ENVIRONMENTAL NIGHTMARES

To the Editor

2024-09-18T13:05:00.000-07:00

To the Editor, The recent revelations regarding the Riley Pass Nuclear Processing Facility, located north of Buffalo, SD, and upstream from Rock Creek and Running Antelope, are nothing short of chilling. The scale of the environmental contamination and the deliberate efforts to conceal it from the public evoke the worst memories of Love Canal. This is not merely an environmental disaster; it's a betrayal of public trust on a monumental scale.

The parallels between Riley Pass and Love Canal are striking. In both cases, we see a pattern of corporate negligence, regulatory failure, and a blatant disregard for the health and safety of surrounding communities. The long-term consequences of this contamination will be felt for generations to come. Particularly devastating are the downstream health effects reported by the Hunkpapa community living along the Grand River, which include diabetes, amputation, high blood pressure, and learning difficulties. These are not just statistics; they represent real lives irrevocably damaged by this environmental catastrophe.

We demand a full and transparent investigation into the Riley Pass coverup. Those responsible must be held accountable, and swift action must be taken to mitigate the environmental damage and provide comprehensive health care and support to affected communities. The health and safety of the public must be our top priority.

We cannot allow another Love Canal to happen on our watch. We urge our elected officials to take immediate action and ensure that the Riley Pass disaster is thoroughly investigated and addressed. We owe it to ourselves and to future generations to protect our environment and hold those who endanger it accountable.

Sincerely, Harold One Feather, Hunkpapa Tongan Scout

2021-06-09T10:59:00.014-07:00

Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, and Ethnic Cleansing

America's Secret Chernobyl - Custer National Forest

The photo above was never made available during the mishandled and inappropriate Sioux Ranger District Oil and Gas Leasing Environmental Impact Statement(Sioux EIS 2004). There were other major documents missing from the Sioux EIS, mostly on the chemical characteristics and water solubility of uraniferous lignite ash that would have substantially altered the direction that the Sioux EIS took in the coverup: the Hunkpapa and Harding County folks drank the radioactive water. For some yet unexplained reason, most likely racist as Hell, the USEPA was never the lead agency in the deliberately mischaracterized Riley Pass uranium milling although these Riley Pass uranium mining complex are the most highly radioactive zones in the USA (uraniferous lignite is naturally high in uranium, and is relatively benign if left alone), mostly because Kerr-McGee as KERMAC was roasting the lignite containing the uranium at high temperatures and releasing all kinds of exotic radionuclides into the Grand River. Local area residents and downstream communities are experiencing health crises but are ignored by the government. The rotary kilns roasted the uraniferous lignite at high temperature, turning the lignite coal to ash to be processed by acid to further increase purity, basically making nearly pure uranium (this highly pure form of uranium was also used at Chernobyl where they also noted the peculiar effects that high temperatures has on uranium). The uraniferous lignite ash is totally water-soluble and does concentrate in the body, causing diabetes, cancer, cirrhosis, and brain tumors (the uranium concentrates in the kidney, liver and brain as well as reeking DNA havoc). In comparison, North Dakota once discovering that the citizens were telling them their health concerns such as their sheep having a blue haze and families developing bronze colored skin, they reclaimed their two uranium milling sites under UMTCRA [The Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (UMTRCA) of 1978 (Public Law 95-604)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium_Mill_Tailings_Radiation_Control_Act) and DoE Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act Sites (https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/10/f19/UMTRCA.pdf)

The US Forest Service has deliberately misled and mischaracterized the uranium mining complex on the Custer National Forest on purpose.

The obvious truth is the Hunkpapa are suffering genocide, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. The inadequate, and purposely skewed, health studies never include the Hunkpapa and Homesteaders as a combined population, this misinformation is meant to keep nuclear energy as being labeled as safe. Nor have they addressed the health concerns of the affected population as a whole, sacrificing both population for nuclear energy. When they have an accident, such as Fukushima Daiichi and Chernobyl, science fails, poisoned land, water and air results, a nuclear desertification of the world begins, the "salting the world" continues as progress. And comparison of the adverse health effects suffered at those nuclear catastrophes shows the Hunkpapa and Harding County folks are being sacrificed to ignorance and idiocy.

The Custer Scout Buckskin Republic aka Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is fully aware of the Riley Pass uranium mining reclamation project, very odd that they don't say one word about the petroglyphs, which was the reason for the 1994(?) US Forest Service Picnic Springs consultation with the local tribes, mostly in North Dakota and Montana, only Standing Rock and Grey Eagle Society were in attendance (funny in itself as the mine is on treaty land, stolen in 1877). The Defenders of the Black Hills held several uranium summits to address the health concerns and were ignored by the local community because of racism within the US Forest Service, the USFS was not expecting to have their cake sliced up in ways they can no longer control.

Currently, major reclamation is happening upstream on the Grand River at the Riley Pass uranium mining and milling complex, and not one THPO officer is present, monitoring the exposures of the petroglyphs, which are being uncovered by removal of the overburden that mining were pushed over the cliffs and buried. For more information on the Riley Pass Uranium Mine Clean-up, visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/custergallatin/landmanagement/resourcemanagement/?cid=stelprd3833606

I call this environmental injustice: "genocide, crime against humanity, ethnic cleansing by the Federal government, tribal governments and people that hate the Hunkpapa." As the affected community is at odds with each other, the Tronox Settlement is at risk of being mishandled by the Federal government as usual. We need a complete accounting of the Tronox Settlement from the US Forest Service.

The Riley Pass uranium mining complex was called the America's Secret Chernobyl (https://www.defendblackhills.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=113:americas-secret-chernobyl&catid=16:uranium&Itemid=27) by Charmaine White Face seemingly ages ago. At Chernobyl, they accidentally ignited the uranium, causing the catastrophic explosion, at the Cavehills Riley Pass uraniferous lignite uranium milling rotary kiln, they were roasted uraniferous lignite, same poisons result. They never examined the chemical and physical properties of the uraniferous ash, they are too focused on Navajo uranium mining, resorting to racism judgment to justify their misinformation. The truth is that the nickname does apply; the Grand River was contaminated on the same scale as the Chernobyl nuclear wastes. there are certain temperatures that uranium does odd things, like shatter into globs of molten radioactivity as well as become uranium gas but then most of this information is still classified under weapons research. The Chernobyl nuclear plant used the same uranium from their lignite coal beds in Ukraine and Kazakhstan; it is cheaper than refining the uranium with fluoride to make a safer fuel pellet that doesn't accidentally shatter at certain temperatures.

Upstream at the Riley Pass, the reason they were actually roasting the lignite to ash it for easier separation of the uranium by washing it with acid (it required two acid washes, and losing the acids from the first wash, most of the second acid, they couldn't reuse the acid for uranium processing as they did in Navajo country as they did with carnotite, basically crushed sandstone, where the uranium was water-insoluble, requiring acid to separate it from crushed sandstone). The resulting uranium ash was over 90% uranium by volume, we can safely speculate that at certain quantities, the uranium ash would go critical, and start the fission process, as the ash itself provided moderation to slow down the neutrons. The same thing as at Chernobyl but they were able to shatter the uranium to where it actually caught on fire. When they piled up the rotary kiln uraniferous lignite ash, they were making an atomic pile. To try to make uranium seem safe, they had the TV Show Lucille Ball episode "Lucy Hunts Uranium"(https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0637531/) have kinds of humorous scenes including running into the Navajo...

My purpose is to bring RECA to the downstream affected communities, Rock Creek and Running Antelope. Radiation Exposure and Compensation Action gives direct cash payments for those contaminated by nuclear wastes. In 2016, as shown above attending USFS meetup with Navajo, I demanded recreation centers with swimming pools and basketball court be built by the US Forest Service in the nuclear contaminated Hunkpapa communities (Rock Creek and Running Antelope) to be paid by the Tronox Settlement.

Since the USEPA failed in its trust responsibilities to the Hunkpapa, they, however, set the precedence in their uranium recovery efforts, we also deserve $5 billion in uranium recovery (Federal aid) mostly for health services and educational opportunities as well as $200 million in uranium contamination studies(Tronox Settlement) on the entire basin, including further construction of radiological containment dams as well as road to follow the Grand River to making monitoring easier as well as increase the property values within the Grand River valley. No federal agency including tribal government is watching the water, with the State of South Dakota bungling up science in effort to maintain frontier colonialism.

Once we improve Grand River water quality we can use it for irrigation as originally planned and increase other municipal, industrial and recreational purposes.

And all the time I have to counter government propaganda, and make them prove it. They are dividing the affected population into two classes, making a racist situation, and is really dangerous to Harding county folks, sacrificing them although we have tort claims against the Settlement and against the Federal government, they are trying to avoid that issue of compensation for damages against private mining companies, the most notable being Kerr-McGee, they are covering up the Potentially Responsible Parties PRP and their estates being held liable for tort damages. The use of the ratio of 100,000 people is incorrect and is a crime against humanity and genocide when you have living bodies as an identifiable, countable population that are directly affected by the uranium poisoning: those thugs are basing their opinions on research papers and not the people. Point samples on a longitudinal trend of developing sickness caused by uranium poisoning is incorrect. They are attempting to cover up all the deaths caused by toxic uranium mining and milling of uraniferous lignite. The moment they roasted the uraniferous lignite to radioactive ash, that is the moment of the existence of a tort claim against the USA, Tronox was held accountable for its part in this nuclear issue, the USA has yet to pay its share.

