERS DEMAND US GOVERNMENT TO HOLD NRC ACCOUNTABLE
PRESS CONFERENCE 3 p.m. TODAY

Albuquerque, N.M. —To call attention to suffering from the health and environmental effects from 60 years of uranium mining in N.M., the Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment has called a press conference today at the Albuquerque Marriott, 3 p.m., before the U.S. Federal Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice conference.  The speakers at the press conference will address why permits for uranium mining in and around the Grants mineral belt should not be granted. 

“We’re sick of environmental injustice,” says Petuuche Gilbert, Laguna-Acoma Coalition for a Safe Environment.

 “Our land and water is being used as a national sacrifice area,” adds Laura Watchempino Laguna-Acoma Coalition for a Safe Environment.

The press conference is set immediately before the U.S. Federal Interagency Working Group (IWG) in Albuquerque, NM. The Federal Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice (EJ IWG) was established in 1994 under Executive Order.

Items addressed at the conference include:

1. MASE demands clean up of uranium mining and milling sites to pre-mining and pre-milling conditions.
2. MASE is against all uranium mining and milling projects due to the long lasting uranium legacy in the Grants Mineral Belt.
3. MASE demands the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to conduct a siting study and exploration for a permanent repository for legacy waste.
4. MASE demands Council on Environmental Quality and U.S. Government Accountability Office hold oversight hearings on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s purpose and accountability. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission does not address environmental justice concerns and public health. MASE demands communities take the lead with technical support from other agencies such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the New Mexico Environmental Department in efforts regarding uranium legacy issues.
5. MASE demands the Nuclear Regulatory Commission sign the Environmental Justice Memorandum of Agreement (MOA).  An Aug. 4, 2011 MOA recommits the 17 agencies and departments that signed the deal to implementing the Clinton-era Executive Order (EO) 12898, which generally required agencies to make environmental justice part of their missions and established a federal Interagency Working Group (IWG) on Environmental Justice.
6. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is disguised as an independent regulatory agency when in fact they use taxpayer money to promote and shield the nuclear industry.WHAT: Press Conference held by the Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment (MASE) immediately before the U.S. Federal Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice.
   The National Public Meeting for the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) meets Oct.25-26 at the same location.
   http://www.epa.gov/compliance/ej/interagency
   http://www.epa.gov/compliance/ej/nejac/meetings.html
   WHERE: Entrance to the Albuquerque Marriott, 2101 Louisiana Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, NM
   WHEN: Monday, October 24, 2011, 3 p.m.
   SPEAKERS INCLUDE: 
   Nadine Padilla, Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment (MASE)505-486-3499, mz.nadine@gmail.com
   Candace Head-Dylla, Milan, NM resident, 505-401-4349, cheaddylla@gmail.com

The Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment (MASE) is rooted in the experiences of uranium-impacted communities of the southwestern U.S. We are communities working to restore and protect the natural and cultural environment through respectfully promoting intercultural engagement among communities and institutions for the benefit of all life and future generations.

MASE Core Group of Alliances
Bluewater Valley Downstream Alliance, Dineh Bidziil Coalition, Eastern Navajo Diné  Against Uranium Mining (ENDAUM), Laguna-Acoma Coalition for a Safe Environment,  Post-71 Uranium Workers Committee  

MASE Affiliated Groups and Allies
Amigos Bravos, Moquino Mutual Domestic Water Consumers Association, New Mexico Environmental Justice Working Group, McKinley Community Health Alliance, New Mexico Environmental Law Center, Office of Peace, Justice and Creation Stewardship, Partnership for Earth Spirituality, Ramah Navajo Community, Red Water Pond Road Community Association, Sierra Club Environmental Justice Office, Southwest Research and Information Center, Stewards of Creation, NukeWatch, Think Outside the Bomb, Western Mining Action Network, Wise Uranium

 www.masecoalition.org

Contact:
Jennifer Marshall
505-231-1776
jennifer@jmarshallplan.com
www.jmarshallplan.com

The New York Times covered the fight for Mt. Taylor in their Thursday, August 18, 2011 paper and interviewed MASE’s very own Nadine Padilla. Padilla represented MASE saying:

Nadine Padilla of the Multi-Cultural Alliance for a Safe Environment urged regulators to deny the permit on both environmental and cultural grounds. “We’re not only concerned about the quality of the environment and possible contamination of the site; we’re also concerned because it’s a sacred place, a place that tribes regard as holy,” said Padilla, who is of Navajo and Pueblo ancestry and grew up nearby.

