Leave Uranium in the Ground
Protect our Water
Gallup/McKinley Chamber of Commerce needs to honor Navajo neighbors!
WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT #1: URI/HRI wants to buy influence among Gallup and McKinley County businesses through the Chamber of Commerce. They will say ISL mining is "benign." But what they won't tell you is that USGS has now officially documented that the vast majority of commercial ISL mines in Texas, Wyoming and Nebraska have not restored drinking water aquifers to their pre-mining conditions. Even a large-scale test ISL project operated by Mobil west of Crownpoint failed to restore high-quality groundwater to its original condition after 7 years of restoration by one of the largest oil companies in the world.
WHY #2: Economically, most jobs will be for URI/HRI’s trained wildcat crews and technical personnel, not Navajos that live in the areas to be mined and impacted forever. The “economic benefits” that are touted are short-term as most of the economic gain will be for URI/HRI, which is based in Texas. URI is once again shutting down its Texas facilities because of low uranium prices. If it starts here, it will LEAVE TOWN when the market slumps, as it certainly will, leaving URANIUM AND OTHER POISONS in our aquifer!
WHY #3: Politically, the Navajo Nation and McKinley County will once again be left with the devastation of the legacy of uranium mining. The Navajo Nation ban on uranium mining and processing still STANDS! and it covers the Crownpoint and Church Rock areas. Why is URI/HRI continuing to disrespect Navajo sovereign authority to say "leetso doodaa" -- No uranium?
WHY #4: THE LEGACY -- The UNC Church Rock uranium mill tailings facility -- the site of the largest release of radioactive wastes in US history 30 years ago -- is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “Superfund” site on the EPA’s National Priority and is still leaking contaminants to the groundwater. The UNC Northeast Church Rock Mine, which operated from 1969 to 1982, has never received any type of clean-up, reclamation or abatement until just this year! Many Navajo home sites are adjacent to the many exposed piles and pits of radioactive materials. URI/HRI acquired the Old Church Rock Mine from UNC in 1993 and did not clean up all of the radioactive wastes left there, as it promised the community it would.
WHY #5: TRUST -- This is an issue of environmental injustice, of economic blackmail, of broken promises, of environmental destruction, and of the poisoning of people in uranium communities. New research shows that living in CLOSE PROXIMITY to uranium mines increases risks of kidney disease. We cannot and should not trust URI/HRI.
TAKE ACTION: Please show your distaste for this event. Attend and protest! Call Sammy himself at 505-863-2220 and call Bill Lee 505-722-2228 at the Gallup/McKinley Chamber of Commerce and tell them this is NOT the type of business we want in Gallup. Tell him MOST PEOPLE who frequent his establishment OPPOSE new uranium development. Tell him to give EQUAL TIME to opponents of uranium mining, who are PROPONENTS OF SAFE ENERGY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT!
URI/HRI ISL = LIES!
CITIZENS WANT CLEAN JOBS AND A GREEN ECONOMY!
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