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SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 64

TH LEGISLATURE

- STATE OF NEW MEXICO -

FIRST SESSION

, 2007

INTRODUCED BY

Lynda M. Lovejoy

A JOINT MEMORIAL

RECOGNIZING THE HEALTH RISKS OF URANIUM MINING AND PROCESSING

IN NATIVE AMERICAN AND NON-NATIVE AMERICAN COMMUNITIES;

REQUESTING A COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACTS OF PAST

URANIUM MINING AND PROCESSING ACTIVITIES IN NEW MEXICO;

RECOMMENDING A SUSPENSION OF ALL PERMITTING AND LICENSING OF

URANIUM MINING AND PROCESSING ACTIVITIES IN NEW MEXICO PENDING

THE COMPLETION OF THAT ASSESSMENT.

WHEREAS, the uranium mining industry and the federal

government in the period from the 1950s to the 1970s failed to

advise uranium miners and their families of the health risks

associated with uranium mining and processing; and

WHEREAS, Native American uranium miners in particular

were not provided protective clothing or respirators; the

uranium mines in which they worked were not ventilated or were

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poorly ventilated; and uranium mine and mill wastes were used

for housing construction by Native American families who were

unaware of the health risks of using such construction

materials; and

WHEREAS, beginning in the early 1950s, the United States

public health service conducted studies that revealed

respiratory illnesses such as lung cancer, silicosis,

tuberculosis, pneumonia and emphysema were causing high rates

of death among underground uranium miners; and

WHEREAS, by 1959 public health service studies of uranium

miners revealed there was a statistically significant

association between uranium mining and lung cancer; and

WHEREAS, Navajo, Acoma and Laguna uranium miners, widows

and family members testified in congressional hearings in the

1970s about the hardships their families suffered from the

illnesses and premature deaths associated with the miners' work

in the uranium mines and mills in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado

and Utah; and

WHEREAS, hundreds of abandoned, unreclaimed uranium mines

still exist in communities in northwestern New Mexico, and

scores of Native American and non-Native American families

still live in close proximity to those mines; and

WHEREAS, state and federal studies have repeatedly shown

that surface water, ground water and soils were and remain

irreversibly contaminated by past uranium mining and milling

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activities, and that livestock that grazed in the mining areas

were found to have hazardous levels of radioactive materials in

their edible organs and muscle; and

WHEREAS, no comprehensive studies of the public health

impacts of past mining and processing and the continuing

environmental impacts of abandoned mines have been conducted in

New Mexico's uranium mining districts; and

WHEREAS, more than a dozen companies have applied for

permits or licenses to explore for uranium and to construct new

mining and milling facilities on hundreds of thousands of acres

in northwestern New Mexico without agreeing to assist the state

or Indian tribes in remediating the environmental impacts of

past uranium mining activities; and

WHEREAS, at least thirteen Navajo Nation chapters, along

with major Navajo institutions, including the Navajo Nation

council, as well as the Pueblo of Acoma and the all Indian

pueblo council, have adopted resolutions opposing efforts of

the uranium mining industry to resume uranium mining and

milling operations in and near the Navajo Nation and the Pueblo

of Acoma cultural province; and

WHEREAS, such proposed new uranium mining activities may

adversely affect the land, water, air and cultural resources of

the Navajo Nation and the New Mexico pueblos, including Mount

Taylor, which is a sacred site for the Navajo Nation and the

Pueblo of Acoma;

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NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE

STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the state of New Mexico and its

governmental agencies and political subdivisions recognize the

ongoing public health risks of past and future uranium mining

and processing activities in and near the Navajo Nation, the

Pueblos of Acoma and Laguna and communities throughout the

Grants mineral belt; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department of health, in

collaboration with the department of environment and the mining

and minerals division of the energy, minerals and natural

resources department, and with appropriate agencies of the

Navajo Nation and the Pueblos of Acoma and Laguna, be requested

to compile and report on an assessment of existing

uranium-mining-contaminated areas within New Mexico, including

all areas in Indian country, and to make recommendations for

environmental restoration, public health studies and other

measures needed to address the legacy of past uranium mining

and processing; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department of health

present its report to the governor and to the appropriate

interim legislative committees by October 30, 2007 and make its

report available to the public in both hard copy and electronic

form; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all local, state, federal and

tribal agencies be requested to refrain from issuing any

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permits or licenses for uranium exploration, mining and

processing until completion and submission of the report by the

department of health to the governor and appropriate interim

legislative committees; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be

transmitted to the governor, the secretary of health, the

secretary of energy, minerals and natural resources, the

secretary of environment, the office of the attorney general,

the president of the Navajo Nation, the speaker of the Navajo

Nation council, the attorney general of the Navajo Nation,

members of the Navajo Nation council resources committee, the

governors of the Pueblos of Acoma and Laguna, the chair of the

federal nuclear regulatory commission, the administrator of the

federal environmental protection agency, the chief of the

federal department of agriculture, the acting director of the

bureau of land management of the federal department of the

interior, the federal assistant secretary for Indian affairs

and members of New Mexico's congressional delegation.

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