Roundup: Native American tribes exposed to radioactive waste by uranium mill, no relief in sight

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by Peter Mertz

DENVER, the United States, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Water flowing from faucets in the Navajo Nation is "grayish in color and smells like boiled eggs," according to Native American leaders in the region.

"This is what we see on a daily basis," Ute Mountain Ute Tribe Chairman Manuel Heart said at a news conference, about water contaminated by the White Mesa Uranium Mill that flows from springs and wells into homesites on the Navajo Nation.

Plumes of contaminants, including nitrate, nitrite, chlorides, and chloroform have been detected in the groundwater beneath the mill site, according to Grand Canyon Trust, a nonprofit organization dedicated to Grand Canyon and Colorado Plateau conservation and environmental advocacy.

It was concerned that the contamination will seep into the underlying Navajo Sandstone aquifer, which is the main source of drinking water for southeastern Utah.

The Utes are one of several tribes situated inside the massive Navajo Nation reservation, which has a land base of 27,000 square miles (69,929.7 square kilometers), larger than 10 U.S. states, and occupies parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, according to NavajoNation.com.

In 2010, the total population of Navajo tribal members was 332,129 with 173,667 living within the boundaries of the reservation and 158,462 tribal members outside of the reservation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and environmental groups want to see the White Mesa Uranium Mill, located about 500 kilometers south of the Utah capital Salt Lake City in the southeast corner of the state, shut down and strictly regulated until then.

But White Mesa, in operation for 40 years, is located on private land owned by Energy Fuels Inc. (EF), based in Lakewood Colorado, a suburb of Denver.

The White Mesa mill, the only conventional uranium mill in the United States, and waste site is located 4 kilometers from the White Mesa community where the Ute Tribe smells the burning waste every day.

EF did not answer media calls for a response on the issue, but reviews on the company's website were not positive. Mark Chalmers, president and CEO of the company, said in an article published by The Salt Lake Tribune that if the mine were halting operations as the tribes requested, it would "make America more dependent on nations like Russia."

"These are the guys who lobbied Congress to strip the Bears Ears monument of its status. They are morally bankrupt and only value money. They have no souls," said local guide reviewer Adam Zmiewsky in 2018. The mill sits on the doorstep of Bears Ears National Monument.

Zmiewsky was referring to former U.S. President Donald Trump's 2017 proclamation to reduce the lands within the protected Bears Ears National Monument by more than 1.1 million acres (4451.5 square kilometers) after lobbying from gas and oil companies, a move reversed by President Joe Biden in 2021.

"It's all about the almighty dollar," said Scott Clow, Ute Mountain environmental director.

Scott told the media his primary concerns for the tribe and groups include contamination of the water, air pollution, psychological impact on nearby residents and long terms impacts of the mill, located just one mile from Bears Ears National Monument.

Tribal leaders say neither the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) nor the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have taken action to close the mill, despite complaints and inquiries.

The EPA is in the process of cleaning up 500 contaminated uranium sites on Navajo land, according to Tim Peterson with the Grand Canyon Trust in Flagstaff, who told the Navajo-Hopi Observer that said the mill was intended to operate for 15 years, but in the 1990s EF turned the venture into a processing site for waste from uranium sites.

"The waste has kept them open," he said, estimating that the waste gives 5 to 15 million U.S. dollars to EF annually. Peterson said the site needs to be regulated like a low-level radioactive waste disposal site and that "Congress should step in and take action."

"When the owners of the White Mesa Mill quietly changed their business plan, the mill became a commercial dumping ground for low-level radioactive wastes from contaminated sites across America and the world. Now, over 700 million pounds of toxic wastes simmer in the mill's massive waste pits," Grand Canyon Trust said on its official website.

The group also pointed out that the mill not only had processed and disposed of radioactive wastes from around North America for the last two decades, but also planned to process and discard waste from Estonia and Japan.

"Will the White Mesa Mill become the world's radioactive waste dump?" the group asked, adding "if the White Mesa Mill wants to function like a radioactive waste-disposal business it should be regulated like one."

In neighboring Arizona, where the Navajo Nation's government is located in Window Rock, the plight of the reservation has gained the ears of the federal government.

"This is a clear example of environmental injustice. It's profit at the expense of public health," said Raul Grijalva, Arizona congressman and chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources.

Grijalva told the media he will "look into how much money it will cost to cleanup and regulate the site," and that "this is a problem across the U.S., as people and clean water are at risk."

Noting that this contamination and health risk "disproportionately falls on some communities," Grijalva said regulations need to be codified into legislation, and that tribes need to be consulted regarding uranium mills or uranium waste, which is currently being transported through Navajo lands illegally.

The historic drought throughout the region complicates the issue, Grijalva noted, because "water needs to be better protected from contamination."

"We need legislative and administrative fixes. We need increased legislation because it's not there now," he said.

But tribal leaders are not holding their breaths.

Because of an agreement with the federal government, the state of Utah has the main regulatory oversight of the mill and waste site, according to tribal leaders, who say Utah's conservative government is unlikely to intervene "anytime soon." Enditem

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