Ryan Heinsius reports that the U.S. EPA has awarded a grant to Dine College to study abandoned uranium mines. It will allow students on the Navajo Nation to develop cleanup strategies at 50 of the most dangerous sites. Through the $380,000 grant, students will assist federal officials with assessment in the Cove Watershed area of northeastern Arizona. They will study streams, unregulated wells, and livestock watering areas to determine levels of radiation contamination and heavy metals. The claim has been made that uranium has affected almost every segment of social life on the Navajo reservation, affecting legislation, public health, the four sacred elements .. air, land, water, and heat. According to the Director of Dine College Environmental Institute, the project will attempt to integrate traditional Navajo ecological knowledge with western scientific methods, and to reestablish harmony with nature. The project is expected to be completed in 2018.
This is an important project because it will be be supervised by EPA personnel who will be able to demonstrate appropriate sampling methods and interpretation of the data in light of accepted scientific protocol, hence providing students (and teachers) with valid information on the actual impact of historical mining of uranium, and on the scope of any residual contamination of soils and groundwater introduced by mining... and that remaining due to natural conditions of uranium formation created millions of years ago near the current surface within favorable groundwater reservoirs in the region. There are more than 500 small abandoned uranium mine sites on the Navajo Nation. To date, fewer than a dozen have been cleaned up, which involves sealing existing mine portals and removing any radioactive materials left behind by historical miners. Groundwater sampling is likely to show that contamination is a result of the natural occurrence within the shallow aquifer, not caused by mining. Will report when available.
Original URL: https://www.knau.org/post/epa-grant-awarded-din-college-s-abandoned-uranium-mine-program#stream/0
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