We have been sacrificed as a forgotten medical experiment on the long-term exposure to low-dose ionizing radiation. For the Hunkpapa, this is Custer's Revenge.

They Came For #DAPL and Missed the Hunkpapa Genocide...

2019-06-17T21:58:00.007-07:00

Our Hunkpapa genocide is a cover up, the US Forest Service like it rationalized killing off Smokey the Bear and then we started having climate chaos forest fires; what we are talking about? You have to read all the material written to the present. I have been on this since 1994, 25 years of my life fighting the enemies causing our genocide, all with the bare minimum of resources.

RECA is next, we have to get on RECA (Radiation Exposure and Compensation Act....Waiting for them show me something, we went to DC 2015/2016 and I am totally impressed

What is it? It was an abandoned uranium mine upstream on the Grand River, causing radioactive contamination from the 50's until the late 60's. Most of the Hunkpapa downstream never heard of the mine except for the rumor that they used a nuclear bomb to mine out at the Riley Pass uranium mine...Asking our elders, I learned that during the 60's the Indian Health Service dug two water wells for two of the coolest hand pumps ever. People knew the river was not good to drink, that it was causing sickness; the pumps ended that concern. By that time, the foam on the river was annual occurrence, this foam is caused by upstream sheep ranching, no one drank the water from the Grand River, however, eating fish happened then, as it is happening now, no matter what is told because the SRST is complicit in our Hunkpapa genocide, that the poisoning means our erasure from the Grand River, the SRST Yanktonai aka Custer Scouts want the Grand River... Then along came #NoDAPL protest and the Black Snake Prophecy fulfillment, and SRST's tribal council (Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Custer Scout Buckskin Republic) evicting of over 10,000 water protectors as they were beginning to realize the SRST's complicity in our Hunkpapa genocide. By then, though, the protest's direction went from the approaching pipeline to the confronting police brutality by police that have no jurisdiction on the SRST reservation....

Somewhere the spiritual connection faded out soon after the jokes began about snagging by Facebook Hill; then that resulted in some sort of ludicrous rape shaming parade that was later discovered to be purely exaggerated...whatever the case, by the Gnaskinyan demon was in many; they were angry, they were cold, they were hungry, they were tired, they were becoming leery of each other, suspicious, calling out people as snitching to the police or whatever paranoia brought about the meth demons in the camp...Gnaskinyan put anger in their eyes, confusing them, causing them to the lose the spirit as a whole, when everyone become as one, as one alone, instead of us, it became me. Gnaskinyan is a terrible demon so easily possessing the weak spirits...somewhere in there, water protectors were hearing rumors of the radioactive wastelands.... This is our land, these are our rivers, poisoning them is wrong.

Water is sacred, water is life.

Perhaps the sign of gnaskinyan was when the drum was stolen, why would anyone steal a drum?

There were other signs that something was very wrong with the camp, one was that the security was pretty much directly connected to the BIA and the federal government as it led by a retired BIA police officer, very nice fellow I like him and he likes me; they realized they couldn't find a reason to say there were violent militants in the camp so they made up some...

This is an ongoing issue...the Big shots are worthless, they fail...we are writing this history as we live it. By reading this, you are part of it

2019-05-02T23:35:00.001-07:00

"SAN FRANCISCO — Funds procured in a court settlement over radioactive and toxic uranium mining waste abandoned in the Cave Hills of Custer National Forest will go to help the Navajo Nation with a new health study on harmful air pollution from similar sites, the EPA announced April 24."

https://www.nativesunnews.today/articles/lakota-territory-uranium-mine-penalty-to-help-navajo-study-health-hazards/

Every time a Hunkpapa turns around, someone is stealing from us...they won't go to Rock Creek or Running Antelope and ask about the Cancer and other death sicknesses....First the Yanktonai aka Custer Scouts commit genocide, then pretend they know nothing when they knew all along.

Sh!t ain't gonna fly on my watch...hahahahahahahahahahhahaha
https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/custergallatin/landmanagement/planning/?cid=fseprd601607
the irony is 25 years later, I face another Draft Environmental Impact Statement...alone....

Incorporation Fees

2018-12-20T15:52:00.009-08:00

If you really want to help the Hunkpapa with the uranium contamination in the Grand River, causing genocide, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing, please consider donating to our organization, and, better yet, telling us how you can help and joining our cause; hopefully we will be up and running formally in a month or so. IRS tax exemption costs about a $2,000 total, along with California incorporation fees. The Hunkpapa are moving on it now. I have to say sorry to those that thought otherwise. And for those of you, wanting to be something else, that is on you; I never changed, I always laugh even if I am getting pushed off a porch while defending my Hunkpapa rights by certain folks. If I hurt anyone's feelings, that is also on you as you've carried that this long.

Here is the budget. Most of it would go to fund raising at first, but that would be easy, considering what the Hunkpapa have to offer the Bay Area cultural scene and, of course, the cuisine. The branding effort will need to do more public involvement with the local urban community, gathering resources, ideas and more friends and supporters. I keep telling the local Native community that eventually 14 tipis of Hunkpapa and other Lakota are coming to check out the Bay Area, we will hold formal introductions and ceremonies.

The $24,000 travel budget is to go to DC to establish our own Hunkpapa reservation as a response to our genocide, this will be used mostly to drive to DC and the other necessary places we need to visit. We are going to put ourselves on RECA (Radiation Exposure and Compensation Act) list, as Hunkpapa, we have to take care of each other and we have to do this ourselves. The other areas have been taken care of, they can do their business without us.

I have always said we have to come to the San Francisco Bay Area to give testimony to the local environmental groups, to let them know we exist; there are quite a few of them that really need to learn the truth about our one of a kind situation.. And to learn of another reason why nuclear energy is not safe as it sometimes results in coverups like as is happening in the Grand River valley.

Before heading to Navajo country, we have to support our Apache brethren in their opposition to Oak Flat copper mining. After the Hunkpapa will travel to Navajo with the Hunkpapa to see if there is any good volleyball players and discuss their uranium mining history. Mostly we will be visiting the Hopi, their prophetic sand paintings to see our direction that our future will take us. Then see the Grand Canyon and all the tourism activities. That is all they will do for us, if they can do more, they would have done so already and if they can help, they will. They really have to quit talking to the wrong people but, of course, I have went through several times already; they come at me like this, "tell them we have been helping you all along and we can get you guys some funds..." There is no selling out in this. Like I had shut down some lawyers that effectively silenced those southern Lakota, no secret lawyer meetings without us, no hard feelings, I love you, guys, too, as you make me laugh...hahahahahahahhaha

Eventually, and soon, we have a legal and accountable nonprofit established for this purpose. This is what I feel the first year's expenses will look like (to give an idea of the magnitude of the fund raising objectives):

Low End Budget
Employees............................................$120,000
Travel......................................................$24,000
Office rent & expenses...........................$56,000
RECA/Hunkpapa Rising Inc Fees........$100,000

High End Budget

Employees.........................................$1,000,000

Travel......................................................$24,000
Office rent & expenses...........................$56,000
RECA/Hunkpapa Rising Inc Fees........$100,000

Organization Structure:

The Hunkpapa Rising positive strategy and planning objectives:

And with all good things, there is the bad, and that led to this situation: colonialism and its persecution:

Up North At Night The Eye Burns Brightly

2018-12-20T15:52:00.001-08:00

I'm still trying to find the angle from just seeing the flares at night. All the pipelines. I have been watching them for awhile now. I wondered why few have not did the same as the information is publicly available online.

2018-04-26T06:55:00.002-07:00

TetraTech was accused of falsifying radiation sampling results at Hunter's point in San Francisco, this means they probably did a poor job at the Riley Pass abandoned uranium mine...I will have to return to see for myself
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/EPA-Letter-Reveals-New-Problems-with-Hunters-Point-Radiation-Data-479214633.html

This is not a uranium processing plant

2016-01-25T10:08:00.000-08:00

I remember first learning about the cause of our genocide in 1994, we were working on the SRST IRMP at SRST Water & Natural Resources during the good old days.

The US Forest Service (USFS) was holding a Custer National Forest Environmental Impact Statement public and tribal hearing conference on oil and gas leasing, inviting all regional tribes (about 200 natives showed up, camping out near the abandoned uranium mine); oddly, the USFS only wanted tribal comment on the petroglyphs, and didn't mention the abandoned uranium mines although I asked about them--I showed up on my own funds. All the tribal governments should have seen them, and perhaps the Grand River would be 15 years free from that source of radioactive contamination.

Unfortunately such was not the case, years passed, people downstream and downwind, getting cancer, dying from sickness, wondering why? Of course, the obvious keeps getting pointed out to them and yet they are blind. I say this is revenge for defeating Custer and the 7th Cavalry, they torment with Hunkpapa with this sickening ignorance and does give reason to why Sitting Bull was murdered for less than this, (he wanted our own Hunkpapa reservation on the Grand River so we would not be getting the leftovers from the government annuities, rotting meat and wormy grain and being just left out from all the millions in federal government grants the tribal government wastes on idiocy...

