HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS LEADING TO PRESENT DAY URANIUM ISSUES ON INDIGENOUS LANDS

In the two decades following WWII, US uranium mining was concentrated in the American Southwest adjacent to and on Native American lands. It was weakly regulated as it was covered by intense national security associated with the emerging cold war and nuclear weapons production. Lack of adequate protective measures resulted in thousands of underground miners developing lung cancer and non-malignant pulmonary disease from breathing in high concentrations of radon gas and silica dust. Remarkably, many of the mines remained abandoned until recently or even not yet been remediated. In indigenous communities, families, including children, lived adjacent to these sites and incurred exposures to radiation and toxic metals.

While the harm to miners became settled science based on epidemiology in the US and many other countries. The impact of abandoned mines on nearby communities was not, however, investigated until recently. The level of community risk remains uncertain despite recent research. Community risk has shifted to subtler biological and health effects including kidney disease, diabetes and hypertension, as well as underlying mechanisms such as inflammation and oxidative stress. Arsenic has emerged as an additional concern beyond radioisotopes in the uranium decay chain.

The present day situation is complicated by wells that were sunk into groundwater contaminated with uranium ore. Surface and fresh water sources are rarely contaminated since uranium is usually soluble and disperses rapidly. However, underground aquifers, contaminated naturally or through in situ leach mining techniques that pump chemicals in to solubilize the ore and extract it, remain a problem. Native Americans frequently do not have piped potable water, so they also use water from wells that are meant for livestock and more likely to be contaminated.

The fundamental issues today are twofold. First, that the legacy of uranium mining and inadequate water provision in Native American communities has persisted for 70 years with meagre remedies doled out belatedly and grudgingly in the last three decades. Second, that combined with historical oppression that Native Americans endured, this issue deserves justice.