To read the entire article, click on the jump or follow this link directly to The New York Times article.

Continue Reading »

Crowd divided on mining issue

By Wren Abbott

Santa Fe Reporter | sfreporter.com

The New Mexico Mining and Minerals Department will issue a decision Thursday, Sept. 1 regarding the Mt Taylor Mine operator’s application to keep the site open.

At a four-hour hearing last night at Cibola Convention Center in Grants, the state MMD listened to testimony from mine operator Rio Grande Resources as well as environmental groups and the public regarding the status of the mine. The site, which is located about 12 miles northeast of Grants outside the tiny town of San Mateo, has the US’s largest store of high-grade uranium, but has not been actively mined since 1990. Partly because the profitability of mining for any substance fluctuates over time based on various factors, RGR has sought to keep the site on “standby” for the next five years, with the option to begin mining again within that period.

New Mexico Environmental Law Center represented two environmental groups at the hearing—Taos-based Amigos Bravos and Albuquerque-based Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment. The latter group sought to protect not only environmental but also cultural interests, based on the significance of the Mt Taylor area to many native American groups.

The public in attendance at the hearing was polarized on the issue, with members of the public aggressively cross-examining other public speakers. At one point a man tried to shoot down arguments made by Juan Juanico of Acoma Pueblo, who expressed concerns about the mine’s effects on water quality and noted that several of his family members died of cancer. Acoma is about 20 miles southeast of the mine site.

“We have yet to identify the causes of cancer in the majority of people who passed on here,” Juanico said.

The other man stood up and began questioning Juanico regarding whether smoking is allowed in casinos at Acoma, suggesting an alternative source of carcinogens.

Walter Leach was among the mine’s cheerleaders, asking mine manager Joe Lister how many jobs the mine could bring to Grants if it goes back into operation.

“If we operate at full capacity, in historical terms it would be somewhere around 1,000 men,” Lister replied.

Leach pointed out that the mine could potentially bring a boost to the area’s tax base if it went into operation.

“If we’re going to re-start America it starts locally,” Lister said in agreement. “It starts in rooms like this across the country.”

But Candace Head-Dylla scored a point for the anti-mining contingency, getting Lister to admit that RGR contributed to environmental contamination at the site in the past, though at first he said RGR hadn’t, to his knowledge. When Head-Dylla then asked whether he could promise that RGR wouldn’t cause contamination again, Lister replied, “I can’t make that statement.”

For more of SFR’s coverage of Mt Taylor Mine, see the print edition that comes out Wednesday, Aug. 24.

Photo by the Department of the Interior

The Interior Department has extended a ban for six months on new mining claims on more than 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon, outlined in red on this map. Interior is eyeing a 20-year ban on those lands, in addition to cross-hatched areas where mining is already banned.

By Matthew Trotter, Cronkite News

Link to original story

July 12, 2011

WASHINGTON – A proposal to reverse a federal ban on new mining claims near the Grand Canyon survived a committee vote Tuesday and could go to the full House as early as next week.

Opponents were unable to strip the language from the Interior-Environment appropriations bill, but not before contentious debate among House Appropriations Committee members about the true impacts of uranium mining near the Grand Canyon.

“Let’s not screw up the Grand Canyon,” said Rep. Ed Pastor, D-Phoenix, who asked what would happen to the environment and to the steady flow of tourism dollars if land around the Grand Canyon were industrialized.

But Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Mesa, who last week added the language to reverse the federal ban, defended his rider, saying Congress should be making such decisions and not the Secretary of Interior.