We walk slow like a turtle and let the spirit lead. And kindness has always been our preferred method of community involvement: despite the tragic implications of this hostile genocide committed against my family, the Hunkpapa, the most feared tribe in the Great Indian Wars, we forgive you, give us justice. And listen to us, don't go out there unless you have proper radiation hazard protective clothing or are at least aware of keeping up upwind of the extreme radon danger. (I am already seeing signs of the workers forgetting the danger, oh well, such is life, they'll learn the hard way.)
Below is a map showing the location of the Riley Pass abandoned uranium mine showing Bluff B (I felt that this is good enough), this place recorded 200,000 cps, corresponding to some very dangerous levels (https://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/radiation/rrmcroentgen.html?u=rrmcroentgen&v=133).

Figure 2. As the Crow Flies, the water flows

You can see how the radioactive runoff permeates the Grand River valley, you can see where it collects itself like gold collects itself in riffles in the sluice box...I have to hand it to the smug eggheads, their racism was so thick that they couldn't see what they did for us; we thank you. Especially you, Mr. Stone, I can imagine your shock after that first meeting, talk about putting the bioremedial foot in the mouth, wanting to spray uranium eating bacteria all over the place, not realizing we are all contaminated with uranium, that your germ might just eat us up, too. Of course, we must consider the chemical reaction the uraniferous lignite has with water especially rainwater, the interstitial disseminated amorphous organic uranium complex completely dissolves into liquid, only precipitating to natural background level after distance and entering the stilling basins. I really worry about both Shadehill and Bowman-Haley ,having radioactive sediments built up from the mining days.
Check this out, their radiation measurements indicate very hot radiation zones within the Riley Pass uranium mine-Bluff B "Final Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessment for the Riley Pass Uranium Mines in Harding County, South Dakota" Portage, 2006 excerpt from Hell:
"Gamma rate ranges in Bluff B were determined to be 10,000 to 35,000 counts per minute (cpm) (15.8 to 38.6 µRem/h), averaging 15,000 cpm (21.1 µRem/h). Weathered ore piles ranged from 30,000 to 200,000 cpm (34.6 to 133.1 µRem/h) averaging 60,000 cpm (56.6 µRem/h). The lignite piles exhibited gamma rate ranges of 100,000 to 200,000 cpm (81.4 to 133.1 µRem/h), with an average of 150,000 cpm (08.5 µRem/h). The mine floor, with exposed sandstone, ranged from 20,000 to 50,000 cpm (25.9 to 49.7 µRem/h), and averaged 40,000 cpm (42.4 µRem/h). The majority of undisturbed areas with possible overburden interfaces ranged from 4,000 to 6,000 cpm (8.3 to 11.0 µRem/h), averaging 5,000 cpm (9.7 µRem/h)."

This is not a uranium processing plant, according to the US Forest Service, this is a uranium mine. A uranium mine is under a totally different set of regulations than is an ordinary mine, with specifications most in terms of in situ containment of mining surface runoff of contaminants. The US Forest Service went to great lengths to characterize the Riley Pass abandoned uranium mine as just that, a mine; this means that it has full jurisdiction and authority over the mine. Except this is NOT a uranium mine.

This is a uranium processing plant, subject to the authority of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority. Miners and workers were supposed to received Radiation Exposure Control and Compensation Act (RECA) funds for being poisoned; Senator Daschle was trying to get the surviving miners their RECA funds but the offending mining company didn't keep records. And continuing on, with this type of malicious ignorance. The US Forest Service, willfully and knowingly and most deceitfully, used its authority to conceal this fact maliciously and malevolently as then the entire list of Potentially Responsible Parties (PRP) would be held liable for health damages (this meant some of the local community could be held responsible, this is how the US Forest Service frightened compliance from this affected community as well). Unfortunately for the US Forest Service, in capital murder investigations, there is no statute of limitations. And of course, we are aware that all the principals in this are likely dead; we just want the justice of RECA for all affected by this toxic legacy of the nuclear era and health services for the cancer and the illnesses, controlled by us to protect our privacy (we will not subject ourselves to poverty porn and their pimps, or crybullies and their flying monkeys).

But what do I know, I am just a victim of radioactive genocide with a vested interest in seeing the fullest prosecution applied to all agencies attempting to avoid litigation through delays and outright misdirection, this was my experience with US Forest Service.
And they denied my friend, Mr. Calvin Hoisington, a former uranium miner, that told me enough about this deadly toxic uranium processing rotary kiln to know that the smoke was radon laced and this killed most of them. Mr. Hoisington told me they could tell when a miner was not coming back to work, his nose would be pouring snot and they'd cough and cough...he said after seeing that during his three months out there, he took his check and headed out to safer work.
People asked why couldn't we force the US Forest Service to hear about our increasing sickness and deaths downstream in the Grand River valley, now you know; we feel that the health crises and deaths deserve respect, and should not be mentioned as such in order to keep such privacy and respect this deserves. We will have justice.

This Rapid City Journal "For some, mining clean up at Cave Hills comes too late" says it all.

US Forest Service document links on the Riley Pass Uranium Mine Documents

http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/custergallatin/landmanagement/resourcemanagement/?cid=stelprd3833603

Let's face it, gone are the days when we could rely on Smokey Bear to provide calm reassurance that he is keeping us safe from forest fires and such:
Case Summary: Settlement Agreement in Anadarko Fraud Case Results in Billions for Environmental Cleanups Across the Country http://www.epa.gov/enforcement/case-summary-settlement-agreement-anadarko-fraud-case-results-billions-environmental

I said that we need to be put on RECA (Radiation Exposure And Compensation Act), the whole community has lost somebody and is sick as well. We do need some swimming pools and water slides out of that Anadarko Settlement as well as other recreational activities harmed by the poisoning...
As for the history from the obfuscating lead federal agency, spending over $20 million to try to prove that the downstream communities have not been because at that point the water wasn't flowing, the rains weren't sampled and no comments were taken from downstream communities who would say that the mine is killing us as do the local Harding county citizens will lament as well...the mine is killing us, the Forest Service needs its attic dusted out for idiocy, I am so glad that certain USFS staff retired, while one that retired is going to say some very bad things, litigable, about how the USFS tried to cover up the human health effects especially made it a point to ignore the downstream communities screaming at the USFS that we are dying...
https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/custergallatin/landmanagement/resourcemanagement/?cid=stelprd3833603

7 years and counting, minutes or millirems???

2014-01-31T23:45:00.000-08:00

The following slideshow I made seven years ago. When I look at it, I keep thinking of the people I've met since I started this journey in 1994.

Over the years I've discovered that when I bring up uranium mining with people, especially the environmentalists, and more specifically, several of the major anti-nuclear groups, the usual reply is "Aren't they taking care of that issue in Navajo country? What? You're saying that this is happening in South Dakota? What? Committing acts of genocide against your family, the Hunkpapa? Doesn't the government know? Reclaiming the mine? How come we never heard of this issue?" Then to add insult to injury, many of these "environmental/anti-nuclear" groupies say they care but when I bring up that we don't want to be your "poor, pitiful Indian" campaign fund raising, they back away. I guess having absolutely no respect at all gives them that right to go their own way. Good riddance, I think afterwards, feeling that we are better off without that paternalistic, internalized racist mentality, you know the kind, like to shake their fists at whatever they feel they can control, not realizing that hostility only brings more hostility and usually just makes things worse.

A little while ago, I attended many meetings with the US Forest Service over the Riley Pass abandoned uranium mine. They spent millions of dollars trying to prove that downstream communities are not at risk from the mine. They even have a very informative website showing their arguments. But don't fall for their cherry picking. They tried their hardest to cover up the mine as well as the blindingly obvious: they never examined the mine's uraniferous lignite's reaction to rainwater. Unfortunately, knowing that the US Forest Service would rather pay more attention to trees and not to mining impacts, I read much of the materials from US EPA on TENORM (Technologically-Enhanced, Naturally-Occurring Radioactive Materials) which say that low pH water mixes very well with uraniferous lignite and means that the solution can travel very far until it reaches less acidic water where it separates from solution and solidifies. Several millions of dollars of cherry picking, all to protect itself from any liability and from its own ignorance.

That doesn't mean a thing, that doesn't matter. I stand up for my relatives, I am not scared, I don't lie, I don't make light of this tragedy, I know the truth. Over the years several people tried to get me to lie for them, to say that they've been working on this issue with me for years, I tell them I can't do that, sorry. I've had groups say they'll help, and I ask, doing what? We'll give you publicity? No thanks, we are already oppressed and we'd rather have something more substantive than your pity. I have had groups say we'll help but you have to sign secrecy agreements, no thanks, I don't involve myself in secret failures where backstabbing and infighting always result.

7 years and counting...and twenty years of my life

Riley Pass Abandoned Uranium Mine

2014-01-11T00:15:00.001-08:00

For those needing to see what 14 Sieverts looks like, especially when reading that radiation measurements at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophic failure are 1.8 Sieverts. This abandoned mine is called the Riley Pass, dug and left to poison the environment by Kerr-McGee under the front mining company KERMAC during the 60's. The uranium from the abandoned mine because of its relative purity was used mainly for nuclear weapons testing.

Irony has been given another tragic meaning.

General Custer has always had it in for the Hunkpapa as this was the camp he attacked and infuriated to his honorable death. I've always felt that this mine is Custer's revenge against the downstream Hunkpapa.

Kerr-McGee, Still Alive And Kicking, ZOMBIFIED!

