Division requests assessments on effects from uranium mining

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo Division of Health has asked two federal agencies to support comprehensive assessments and research related to impacts on the Navajo Nation from past uranium mining.

Navajo Division of Health Executive Director Anslem Roanhorse Jr. testified Thursday in Tucson at the second Biannual Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Tribal Consultation Session on Environmental Public Health in Indian Country.

Some 75 people from various Native American tribes and federal and state agencies participated in the daylong session.

Roanhorse spoke about a series of congressional hearings and briefings held last year regarding uranium contamination on the Navajo Nation, including the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing in October 2007.

As a result of the hearing, U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., committee chair, required five federal agencies to conduct a comprehensive health assessment, detailed site assessments and accelerate clean-up work. Waxman now has been named chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, one of the most powerful committees in Congress, under President-elect Barack Obama’s administration.

The five agencies — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service — developed a coordinated five-year plan to address objectives.

“Numerous publications reveal that Navajo uranium miners were exposed to the dangers of uranium for decades without the benefit of protective equipment and adequate ventilation to mitigate the dangers of this type of work,” said Roanhorse.

“Navajo Division of Health urges the CDC and ATSDR to be key partners by supporting a long-term comprehensive assessment and research program with adequate personnel and resources, and to include adequate levels of funding consistent with the coordinated five-year plan that Congressman Waxman required.”

According to the Division of Health, ATSDR official Tom Sinks committed the agencies to help with assessments such as the water well survey. He said they also are working with the federal agencies on the five-year plan.

In March 2008, EPA tested 50 Navajo Nation unregulated water sources, and Center for Disease Control sampled over 100 additional sources. Of those, 22 were found to exceed standards for radionuclides. Water from 21 of those sources is being used for human consumption.

Most are located within 10 miles of a safe alternative supply.

EPA and IHS identified the regions of Black Falls and Dennehotso where safe water is not available within 10 miles of a contaminated source. IHS is completing an EPA-supported water service improvement project to assist Black Falls area residents impacted by four contaminated wells.

Uranium mining occurred on the Navajo Nation from 1944 to 1986. Nearly 4 million tons of uranium ore were extracted from Navajo land to meet the federal government’s demand for nuclear weapons material.

“After four decades of uranium mining, at least 520 radioactive mines on the Navajo Nation were abandoned without being cleaned up,” Roanhorse said.

“It might be helpful to refer to a hazardous waste matter that received a great deal of national publicity 25 years ago in which the state of Missouri struggled with how to deal with 27 dioxin contaminated sites, including the most infamous, the city of Times Beach located near St. Louis.

“An incinerator was built at Times Beach and approximately 200,000 cubic yards of contaminated soils were burned. From completion of the site assessment to completion of the incineration, that project took approximately 14 years. The total cost of the incineration was $110 million.

“By contrast there are about 500 abandoned uranium mine sites throughout the Navajo Nation and only one has been fully assessed. That site alone the U.S. EPA estimated the total volume of contaminated materials to be about 871,000 cubic yards, more than four times greater!” Roanhorse said.