“The gulf between rhetoric and reality on this is as wide as the Grand Canyon,” Flake said, adding that in more than two years of study, the Interior Department has not been able to come up with a reason to stop uranium mining in the area.

Flake’s rider was a response to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who last month announced an emergency six-month ban on new mining claims on more than 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon. He was extending a two-year ban that would have expired this month, saying the extra time is needed for Interior to finish analyzing potential impacts of uranium mining in the area.

Salazar said at the time that his preferred action once the analysis is complete is a 20-year moratorium.

Rep. James Moran, D-Va., urged the committee Tuesday to strike Flake’s rider, saying uranium mining would poison the Colorado River water that millions of Americans rely on and blight the canyon’s scenic landscape.

Others argued — for and against the rider — by citing concerns over the level of foreign influence on American uranium mining.

Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., said it is mostly foreign companies competing for uranium mining rights in the U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., echoed his concern and offered a cautionary tale from her home state: Only one beryllium mine in Missouri is under an American company’s control, she said.

Several committee Republicans expressed concern about the amount of uranium the U.S. buys from foreign sources, claiming the nation imports about 90 percent of its uranium, mostly from Russia. Opening land near the Grand Canyon to mining was necessary for America’s economy and security, they argued.

But Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., countered that there is a reason the U.S. buys so much Russian uranium. “We buy Russian uranium because it keeps it out of the hands of Iran,” Jackson said.

“We buy Russian uranium because it keeps it out of the hands of North Korea.”

He said Flake has a “particular interest” in mining going forward.

“This is a Flake earmark for the mining industry,” Jackson said, drawing a smirk from Flake, who built a reputation for battling earmarks. “And for companies we can’t even name.”

Moran had the last word before the vote on his amendment.

“It (the rider) should be struck, we should protect the Grand Canyon, we should leave these decisions to the Secretary of the Interior,” he said.

The amendment failed on a 23-26 vote that split mostly on party lines. Three Republicans voted for the amendment: C.W. Bill Young of Florida, Frank Wolf of Virginia and Steven LaTourette of Ohio.

Flake called Moran’s amendment an attempt to “go around the deliberative process” in deciding whether to allow new mining claims on more than 1 million acres around the Grand Canyon that contain significant uranium deposits.

Until the funding bill wins final approval from the House and Senate, the ban imposed by Salazar remains in effect.

A committee staffer said the bill could reach the full House for consideration by next week or it could be delayed until after the House takes its August recess, depending on other business.

Gallup and Church Rock, N.M. —The public is invited to two important events Saturday, July 16 to learn more about New Mexico’s unique position in the nuclear fuel cycle and acknowledge some of the painful history.  July 16 is significant for many reasons including the fact that the nuclear age was ushered in with the world’s first atomic detonation at Trinity Site on July 16, 1945.

The first event, the “Uranium Legacy Remembrance Day” takes place outside of Church Rock at the largest radioactive spill site in U.S. history. “Making Waves,” the second event, will be held in the Calvin Hall on the Gallup campus of the University of New Mexico.

“In response to many things including the Las Conchas fire burning on and around the Los Alamos National Laboratory now, the 66th anniversary of the Trinity Site, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in March and the 32nd anniversary of the Church Rock disaster (which also occurred on July 16), our community is organizing these two important events,” says Nadine Padilla, Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment (MASE). “The dangers of all things nuclear are forefront on minds worldwide. I’d like to thank Leona Morgan, Mike Butler, Teddy Nez, Robert Tohe and everyone involved for organizing these events. I hope the public can join us to learn more about these critical issues and help us find ways to protect our land and people from toxic uranium mining.”

URANIUM REMEMBRANCE DAY
Thirty two years ago onJuly 16, 1979 United Nuclear Corporation’s dam broke,in what is now known as the Church Rock disaster. More than 93 million gallons of liquid toxic waste were released into the Puerco River in Church Rock, N .M. Thousands of residents live with the lasting effects from this radioactive spill to this day. Teddy Nez and the Red Water Pond RoadAssociation have been working on remediation and healing from this catastrophe since that time.