2013-12-17T11:39:00.001-08:00

Just read that the Tronox lawsuit against Anadarko (a mega-dirty oil corp that ate Kerr-McGee) is finally over for this round, up next are the expected appeals by Anadarko. Anadarko is going to be penalized between $5 billion to $14 billion for the toxic sites they sought to avoid by leaving their mess with Tronox.
Anadarko Should Embrace Settlement in Tronox Lawsuit
Now what this means for the toxic Riley Pass abandoned uranium mine in the Custer National Forest, upstream Grand River, a sewer stream flowing through the Native communities of Rock Creek and Running Antelope, is this; they might start reclaiming the mine after years of stalling. They, meaning the US Forest Service, should be posting their "great" news shortly.
And now the ball is in our court and moving once again.

Getting gear again

2012-08-22T09:35:00.001-07:00

Over the past few years, I’ve kept up this blog, then slowed down to wait for new information to emerge in terms of environmental restoration and regulations. Alas, the restoration takes time, regulations are becoming more like licensing your bike at your local city government.

But now let’s get our roll on…

Collective Continuity of Dissonance

2011-08-03T20:20:00.000-07:00

As I look back over the last 20 years of my "environmentalism," I cannot help but think that at least those years were not wasted in vain. Every now and then, I feel like I am wasting my time, advocating our very delicate, and sensitive issue to certain major environmental groups that seem to turn off the moment we tell them we are not going to allow ourselves to be part of a fund raising campaign. This is so as this stance respect both the dead and the dying. But that doesn't matter, at least they know; that since this has happened to us, it will happen to them (whether this motivates them to introspection is not our concern nor is seeking their pity).
Several years ago I described to my elders the experiences I enjoyed, sharing our tragedy with several environmental groups and that relief soothing my anguished soul, knowing their ears are mine for that moment. The elders ask, "How come they don't do anything? There is more than one group fighting for the environment? They don't seem to be working together, joining forces with other groups? There must be more than one environment for them to be fighting alone." That always amazes me, when they say that, it reminds me of traffic jams, honking horns, yelling drivers.
I tell them, "That is the way they were raised, they seek individuality before they seek community; when they seek community, that search always leads to others just as lost, not knowing that community always means more than just a group of people coming together at a point in time, it means blood stretched through time---the essence of spirit also known as the soul. They are scared of being forgotten, so they clamber over each other, screaming, deriding each other until one comes out on top, then they too get stepped upon back into the mud."
And now again, I'll be going back to the simpler things on the reservation, breathing relatively clean air for a few days, and pausing my rat race to enjoy life and our ceremonies. And again, I'll share with my elders what I've seen, heard and also what I read happening on the Internet. The Internet fascinates them as it resembles smoke signals, but in bytes and bits; millions of people talking all at once, like a strong breeze blowing through autumn cottonwood trees.
I'll have to tell them about the BP oil disaster, the flooding, the exploding nuclear stations and how it created this buzzing sound of bees, then fades out to silence until the next catastrophe happens. As long as everyone is in it for themselves, singing their our swan song; the catastrophes are sure to come to listen.

Criticizing the Work of Others Doesn’t Make You Green

2010-01-15T13:20:00.001-08:00

The other day I read “The End of Magical Thinking”, an article hosted on Foreign Policy and authored by Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger.

Overall the article was totally a waste of my time, I found it boring from the moment the authors started playing the same blame game over the cap and trade baloney. The moment I lost complete interest is the point in the article where they state we need federal subsidies in clean coal, and nuclear power (I share their support of a solar credit tax). Then as if cooing like love-struck bunny rabbits with big doe eyes would help their article, they even give a full run-down of Secretary of Energy Chu: this added even more to their copycat lameness but at least they made me laugh (to think people actually send these people their hard-earned money for their Rush Limbaugh style commentary).

In other words, bashing others behind their backs is much like your grandmother twisting your cheeks at XMAS. Get away from that computer and start cleaning up your own backyard, keep your paws out of mine, because you might try to say that after I clean it up, that you did all the work by being my cheerleaders.

Now the problem is that most environmental groups, like the authors decry, take the easy road out when it comes to climate change: they copy the slogans, the chants and even take credit of the awesome work of others who risk their freedom opposing the dirty energy industry. Talk about magical thinking, doing this is magical thinking and does nothing to protect our world from our pollution!

The real groups actively opposing dirty energy are out there, they are doing wonderful work, they are changing attitudes, one polluting person at a time. I wish I could say the same about the magical thinking article but I can’t. All I can say is:

NO NUKES

NO COAL

NO KIDDING

A who's who guide to corporate lobbying in Copenhagen

2009-12-13T09:58:00.001-08:00

http://www.corporateeurope.org/climate-and-energy/content/2009/12/corporate-lobbies-copenhagen

8 December 2009

The UN climate talks have become a "must attend" for huge numbers of business lobbyists, each eager to promote their preferred "solution" to tackling climate change – which protects their business interests.
Business lobby groups have been preparing for Copenhagen for years, lobbying national governments to ensure their interests are represented at the negotiating table. Their influence is one of the reasons why governments are finding it so hard to reach agreement on emission cuts. Many of the lobbies have urged governments to block tough targets for 2020. They want easier access to off-setting through a global carbon market (avoiding emissions cuts at source) and funding for controversial technologies including carbon capture and storage (CCS), nuclear power and agrofuels.
This guide lists some of the main lobby groups found at the talks – it is not comprehensive – but highlights some of the players involved.

International Lobby Groups

Copenhagen Climate Council

The Copenhagen Climate Council was established for COP15 by the think tank Monday Morning, whose founder Erik Rasmussen is a leading player. It brings together 30 councillors, mainly from the business world, including the CEOs of Dong Energy, Duke Energy and the Virgin Group.
In May 2009, the Council was the official host of the World Business Summit on Climate Change, organised with the UN Global Compact, the World Economic Forum, 3C, the Climate Group and the Danish government. The summit provided an opportunity for influencing national representatives and UN delegates.
The Council will host a high-level event at Kronborg Castle near Copenhagen during the climate talks to present their visions beyond 2009.
The Copenhagen Climate Council advocates a global carbon market and It wants a global carbon market with carbon credits for forests, allowing industry to offset emissions by paying for trees not to be cut down. This paves the way for industrial plantations to be considered as forest conservation projects - threatening the livelihoods of forest people and reducing biodiversity.

3C – Combat Climate Change

Combat Climate Change (3C) was launched by the Swedish energy giant Vattenfall in 2007 to help shape a global climate agreement. It has 66 corporate members from around the world, including big polluters such as BP, Bayer, Gazprom, E.ON and StatoilHydro. 3C is led by out-going Vattenfall chief executive Lars Josefsson who is also an advisor to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on energy and climate change.
3C works closely with other business groups such as the Copenhagen Climate Council and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (and was a co-organiser of the World Business Summit on Climate Change in May 2009).
3C lobbies for a global carbon market and pushes for technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), nuclear energy and second generation agrofuels – "solutions" which present a huge economic opportunity for its corporate members.

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)

One of the most influential corporate drivers of international trade and investment deregulation, the International Chamber of Commerce is a powerful player on the global climate scene. Its members include big polluters such as Areva, ExxonMobil, Rio Tinto, Shell and Vattenfall. It claims to be the voice of global businesses.
The ICC has access to national governments and international bodies including the UN, G8 and WTO.
The ICC Task Force on Climate Change, led by Nick Campbell, lobbies on key issues around the UN climate negotiations. Campbell also leads climate change working groups for the European chemical industry association (Cefic) and BusinessEurope.
The ICC's overall message for Copenhagen, which it will promote at the Business Day on 11 December and throughout the talks, is that business is part of the solution. The top priorities for world leaders should be economic growth and open trade.
It wants a global agreement which covers all major emitters and pivots around carbon markets and market-based mechanisms, plus government funding for new technologies, such as CCS. It also wants protection for corporate intellectual property rights (IPRs), obstructing much needed technology transfers to developing countries.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)

Led by Björn Stigson (also a councillor at the Copenhagen Climate Council), the World Business Council for Sustainable Development has 200 member companies, including Shell, Duke Energy, E.ON, BP and Rio Tinto.
The WBCSD pioneered re-branding corporations as part of the solution, achieving a major impact with its involvement in the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Since then the WBCSD has promoted self-regulation by business and opposed legally binding environmental and social standards for corporate activities at every major international UN summit, undermining momentum for effective international solutions to solve global environmental and social problems.
The WBCSD has previously led on corporate involvement in the UN climate talks, working closely with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). In Copenhagen it is co-organising the Copenhagen Business Day, subtitled "Leading ACTION".
It advocates a global carbon market, voluntary sectoral agreements for industry, agrofuels, nuclear energy and the unproven and expensive carbon capture and storage technology (CCS).

The World Economic Forum's Initiative on Climate Change

The World Economic Forum (WEF) - an international forum for business leaders - lobbies through its Initiative on Climate Change. Members include BP, Shell and Vattenfall, and "experts" such as Henry Derwent, CEO of the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and Björn Stigson, President of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
It launched a Task Force on Low-Carbon Economic Prosperity in March 2009 to push for "a high growth low carbon economy" and published a plan for a "clean revolution" at the UN Climate Change Summit in September 2009, calling for nuclear power, CCS and more offsetting through the clean development mechanism as important ingredients in a new global deal.
It was involved in organising the World Business Summit on Climate Change in May 2009.

