The Cherokee National and Native Americans for a Clean Environment sued to shut down the plant. Radioactive waste from the Sequoyah Plant in Gore, Oklahoma, was spread on Cherokee lands for testing as fertilizer and demonstration purposes. Mining is seen as one cause of epidemic levels of sterility, miscarriages, cancer, and other diseases on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The mining sites in the Black Hills could threaten underground water directly underneath the operating mines. Half of the gold mined in the United States each year comes from the Black Hills. Department of Energy wants to use more of the land for such mining because the area is rich in mineral deposits. Uranium and gold mining occurs in the Black Hills of South Dakota, a sacred area for the Lakota. Substantial radioactive fallout has contributed to a high concentration of cancer and leukemia on the reservation. The Western Shoshone are the most bombed nation on the earth: 814 nuclear tests have been done on their land since 1951. government appropriated the land in 1951 for exploding nuclear weapons. The Nevada Test Site is in the traditional land-use area of the Western Shoshone and South Paiute. Former uranium mining and milling districts of the Navajo Reservation suffer from cancer and leukemia clusters and birth defects. Some 600 dwellings on Navajo tribal lands are contaminated with radiation. More than 1,000 open-pit and underground uranium mines on the reservation are abandoned, unreclaimed, and highly radioactive. The worst nuclear accident happened at Uranium Mill, which is south of the Navajo Reservation. The largest underground uranium mine on Navajo and Hopi lands operated from 1979 to 1990. From 1946 to 1968, 13 million tons of uranium were mined on the Navajo Reservation. Since 1942, the reservation lands and the surrounding areas of the Navajo and Hopi have been mined for uranium. Uranium mining and aboveground nuclear-weapons tests have occurred for about 50 years on and around these reservations.
The site also lies near and partially on sacred religious lands. The site, which sits on top of a major aquifer, is also near the Cataract Creek and could contaminate both bodies of water. Canyon Mine will disturb 17 acres of land for a 1,400-foot shaft and surface facilities. The Canyon Mine, along with the Sage Mine, will be built on the southern rim of the Grand Canyon. A major concern is the contaminated water seeping into Lake Roosevelt.Įnergy Fuels Nuclear is developing Canyon Mine. One pit has 450 million gallons of contaminated water another holds 150 million gallons of less contaminated water. The leftover uranium mining pits hold contaminated water. began operating the Midnight Mine only a few miles from the Spokane Reservation in Washington state. Eight out of nine reactors at the facility were water-cooled from the Columbia River, affecting the fish that provide food and economic subsistence. Radioactive gases and fluids released between 19 directly affected fish and wildlife. Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state has caused dramatic increases in cancer rates among indigenous peoples. Yakima, Colville, Nez Perce, Coeur d'Alene, Spokane, Kalispell, Umatilla, Klickitat
0 kommentar(er)
