SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 15
49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2009
INTRODUCED BY
Lynda M. Lovejoy
FOR THE INDIAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE AND THE
RADIOACTIVE AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS COMMITTEE
A JOINT MEMORIAL
URGING CONGRESS TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS FOR THE CLEANUP OF ABANDONED URANIUM MINES OPENED AND OPERATED FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
WHEREAS, a recent survey undertaken in cooperation with the mining and minerals division of the energy, minerals and natural resources department identified two hundred fifty-nine abandoned uranium mines in New Mexico that had a record of production of uranium, one hundred thirty-nine of which have no record of reclamation, and the mining and minerals division is currently undertaking a detailed evaluation of the extent of contamination at twenty-one of those mine sites; and
WHEREAS, many of the unreclaimed uranium mines located in New Mexico were operated during the 1950s and 1960s when the primary purchaser of uranium was the federal government; and
WHEREAS, the federal government in 1978 recognized its responsibility to assist financially in the cleanup of contamination from past uranium milling activities through the passage of the federal Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978, which provided that the federal government would pay for the cleanup of mill sites that produced uranium solely for government use; and
WHEREAS, Title X of the federal Energy Policy Act of 1992 also provided that the federal government would pay for the cleanup of mill sites that produced uranium for both government and private use in proportion to the amount of uranium that was used for government purposes; and
WHEREAS, if the federal government is responsible for the cost of cleaning up mill sites that produced uranium for national defense purposes, it should also be responsible for the cost of closing and cleaning up the mines that produced the ore for the uranium mills; and
WHEREAS, the federal department of energy has developed a policy for managing its surplus uranium inventories, one element of which is to sell part of its surplus uranium inventories; and
WHEREAS, it is estimated that the federal department of energy sold approximately five million pounds of uranium in 2005, one million pounds in 2006 and five hundred thousand pounds in 2007; and
WHEREAS, in July 2007, the federal department of energy's estimated total excess uranium inventory was equivalent to one hundred sixty million three hundred thousand pounds of natural uranium that, at a conservative value of fifty dollars ($50.00) per pound, represents a value of eight billion dollars ($8,000,000,000); and
WHEREAS, much of the federal department of energy's excess uranium inventory originated in the uranium mines and mills in New Mexico, activities that have left a legacy of radioactive contamination threatening the health, safety and welfare of residents in the area of the Grants mineral belt; and
WHEREAS, it is appropriate that a substantial portion of the proceeds that will be realized as a result of the federal department of energy's sale of its excess uranium inventory be appropriated for the cleanup of the abandoned uranium mines in New Mexico and elsewhere that produced that excess inventory; and
WHEREAS, congress should permit funds generated pursuant to the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to be used to cleanup and reclaim abandoned uranium mines, which expenditures would have been permitted pursuant to the provisions of Senate Bill 2779 and House Bill 5661 introduced in the one-hundred-tenth session of congress; and
WHEREAS, it is important that funding through the sale of the federal government's excess uranium inventory and through the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 be made available to New Mexico so that essential but long-delayed remediation activities can be initiated at abandoned uranium mine sites in New Mexico; and
WHEREAS, funding through the sale of the federal government's excess uranium inventory and through the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 would provide immediate financial assistance for remediation activities at abandoned uranium mine sites in New Mexico;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the United States senate and the United States house of representatives be requested to approve, during the one-hundred-eleventh session of congress, a program whereby a significant percentage of the proceeds from the sale by the federal department of energy of its excess uranium inventory should be allocated on an annual basis to New Mexico to be used by state and tribal entities to clean up and close abandoned uranium mines; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States senate and the United States house of representatives be requested to approve, during the one-hundred-eleventh session of congress, a program whereby all federal funds allocated to New Mexico pursuant to the abandoned coal mine program of the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 will be made available for the cleanup of any abandoned mines, including uranium mines of state and tribal lands, and not be restricted to the closing and cleanup only of coal mines; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to New Mexico's congressional delegation, the governor, the president of the Navajo Nation, the speaker of the Navajo Nation council, the governor of the Pueblo of Acoma and the governor of the Pueblo of Laguna.
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