The UN Global Compact

Set up as a UN body, the UN Global Compact claims to be the "world's largest voluntary corporate citizenship initiative". But, its voluntary nature, the appalling track record of many of its members, and the cloak of legitimacy attained by members because of their link with the UN gave birth to the term "bluewash" to convey that beyond its propaganda, it lacks substance and does not improve the overall behaviour of corporations.
Their Caring for Climate Initiative, launched in 2007, has been endorsed by 367 companies and will present a series of reports at the Copenhagen Business Summit. It claims to be a commitment to action by business, but just like the Global Compact, lacks any binding commitment or mechanisms for enforcement.
The UN Global Compact will host a business event with the Copenhagen Climate Council during COP15 "bringing together prominent leaders" to discuss climate action. Among the solutions championed by the initiative are a global carbon market and agrofuels.

The Climate Group

The Climate Group was set up 2003 and brings together corporate and government members, including big polluters such as energy giants BP and Duke Energy. CEO and founder Steve Howard is close to both leading companies and state governments.
In 2008 it launched a project called Breaking the Climate Deadlock with former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair to call for an international climate agreement post 2012 which advocates unproven carbon capture and storage technology (CCS), nuclear power and biomass as crucial technologies for a low-carbon economy.
The Climate Group works closely with other business lobby groups, including the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), which has been nominated for the Angry Mermaid Award for its efforts to sabotage climate action.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA)

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is the main lobbying organisation representing the international airline industry. Its members include the world's leading long-haul airlines, such as American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, KLM, Lufthansa, Qantas and United Airlines.
IATA has led the airline industry's lobbying and advertising campaigns against aviation being included in the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS), one of Europe's key mechanisms for reducing emissions. In June 2008, as political negotiations reached a critical stage, IATA spent €80,000 on a full-page advertisement in the International Herald Tribune, urging politicians to "stop plans to punish airlines and travellers with an ETS that will only invite international legal battles."
IATA says it wants emissions from aviation to be regulated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), but is lobbying to make sure this does not happen.
IATA does not want aviation on the agenda at COP15 and attempted to pre-empt any discussions by announcing a voluntary effort by the industry to cut emissions in September 2009. However, the cuts proposed were far less than what is being demanded from other industries.

International Emissions Trading Association (IETA)

The International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) describes itself as a "non profit business organisation" created to "establish a… framework for trading in greenhouse gas emission reductions". Formed in 1999, it has 168 member companies, including big energy companies (BP, Shell, Vattenfall), banks, lawyers and carbon trading companies.
It has become a lobbying powerhouse at the UN climate change talks, with the largest accredited non-governmental delegation in both Bali and Poznan. IETA is already gearing up for a large lobbying presence at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen with some 66 events scheduled.
IETA secures valuable access to decision-makers through its staff and members. Its President is Henry Derwent, who previously led on international climate change issues in the UK government.
IETA comes to Copenhagen with the goal of a global market for greenhouse gases, a mechanism which allows corporations and governments to buy and sell the right to pollute. Key to this market is the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which allows governments and industry in developed countries to claim to be making carbon reductions by investing in supposed "clean developments" in the developing world (offsetting). The CDM has been severely criticised because it allows rich countries to avoid making emissions cuts at home. There is also strong evidence that some of its projects are creating serious social and environmental problems in developing countries.
Although the CDM has failed to reduce global emissions, IETA claims it has been a success.

Carbon Markets and Investors Association (CMIA)

The Carbon Markets and Investors Association (CMIA) is comprised of some of the most influential investors in the carbon markets. They advocate a strong carbon market and participate in international negotations and national policy debates.

Project Development Forum (PDF)

The "Project Developer Forum" (PDF) was launched in November 2008 by a group of companies which specialise in making money from setting up carbon offset projects to lobby to make the CDM process "more efficient through improved dialogue".

International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA)

The International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA) is the formal oil and gas industry channel into the UN. The focus of its climate change working group is the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the UNFCC. While seeking to promote an image of an environmental and socially responsible industry, its members, including BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Repsol and Shell, are among the biggest climate change polluters and have for decades lobbied against effective action.

Carbon Capture and Storage Association

The Carbon Capture and Storage Association represents all the important players on carbon capture and storage (fossil fuels, power, finance, manufacturers) at an international level, including Shell, BP, Vattenfall, Alstom and ConocoPhillips.
CCS is unlikely to be fully applicable before 2020 or even 2030. The CCS industry has lobbied in the EU through the Zero Emissions Platform and in the US to promote this technology as a solution to climate change, securing public funding for its development.
Their main objective in Copenhagen will be the inclusion of carbon capture and storage in the Clean Development Mechanism.

BIO – Biotechnology Industry Organization

BIO is an umbrella lobby organisation for the biotech industry with more than 1,200 members worldwide including corporations like Syngenta, Monsanto, Dow and Tate & Lyle, as well as regional biotech lobby groups like EuropaBio and AfricaBio.
BIO claims that biotechnology can help solve climate change. It wants access to the carbon market so that its members can benefit from carbon trading. BIO claims that biotechnology can help prevent climate change and wants to gain access to the carbon market. A leaked BIO strategy document for Copenhagen reveals its aims for COP15: access to climate-subsidies for biotech products; fending off potential threats to Intellectual Property Rights (increasing the costs of technology transfer to developing countries) and allaying "false" messages about GM.
BIO's activities in Copenhagen include a taskforce and it has set itself clear targets for which delegates to lobby on intellectual property rights, GM and agriculture.

Palm Oil Industry: World Growth and MPOC

The "NGO" World Growth, led by Australian Alan Oxley, has launched a campaign to counter environmental campaigns against palm oil expansion. A former diplomat, Oxley worked for Malaysian logging and palm oil giant Rimbunan Hijau.
World Growth's message at the climate talks is that: "The palm oil industry is not destroying forest biodiversity in developing countries" and "The palm oil industry has a positive impact on the reduction of GHGs. The oil palm is an effective carbon sink. Its performance is superior to many established forest species."
One of the founders of World Growth is Henrik Rasmussen, the son of the former Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Two Danish Brussels-based PR consultants: Jens Thomsen and Peter Munch-Madsen from Impact are on World Growth's delegation.
World Growth's campaign is remarkably similar to a campaign run by the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) to promote palm oil as sustainable. MPOC hired PR company Gplus in Brussels to fend off sustainability criteria for agrofuels.

Croplife

Croplife is an association for the pesticide and (GM) seeds industry including BASF, Bayer CropScience, Dow and Monsanto. They advocate GM crops as "climate-friendly". Croplife lobbied on the US climate legislation through the Alpine Group. They also use the Farmers First platform to claim to work in the interests of both the climate and farmers (www.farmersfirst.org). Croplife's target for COP15 is to avoid a clear target for emissions reductions from agriculture. Instead they want a voluntary carbon credit system that will allow credits for offsetting using agriculture.

International Biochar Initiative (IBI)

The International Biochar Initiative is the main vehicle lobbying for biochar – using charcoal to store carbon in soils. IBI represents Biochar Engineering (US), Carbon Gold (UK), Crucible Carbon (Australia), Mantira Industries (US), Carbon Zero (Switzerland) and Carbonscale (New Zealand).
IBI claims that charcoal (produced by burning trees) can act as a "soil improver", but critics warn that it could lead to a vast expansion of tree monocultures.
The International Biochar Initiative lobbied the UN Convention to Combat Deforestation (UNCCD) and 14 governments, persuading them to call for the inclusion of biochar in the Clean Development Mechanism. IBI also wants biochar to be included in carbon trading schemes like the European Emissions Trading Scheme.

World Nuclear Association

The World Nuclear Association represents 180 companies involved in the nuclear industry, including Westinghouse, Areva, EoN, Vattenfall, Atomstroyexport, Mitsubishi, Deutsche Bank and Ernst&Young, which are using climate change as a vehicle to win political and financial support. Despite widespread public opposition, the industry hopes to build around 400 to 700 new reactors over the next 20 years.
The WNA is lobbying in Copenhagen for nuclear plants to become eligible for financial support, including through the Clean Development Mechanism.

World Steel Association

The World Steel Association (worldsteel) represents some 180 steel producers, national and regional steel industry associations, and steel research institutes. Its head quarters are in the EU capital, Brussels, and it has an office in Beijing.
Worldsteel says that climate change is the biggest issue facing the global steel industry in the 21st century and the organisation has launched its own climate change website.
It argues that steel is "essential to economic growth" and that not only can it be part of the solution, but that the sector also needs to grow to meet global demand. According to the IPCC, steel accounts for 6-7% of global greenhouse gas emissions1 (worldsteel quotes this figures as 3-4%!).
Worldsteel is pushing for a "sectoral approach" to emissions cuts in Copenhagen - with targets set by industry applied to the whole of the steel industry rather than to individual countries or regions.

US Lobby Groups

US Chamber of Commerce

This American giant of a business federation has more than 3 million business members, including Monsanto, Dow Chemical, Exxon Mobil and Duke Energy. Some of its prominent members, including Apple, Nike and Pacific Gas and Electric have left in protest against its climate policy, and its lobbying position against the US Waxman-Markey bill on climate change. The Chamber has threatened a lawsuit to challenge the science behind climate change.

American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE)

The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) acts as the public relations organisation for the US coal industry. Members include E.ON US, GE Energy, the Murray Energy Corporation and other mining and electricity companies.
It promotes coal as a source of reliable electricity and lobbies for clean coal technology (CCS) and has lobbied against climate legislation in the US, including using fake letters, sent by a PR company to legislators.
See also: http://www.angrymermaid.org/accce
Not registered for Copenhagen.

