FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Candace Head-Dylla, Bluewater Valley Downstream Alliance, 505-401-4349

Nadine Padilla, Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment, 505-240-3104

MILAN, NM RESIDENTS PUT HOME UP FOR SALE DUE TO HOMESTAKE/ BARRICK GOLD RADON CONTAMINATION  

*Video available at: http://bit.ly/NMUranium

Milan, N.M. — Just a half mile north of the nearest homes in Milan, NM sits the Homestake/ Barrick Gold Uranium Tailings Pile Superfund Site.  This site holds the 22 million tons of radioactive waste (uranium mill tailings) generated during the last uranium boom in this area. The Tailings Pile sits unlined and sparcely covered, releasing contaminants into the air and water.  State and federal agencies struggle to find a remediation strategy that can maintain the contamination leaking from the site.

The Bluewater Valley Downstream Alliance is a grassroots community group formed to address the ongoing contamination from the Homestake/Barrick Gold Uranium Tailings Pile.  For over 50 years, the site has leaked radioactive contaminants including radon into the air and into their water systems, making water wells unusable by the local community.

Community members living around the Tailings Site experience greater health problems than those living in surrounding areas.  Health problems include various cancers, asthma, severe migraines, gallbladder diseases, and thyroid diseases – to name a few. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, exposure to radon causes lung cancer in non-smoker and smokers alike.

Annual air monitoring reports conducted by the US EPA in 2006 – 2010 indicate releases of radon outside the area covered by the Nuclear Regulartory Commission license, in concentrations exceeding US EPA standards. The 2006 – 2010 annual air monitoring report indicates that releases of radon exceeded the annual average concentrations allowed under 40 CFR 192.02(b)(2).

Radon air monitors along the Homestake fenceline have continuously recorded outdoor ambient air radon concentrations associated with cancer risk levels that are greater than EPA’s acceptable cancer risk range of 1 x 10-4 to 1 x 10-6 [i.e., lifetime cancer risks of 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 1 million], as published in the National Contingency Plan.

Community members and Bluewater Valley Downstream Alliance President, Candace Dylla and her husband, are putting the home they built up for sale, because of the high radon levels and the radioactive contaminants in their water wells. Candace Dylla says, “We’re putting our home up for sale, because it is no longer safe for us to live here.  It’s unacceptable and dangerous for our families.” Over the past few decades, property values of the area have fallen due to past lawsuits with Homestake/Barrick Gold and local knowledee of the contamination. The fallen property values have left working families’ investments in land and housing worthless.

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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, Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining, Laguna-Acoma Coalition for a Safe Environment,  Post-71 Uranium Workers Committee, Red Water Pond Road Community Association

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, Dineh Bidziil, 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

YOU ARE INVITED TO A U.S. EPA REGION 6 COMMUNITY MEETING FOR THE HOMESTAKE MINING COMPANY SITE/GRANTS MINING DISTRICT

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 6 invites you to a community meeting regarding the on-going remedial actions at the Homestake Mining Company Superfund Site. All interested parties are invited to attend.

EPA will give an:

*update about the risk assessment sampling;

*update about the five-year review; and

*update about the Grants Mining District FiveYear Plan.

This meeting is being held in a fully accessible facility.

Should you have specific needs or questions about the meeting facility, please contact Stephen Harper, U.S. EPA Community Involvement Coordinator/SEE, at 1.800.533.3508 (toll free).

DATE:  Thursday, March 8, 2012

TIME:   6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

LOCATION:  Cibola County Building

515 High Street

Grants, NM 87020

Invitation to Homestake/Grants Mining District Community Meeting – March 8, 2012

As the Jackpile generation of miners passes, it is easy to forget the health dangers and corporate politics of energy production in this country. If you want to become informed about all aspects of uranium mining, nuclear power/war and its legacy then come watch some of these great films featuring New Mexican activists, scientists, and community members. Members from the Southwest Research Information Center (SRIC), Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment (MASE), and a few of our film’s producers and directors will participate in panel discussions after the screenings.

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