In light of the renewed interest of uranium mining, the fires around Los Alamos and the recent disaster in Japan, the organizers felt it is especially important to host the event this year. The health effects of past mining and the Church Rock disaster will be remembered for many generations and is something the community is dealing with to this day. There has been no uranium waste clean-up in the past 40 years which impacts all of the areas around the spill including the Coyote Canyon, Standing Rock, Nahodishgish, Pinedale and Church Rock Chapters of the Navajo Nation.

Uranium Remembrance Day will start at 7 a.m. with a prayer at Teddy Nez’s home on Red Water Pond Road. People will then march to the site of the spill. Numerous elected officials and community leaders including Senator Lovejoy, Representative Ben Ray Luján and Clancy Tenley from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will be speaking about the health and environmental effects of the uranium. The first commemorative march took place in 2009 on the 30th Anniversary of the spill. That event ended with a proclamation signing by the President of the Navajo Nation Joe Shirley reinstating the 2005 Diné Natural Resources Protection Act which bans uranium processing on the Navajo Nation.

MAKING WAVES
“Making Waves,” takes place Saturday, July 16, 5-7 p.m. at Calvin Hall on the UNM Gallup campus and will address t he full nuclear fuel cycle and the resulting radioactive contamination. The event is hosted by community leaders and residents from New Mexico and Arizona living near nuclear activities.

“We are organizing this event to educate the public about the dangers of uranium mining and nuclear industry in the Southwest,” says Leona Morgan, co-organizer of the event and the Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining Coordinator. “New Mexico holds an important and unique place in the nuclear fuel cycle. Unfortunately the nuclear industry has wreaked havoc on Southwestern communities; from weapons development and storage to uranium mining, milling,enrichment and disposal for more than 60 years. There are hundreds of families in New Mexico who have suffered health and environmental effects from the nuclear cycle and nuclear proliferation.”

New Mexico is home to Los Alamos National Labs, Sandia National Labs, Uranium Enrichment Plant (URENCO), Kirtland Air Force Base (AFB), Holloman AFB, Cannon AFB, the Trinity Site, and the Waste Isolation Pilot Project. In addition, there are numerous active and abandoned uranium mines and mills in all Four Corners states; New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah.

“Making Waves” will include screenings of short films and a panel discussion. Panelists include Robert Tohe from the Sierra Club’s Environmental Justice (EJ) office and Laura Watchempino from the Pueblo of Acoma. Tohe’s department works with tribes and community groups to protect their resources from contamination. Watchempino has worked for her tribe protecting and managing tribal water resources. She served as attorney for Indian Pueblo Legal Services in New Mexico in the 1980s and is currently working on the designation of nuclear free zones to combat the proliferation of the nuclear fuel cycle, from uranium mining and processing to the long-term disposal of the toxic radioactive wastes generated. Watchempino states that every part of the cycle poses dangers to the surrounding water, air, soil, human health and other life forms.

Organizers of these events are currently addressing requests for permits for uranium mining in and around the Grants mineral belt and stand united that they should not be granted in the aftermath of the health and environmental devastation in New Mexico. These groups are committed to see the United States transition from dirty and unsafe energy sources into renewable energy and embrace a clean and safe future.

These events are organized by members of the Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment. www.masecoalition.org

WHAT: Uranium Remembrance Day
WHERE: 29E Red Water Pond Road, (.5 miles west off end of. Rt. 566, 11.5 miles north of Church Rock)
WHEN: 7 a.m. Prayer; 8-10 a.m. March to site; 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Program
INFO: Teddy Nez, 505-879-2910, tntnez@yahoo.com

WHAT: Making Waves
WHERE: Calvin Hall, University of New Mexico – Gallup 705 Gurley Ave. Gallup, NM 87301
WHEN: Saturday, July 16, 2011, 5-7 p.m.
INFO: Leona Morgan, 505-879-8547, leona.morgan@yahoo.com

INTERVIEWS AND IMAGES ARE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST

CONTACT:
Jennifer Marshall, 505-231-1776
jennifer@jmarshallplan.com
www.jmarshallplan.com