American Petroleum Institute

The American Petroleum Institute (API) represents the US petroleum and natural gas industry, with 400 corporate members including BP America, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Shell.
It has a track-record of lobbying against action on climate change and has lobbied the US government to minimise the impacts of US climate legislation, spending more then $4 million trying to defeat the US climate bill, including setting up an "astroturf" campaign - which appeared to be a grassroots movement objecting to legislation, but which in fact was a front group for API.
See also: http://www.angrymermaid.org/api
Not registered for Copenhagen.

Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI)

The US based Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) lobbies to fend off efforts to limit the use of fluorinated gases (F-gases) that are major contributors to climate change. Representing companies like Dupont, and working in Europe as part of the EPEE ("European Partnership for Energy and the Environment"), run by PR company Grayling. ICC lobbyist Nick Campbell has been particularly active lobbying for the continued production of F-gases.

European Lobby Groups

BusinessEurope

BusinessEurope, the European employers' confederation, represents the interests of big business in the EU, including companies such as Arcelor Mittal, BASF, Lafarge and Rio Tinto. Business Europe enjoys privileged access to decision makers within the European Commission, and has made climate change one of their priority issues.
Business Europe has lobbied to undermine efforts to tighten the EU's cap and trade system - the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) - successfully arguing that penalties inside the EU will lead to increased costs, forcing companies to relocate production, resulting in carbon leakage. As a result, 77% of the European manufacturing sector will receive free permits to pollute at least until 2020.
Business Europe has presented EU Commission President Barroso with a "Copenhagen Scorecard" in October, highlighting their wish list, which includes binding emission targets for advanced developing countries by 2020, voluntary sectoral agreements for industry, support for CCS and nuclear, an expanded clean development mechanism, allowing more offsetting, and protection for intellectual property rights at the expense of technology transfer to developing countries.

European Chemicals Industry Council (CEFIC)

Cefic is the European Chemicals Industry Council, which represents the main players in the European chemical arena, including Arkema, BASF, Bayer, Dow, DuPont, ExxonMobil chemical, Shell Chemicals and Solvay. Its working group on climate change is led by Arkema´s Nick Campbell, who also leads the climate working groups of BusinessEurope (see above) and the International Chamber of Commerce (see above).
Cefic has lobbied in the EU to protect the chemicals industry from the costs of the ETS, pushing the argument that extra costs will lead businesses to relocate resulting in carbon leakage. It is also actively lobbying to get the EU not to increase its emission reduction commitments at the climate talks in Copenhagen. The chemical industry wants a new international agreement to include equivalent targets for industrialised countries and emerging economies, which would effectively block an agreement.
Cefic has launched a PR campaign to highlight how the chemicals industry is, in fact, helping reduce emission levels in Europe, with materials highlighting energy saving products. The same message has also been promoted by the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) which launched a report in July 2009 claiming that the benefits of the chemical industry's products in terms of emission savings were greater than their carbon footprint.

Eurelectric

Eurelectric is the European association of electricity companies. Members include major climate change polluters such as Vattenfall, Enel, E.ON, RWE and DONG Energy. Power companies have made windfall profits (look for figure)i´ll send you later as a result of the EU's emissions trading scheme (ETS) – receiving permits to pollute for free, while passing the theoretical costs on to the consumers.
Eurelectric has lobbied on climate policies both in the EU and internationally. Eurelectric's president is Christian Jourquin, chief executive of Solvay. In March 2009 Eurelectric handed EU Energy Commissioner Piebalgs a declaration in which EU electricity companies pledge to achieve a carbon-neutral power supply by 2050. For what it's worth, this pledge relies primarily on controversial technologies, including carbon capture and storage (CCS) and nuclear power.
Eurelectric wants the UN climate talks to set a target for 2050, not before, and they are lobbying for public support for nuclear power and CCS.
Vattenfall is one of the biggest investors in the development of CCS and Josefsson lobbies for it through the European Technology Platform for Zero Emission Fossil Fuel Power, securing massive funding for the development of demonstration plants.

The European Round Table of Industrialists

The European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT) group is an exclusive club of 44 leaders from the strongest European multinationals. Their climate working groups is chaired by former Shell's CEO Jeroen van der Veer. ERT's position on Copenhagen is that Europe should only move decisively if developing countries move as well, to protect the competitiveness of the European industry is lobbying against moving from a 20 to a 30% target. It wants nuclear energy and financing for new technologies, especially carbon capture and storage. It also lobbies for a global carbon market and asks for sectoral agreements for developing countries It wants technology transfer to be through investment in member companies working in the developing world.

Other National Lobby Groups

Australian Industry Greenhouse Network (AIGN)

The Australian Industry Greenhouse Network is a coalition of the heaviest polluters in Australia , including the Australian divisions of Shell, Rio Tinto, Exxon Mobil and BP as well as industry associations. It is widely known as the Greenhouse Mafia.
The chief executive officer of AIGN is Mike Hitchen, who is described as one of Australia's "dirty dozen" because of his efforts to protect the interests of the fossil fuel industries by blocking and slowing effective action to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions. Hitchen used to work in the Department of Primary Industry and Energy (DPIE) and is reported to be close to the government.
AIGN advocates free emission permits for companies as compensation for reduced asset values following the introduction of an Australian emissions trading scheme. It also promotes "clean coal" using carbon capture and storage and nuclear energy.

Brazilian Climate Alliance

The Brazilian Climate Alliance unites Brazil's agribusiness, including soy, sugar and tree plantation giants. It is pushing for a Copenhagen agreement that will provide them with carbon credits under the clean development mechanism (CDM) for environmental damaging soy, sugar and tree monocultures, and for charcoal production for the steel industry. The Alliance has lobbied the Brazilian government and President Lula is expected to push their position in Copenhagen.
The Alliance includes 14 Brazilian associations, such as sugar barons united in UNICA, the Brazilian Cellulose and Paper Association (Bracelpa), the Brazilian Agribusiness Association (ABAG). UNICA set up offices in Brussels to lobby for the 10% agrofuel target, spreading misleading environmental and social information as part of its lobbying campaign.
Among the official lobbying goals of the alliance are to "reform" the CDM and to persuade the EU to remove barriers to buying forest carbon credits under the Emissions Trading Scheme, making it possible for EU industry to offset emissions by investing in Brazilian monocultures.

Confederation of Danish Industry (DI)

The Confederation of Danish Industry (DI) is the Danish member of BusinessEurope. It hosts the "Copenhagen Business Day" (Business leading ACTION), co-organised by the WBCSD and the ICC (see above) on 11 December in Copenhagen.
http://www.sustainable-finance.org/templates/TemplateWBCSD9/layout.asp?type=p&MenuId=MTY2OQ&doOpen=1&ClickMenu=LeftMenu

Nippon Keidanren

Nippon Keidanren (Japan Business Federation) is the most powerful Japanese corporate lobby group, bringing together over one thousand companies including Nippon Oil Corporation, Tokyo Electric Power, Toyota, Mitsubishi or Nippon Steel Corporation. Nippon Keidanren had extremely close ties with the former government, Japan's Liberal Democratic Party.
When the recent Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, leader of the Democratic Party DPJ committed to cut Japan´s emissions by 25% by 2020 (from a 1990 baseline), Nippon Keidanren campaigned against the proposed target.
Keidanren continues to question the science of climate change, saying: "Because the consequences of climate change for society and ecosystems are potentially serious and far-reaching, steps to address the risks of such climate change are prudent now, even while the science continues to evolve."
It is pushing for an international agreement that includes emerging economies (China, India); corporate-friendly technologies; voluntary industry sectoral agreements; respect for free market policies, an expanded clean development mechanism and for corporate intellectual property rights at the expense of needed technology transfer to developing countries.
They are a member of the Major Economies Business Forum on Energy and Climate which calls for a greater voice for business in the UN climate talks, including a more formal role in the UNFCCC.

Carbon Emissions Across the United States - Interactive Graphic - NYTimes.com

2008-06-15T05:07:00.001-07:00

Electric power production and transportation are the two largest sources of carbon emissions in the United States. But there are big differences in emissions between companies, and from state to state, that may make it harder to reach any agreement on cuts.

State committee gives temporary protection to Mount Taylor - Las Cruces Sun-News

2008-06-15T05:00:00.001-07:00

By HEATHER CLARK Associated Press Writer

Article Launched: 06/14/2008 06:49:20 PM MDT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—A state committee has approved a proposal from five American Indian tribes to give central New Mexico's Mount Taylor temporary protection as a cultural property at a contentious meeting attended by hundreds of people.

The state Cultural Properties Review Committee voted 4-2 Saturday in Grants for an emergency listing of more than 422,000 acres (660 square miles) surrounding the mountain's summit on the state Register of Cultural Properties.

The Navajo Nation, the Acoma, Laguna and Zuni pueblos and the Hopi tribe of Arizona asked the state to approve the listing for a mountain they consider sacred to protect it from an anticipated uranium mining boom, according to the nomination report.

State committee gives temporary protection to Mount Taylor - Las Cruces Sun-News

Tornado Slams Greeley Colorado

2008-05-22T12:37:00.000-07:00

This tornado must be a reason why PowerTech Uranium must be kicked out of the US. If a tornado hits PowerTech Uranium uranium recovery extraction facility, will they be given a variance as to scattering their poisons across Weld County?

Photo Link for Crow Butte Resources ISL mines

2008-05-10T12:03:00.001-07:00

Defenders of the Black Hills current aerial photo link to Crow Butte Resources In Situ Leach Uranium Mine.

