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Stop the International Uranium Corporation's White Mesa Uranium Mill! Protect Health, the Environment and Native Sacred Sites Additional information about the Moab Tailings Project is available on the Department of Energy web site, www.gjo.doe.gov/moab/moab.html Ute and Navajo people living near the International Uranium Corporation request your help: Written comments calling for a full cleanup and removal of the tailings from the Colorado River - and to oppose the option proposed by International Uranium Corporation to send the material to their mill/dump at White Mesa can be sent via email at moabcomments@gjo.doe.gov Deadline for written comments to the Dept. of Energy is February 14, 2003
See Also: Press coverage in The Moab Times Press coverage in The Salt Lake Tribune Read the fact sheet and action alert Press coverage in Zephyr
Newspaper.
For more information, contact:
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Utes Tell Department of Energy: Stop Dumping on Our Sacred Land! January 23, 2003 Utes, Navajos, other local residents, allies and Greenaction joined together at four public "scoping meetings" held the week of January 22nd by the Department of Energy to oppose plans to send the radioactive and toxic waste from the Moab,Utah uranium tailings pile to International Uranium Corporation's White Mesa Mill in Southern Utah. IUC operates a so-called uranium mill that has also become a toxic and radioactive waste dump. The IUC plant is located immediately adjacent to the White Mesa Ute reservation, and just a few miles from the Navajo reservation and the towns of Bluff and Blanding. The DOE held scoping meetings to take public comment on options for dealing with the radioactive and toxic contamination leaking into the Colorado River from the abandoned Atlas Uranium Mill in Moab. The contamination is leaking into the Colorado River, and most people want the material moved away from the river to a safer location. Unfortunately, IUC has proposed that an 85 mile slurry line be built from the Colorado River to bring the waste to their facility next to the White Mesa Ute reservation. IUC wants to use water to slurry the radioactive and toxic waste, and then would build an evaporation pond for the contaminated water. A broad coalition led by local Ute people has now emerged to call for removal of the tailings away from the Colorado River - and to oppose the possible dumping of this poison at White Mesa. At the hearings, Ute and Navajo people - including Elders speaking in their traditional language - denounced IUC's proposal and operations. The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe joined in opposing IUC's request to get the Moab tailings. The IUC facility was built literally on top of and next to many sacred and archaelogical sites, including ceremonial kivas from the Anasazis, the "Ancient Ones" who inhabited the area for about 1200 years until 1200 AD. The sacredness and rich archaelogical history of the area is well documented in government and company sponsored archaeological studies, yet this has been ignored by federal regulators who let the uranium mill be built on the site and allow the continued desecration of the sacred sites. The Ute people are outraged at this ongoing desecration of their sacred sites, and Greenaction has responded to their request for help. |