Sure doesn't look like minimal impact to me but of course I am not a scientist with degrees in tomfoolery so this is just my opinion.

But again it does show just how expansive the ISR/ISL well field will be and it should doesn't look like minimal impact. I wonder what effect this has on the wildlife?

Navajo Challenge Uranium Mining Permit on Tribal Lands

2008-04-20T18:57:00.000-07:00

Way to go...The war drums are beating in Navajo Country, URI aka Hydro is going to get scalped!!!

The Navajo communities of Crownpoint and Church Rock, New Mexico will fight the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the permitted company, Hydro Resources, Inc., demanding that they stay off Navajo lands in New Mexico.

Can't steal uranium any more, no more suffering, no more pain. Time to open eyes on those that believe nuclear energy is going to stop the "electricity shortage." What shortage, the only shortage is in those people's pockets that speculate that nuclear energy will save polar bears from drowning.

The only way to deal with climate change is to stop using those current sources of energy that are causing the problem in the first place. If that seems impossible, then perhaps we are heading down that road to self-extinction without the help of a comet or any other natural catastrophe.

Nuclear energy is not clean energy, it is not renewable energy...it is just another lethal weapon as a wolf hiding under sheep skin.

2 Die in Pakistan Nuclear Plant Accident

2008-04-08T11:28:00.000-07:00

Today two nuclear workers died at the Khushab nuclear plant north of Islamabad.

This plant purportedly is producing electricity but is also a nuclear weapons manufacturing plant.

As this is a developing story, and horrible tragedy, more news and possible mass civilian evacuations are possible. People living near the accident have already been evacuated with buses on standby should the accident escalate.

Nuclear energy in the wrong hands is dangerous, especially those gotten by elicit means through espionage as was Pakistan's case with A.Q. Khan.

Visit our new website: WAKINYAN HOKSILA

2008-04-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

We have uplinked another website Wakinyan Hoksila, which means Thunder Boy. This name was told to me by my grandmother, who said that it is the name of the last warrior society in our community. These Hunkpapa warriors vowed to never have children so they'd never have to know that suffering in reservation society. The most notable of these Hunkpapa warriors was Rain in the Face whose very name struck terror in the hearts of early trespassers. It is with honor that our new website uses the honorable namesake.

Please visit our website http://www.wakinyanhoksila.com/ Use our forum to discuss news and other personal reflections on the nuclear nightmares.

Always remember that the new corporate nukewashing has discovered that they could use drowning polar bears as their evil marketing strategy to promote nuclear energy. While I agree there is climate change, I don't agree that nuclear energy has part in finding the solution. My firm belief is that the energy giants knew that they were harming our climate, poisoning our air. But they also knew that the days of large construction projects are over, there can only be so many bridges, so many mega-skyscrapers, so many railroads, superhighways; so they invented this delusion that we need nuclear energy.

What we really need is to reconsider our use of our existing energy sources, we need to make them less harmful to our air, our water, and our land. We need leaders that aren't two-faced shills to corporate interests. Nuclear energy is not clean energy, it is not renewable energy; it is too expensive: the costs of accidents, destruction to our environment, our air and our land and water are not worth the supposed benefits.

But above all, ask yourself...Do we have an energy shortage? Or do we have a shortage of leaders, willing to tell us the truth---THAT NUCLEAR ENERGY IS NOT THE SOLUTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE!!!

NAVAJO PRESIDENT JOE SHIRLEY, JR., TELLS CONGRESSIONAL SUBCOMMITTEE NATION WILL NOT WATCH ANOTHER GENERATION HARMED BY URANIUM MINING

2008-04-01T22:12:00.000-07:00

NEWS FROM THE NAVAJO NATION
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT & VICE PRESIDENT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 30, 2008

NAVAJO PRESIDENT JOE SHIRLEY, JR., TELLS CONGRESSIONAL SUBCOMMITTEE NATION WILL NOT WATCH ANOTHER GENERATION HARMED BY URANIUM MINING

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr., told a Congressional subcommittee here Friday that the Navajo Nation remains opposed to uranium mining on or near its land, and will take whatever action necessary to prevent it.

"It is unconscionable to me that the federal government would consider
allowing uranium mining to be restarted anywhere near the Navajo Nation when we are still suffering from previous mining activities," he said. "In response to attempts to renew uranium mining, the Navajo Nation Council passed, and I signed into law, the Diné Natural Resources Protection Act. This law places a ban on all uranium mining both within the Navajo Nation boundary, and within Navajo Indian Country."

Testifying at a joint oversight hearing before the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands at the Flagstaff City Council Chambers, President Shirley said Navajos "do not want to not sit by, ignorant of the effects of uranium mining, only to watch another generation of mothers and fathers die."

"We are doing everything we can to speak out and do something about it," he said. "We do not want a new generation of babies born with birth defects. We will not allow our people to live with cancers and other disorders as faceless companies make profits only to declare bankruptcy and then walk away from the damage they have caused, regardless of the bond they have in place."

The hearing was held to gather testimony on "Community Impacts of Proposed Uranium Mining Near Grand Canyon National Park." In December 2007, the U.S. Forest Service authorized VANE Minerals, LLC, to conduct exploratory drilling for uranium three miles south of Grand Canyon National Park. The Park Service used Categorical Exclusion Category 8 to approve the drilling, which covers short-term investigations and which had limited public involvement. Consultation with tribes amounted to sending a letter.

On March 6, Subcommittee Chairman Congressman Raul Grijalva wrote to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer to ask that the Forest Service re-initiate the process "to ensure a more rigorous public involvement and environmental analysis process."

About 200 people filled the council chamber at the Flagstaff City Hall. Also presenting testimony during the first morning panel with President Shirley was Kaibab Paiute Tribal Chairwoman Ono Segundo and Havasupai Tribal Chairman Don Watahomigie. Both also testified that their tribes are opposed to renewed uranium mining in and around the Grand Canyon region.

Appearing with Congressman Grijalva was Arizona Congressman Ed Pastor and California Congresswoman Grace Napolitano.

President Shirley said that as the Cold War raged more than 50 years ago, the United States government began a massive effort to mine and process uranium ore for use in the country's nuclear weapons programs. Much of that uranium was mined on or near Navajo lands by Navajo hands.

"Today, the legacy of uranium mining continues to devastate both the people and the land," he said. "The workers, their families, and their neighbors suffer increased incidences of cancers and other medical disorders caused by their exposure to uranium. Fathers and sons who went to work in the mines and the processing facilities brought uranium dust into their homes to unknowingly expose their families to radiation."

"The mines, many simply abandoned, have left open open scars in the ground with leaking radioactive waste. The companies that processed the uranium ore dumped their waste in open – and in some cases unauthorized – pits, exposing both the soil and the water to radiation."

Asked by Congressman Pastor whether the Navajo Nation sees any benefits to come from uranium mining, President Shirley the opposite has been true in the past.

"Many of my people have died. Many of my medicine people have died, Congressman, " he said. "And as a result, our culture has gone away, some of it. Some of the medicine people with the knowledge they have, when they go on, it's just like a library has gone on. You lose a lot of culture. That has happened to my people."

He said the tragedy of uranium's legacy extends not only to those who worked in the mines but to those who worked and lived near the mines that also experienced devastating illnesses. Decades later, families who live in those same areas continue to experience health problems.

"The remnants of uranium activity continue to pollute our land, our water, and our lives," he said. "It would be unforgivable to allow this cycle to continue for another generation."

He explained that in recent years, many companies have approached the Navajo Nation with promises of riches.

"They have promised us newer and cleaner methods of mining that they say will not harm the land, the water, or the people," he said. "We have repeatedly declined their offers."

He said the Nation has been told that in situ leach mining is a process that injects a solution into the ground to separate the ore from the surrounding rock.

"These companies claim the process is harmless," President Shirley said. "The science on this process is, at best, inconclusive, and, at worst, points to increased radioactive contaminants in the groundwater after the mining operations cease."

He said he cannot believe the claims of safety "when history and science establish a different record."

"The Navajo people have been consistently lied to by companies and government officials concerning the effects of various mining activities. Unfortunately, the true cost of these activities is understood only later when the companies have stolen away with their profits leaving the Navajo people to bear the health burdens."

Asked by whether he was contacted by the Forest Service about allowing VANE to conduct exploratory drilling near the Grand Canyon, President Shirley said no. He added that any Navajo official or division director who may have been contacted would have given the Forest Service the same answer.

"Every testimony coming from the Navajo Nation, whether it's through me, any of our council delegates, any of our legislators, it's no, we do not want the further mining of the uranium ore on Navajoland or on land contiguous to Navajoland," he said. "So if there's any conversation that took place with any of the U.S. Forest representatives, that's what they've heard."

"We just don't want it," he said. "We have a law in place, and that's the Diné Natural Resources Protection Act that says no way will we allow, no way will the Navajo Nation or any of its departments or any of its staff allow the further mining of uranium ore on Navajo land."

# # #
PHOTOS, AUDIO AVAILABLE

CONTACT
George Hardeen, Communications Director
Office of the President & Vice President
The Navajo Nation
DESK 928-871-7917
CELL 928-309-8532
pressoffice@ opvp.org

Defenders of the Black Hills Announcements

2008-03-19T09:18:00.000-07:00

Uranium Hearing in Rapid City, SD
April 2 and 3, 2008 - Wed. and Thurs. 8:30 AM (MDST)

On March 12, 2008, the SD Water Management Board held a hearing in Pierre, SD, on changes to the rules for Chapter 74:55:01 - 74:55:01:61 Underground Injection Control -- Class III Wells. The changes are being made to coincide with the changes that the Board of Minerals made last year to accommodate 'In Situ Leach' uranium mining. However, as the Board violated state law in cutting off the time for submitting written comments to three weeks before the hearing, a continuation was sought and obtained.

The Water Management Board has continued the hearing for April 2 & 3, 2008, in the Angostura and Deerfield Rooms at theRadisson Hotel on Mount Rushmore Road and Main St., Rapid City, SD. The Hearing will begin at 8:30 AM with a presentation on ISL Uranium Mining by Powertech Uranium Mining Company. General comments and specific comments for changes to the rules will follow. The Board is asking that spokespersons for groups present their comments and not repeat what has been stated previously.

One of the most important rules being considered is 74:55:01:24, Designation of exempted aquifers. With a ten year drought in the Region, with changing weather patterns and global warming, it is very important to maintain underground sources of water for the years to come. We strongly encourage everyone to ask for a copy of the rules by calling 605-773-3296, on the Internet at http://www.state.sd.us/denr/DES/Ground/grundprg.htm

We also ask as many people as possible to attend this hearing to show your support for keeping our groundwater intact and unpolluted with disturbed uranium. In every place in the world where groundwater has been disturbed for In Situ Leach uranium mining, the groundwater has NOT been able to be restored to its previous condition.

THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT MEETING FOR THE FUTURE OF THE REGION'S GROUNDWATER SOURCES.

Remember, water = life.
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April 1 - Hearing - Stark County Commissioners
Dickinson, ND - 8:30 AM

To determine zoning change from agricultural to industrial for mining coal and uranium. All down winders urged to attend to keep the air and water safe.

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IMPORTANT --URGENT!!
Rochford Road Announcement

The Pennington County Highway Department held a meeting regarding the reconstruction of South Rochford Road at Hill City, SD, on Monday, March 3, 2008, at 6:30 pm. This project runs from Deerfield Lake to the village of Rochford passing through the middle of Reynolds Prairie, or the Pe Sla, one of the most important and sacred Lakota annual pilgrimage sites. Currently it is a gravel road but the plans are to asphalt eleven (11) miles of road with $7.5 million dollars. If the road is blacktopped, housing development and increased traffic will occur. The Hill City Chamber of Commerce is pushing this project.

Although this project is located on 80% federal land and is funded 80% by federal dollars, the federal NEPA process has not been started. The federal NEPA process should handle this project. Please send letters to the Rapid City Journal urging the federal agencies, the US Federal Highway Administration and the US Forest Service, Custer SD Office, to begin the NEPA process to protect this sacred place and the environment. Thank you.

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An International Commemoration of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868

April 12, 2008

9:00 AM -5:00PM (MDST)

Mother Butler Center, 221 Knollwood Drive
Rapid City, SD

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In memory of Akicita Cikala (Garfield Grassrope) and Oyate Olotapi (Tony Black Feather)
Teton Sioux Nation Treaty Council delegates to the United Nations

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Agenda

Honoring Ceremony

International Report on United Nations Activities

Discussion on Trans Canada Keystone Pipeline

Discussion on Long Term Plans for Bear Butte

Discussion on a Special Meeting on Decolonization

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Noon meal to be provided.
Donations welcome. Salads, desserts, drinks for the noon meal welcome.

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Sponsored by Defenders of the Black Hills on behalf of the Teton Sioux Nation Treaty Council
Email: bhdefenders@msn.com Phone: 605-399-1868

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PRESS RELEASE
March 17, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ORGANIZATIONS FROM FIVE STATES JOIN TOGETHER
TO ADDRESS PROPOSED URANIUM MINING

CASPER, WY - Organizations from Wyoming, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, and Colorado met in Casper, WY, on Saturday, March 15, to discuss their joint concerns about uranium mining in the Northern Great Plains. Citizens from ten organizations are voicing their concerns about surface and ground water, human health, and local property values.

Defenders of the Black Hills, South Dakota Sierra Club, and ACTion for the Environment attended from South Dakota, which faces mining proposals along the southern Black Hills. The Powder River Basin Resource Council and Biodiversity Conservation Alliance came from Wyoming, where exploratory and mining permits have been applied for in the state. Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction traveled from the northern part of Colorado where uranium mining is also proposed near Fort Collins. Western Nebraska Resources Council, Nebraskans for Peace, and Nebraska Sierra Club arrived from northwest Nebraska where Crow Butte Resources is seeking to expand their uranium mining operations. Members of Dakota Resource Council from northwestern North Dakota are also facing new plans for uranium mining in their part of that state.

In all five states, companies plan to use 'in situ' leach mining (ISL) which injects a dissolving solution underground into suspected uranium deposits. The solution dissolves the uranium and its radioactive decay products, as well as heavy metals. This radioactive solution is pumped to the surface. The uranium is then removed and shipped to a mill for concentration into "yellowcake." The water is re-treated and then injected back underground in a cycle that continues until all the uranium has been extracted. Reverse osmosis is then often used to remove some of the toxics from the water, and the remaining liquid is either injected underground or retained in shallow ponds. Numerous uranium mining companies are making plans throughout the West as a result of recent increases in the price of uranium.

"In Wyoming, there are significant questions about regulation and oversight of uranium operations," according to Wilma Tope, Powder River Basin Resource Council Board Member. "Citizens need to have a stronger voice in uranium activities." Wilma's family owns a ranch in Crook County, WY, and has banded together with other local residents to pressure regulators to ensure adequate protection of local water supplies - both quality and quantity.

In South Dakota, Powertech Uranium Corporation has started drilling more uranium exploratory wells in an area where they already have 4,000 wells in the southwestern Black Hills. "It's already been proven world-wide that ISL mining contaminates aquifers and then those aquifers cannot be restored to their previous state," said Charmaine White Face, Coordinator for Defenders of the Black Hills. "South Dakota relies very heavily on aquifers for drinking water and livestock use. We've been in a drought for the last ten years and the last thing we need to do is poison our water," she said.

ACTion for the Environment is very concerned that South Dakota taxpayers will once again have to take on the toxic messes that are left when a mining company leaves as happened previously with Canadian companies. Powertech is a Canadian company. "The Board of Minerals and Environment should remember what happened when they gave approval for the Brohm gold mine. Now SD people are paying for that mess. Are we going to have to pay for a radioactive mess left by another Canadian company?" said Gary Heckenliable of ACTion for the Environment. "Not only South Dakota residents but all the taxpayers of the United States are going to have to pay for this for many, many years to come," he said.

Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction (CARD), formed last year in response to Powertech's proposal to mine in the rapidly-growing area near Fort Collins. "Of course uranium mining always causes some form of contamination. Water at in situ leach mining sites is not returned to its original condition," said Jackie Adolph, a member of CARD. "Most people don't know that federal policies that subsidize the nuclear industry aren't just about power plants. The nuclear industry's largest negative impacts have always been in uranium mining and milling processes."

In Nebraska, Crow Butte Resources (a subsidiary of the Canadian company Cameco Corp.) is seeking to expand one the largest and oldest ISL mines in the country. Organizations have intervened in the NRC's licensing procedures. "We are particularly concerned about protection of local water supplies and cultural resources," said Buffalo Bruce, Vice Chair of the Western Nebraska Resources Council. "The NRC has failed to fulfill its duties under the Trust Doctrine, which protects indigenous rights granted to Native American populations under U.S. treaties."

North Dakota just recently started public hearings to accept comments on ISL mining in that state. Ken Kudrna, a member of Dakota Resource Council, lives only a few miles from where uranium mining is planned to begin.

The groups have issued a common statement:

"We want the uranium industry to know that we stand together on this issue. Whether in a rural setting or a populated area, uranium mining causes radioactive contamination. Past uranium sites continue to contaminate the air, land, and water. Any bonds designed to pay for clean-up of former mining areas have not been sufficient, and taxpayers have been forced to pay the bill. We call on the public and all elected officials to do everything possible to protect the water, land, and local economies from proposed uranium activities."

More information can be found at:

Defenders of the Black Hills: www.defendblackhills.org
Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction: www.nunnglow.com
Powder River Basin Resource Council: www.powderriverbasin.org
Nebraskans for Peace: http://www.nebraskansforpeace.org/
Contact: Charmaine White Face: (605) 399-1868 Shannon Anderson: (307) 763-1816

Colorado State University - News & Information

2008-01-25T10:58:00.001-08:00

Colorado State University - News & Information

FEB 2, 2008 URANIUM SYMPOSIUM AT COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY EXPLORES SCIENTIFIC, TECHNICAL QUESTIONS

Note to Editors: Reporters interested in attending the symposium are asked to register as well as to RSVP to Dell Rae Moellenberg at 970-491-6009 or dellrae.moellenberg@colostate.edu.

The symposium will provide an overview of the basic sciences associated with uranium, particularly as it relates to environmental, medical and health questions, for professionals and members of the public. The symposium will not cover social or economic issues around uranium mining.

Hopefully some of the anti-nuclear groups can attend this very important symposium and ask the right questions regardless if these questions involve the social and economic impacts as well as the environmental impacts that in-situ-recovery uranium mining has.

The people have a right to know and a right to contest top-down mining initiatives. For too long have we been beguiled by the insufficient, bewildering permitting process!

Way to go, Colorado! Don't forget Montrose County either!