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Show THE ZEPHYR/ APRIL-MAY 2003 Was this but another instance of that dreaded fallout? Not as severe surely, but severe enough to cause me fearful concern. Like those people in St. George years ago, I thought I ought to shower, change my clothes and decontaminate my truck by washing it down. I wondered how large a radiation dose I had actually received. And I wondered just how much the Indian people downwind had likewise received. The wind, like a "dirty bomb,” acts as an effective "radiation dispersal device," gathering up the debris and dumping it onto our Where this dangerous debris landed in this case no do know the fallout headed downwind from White no highway and air patrols to warn the people of directing them to stay out of harm’s way of this lands and into our waterways. one really knows exactly, but we Mesa. There were no monitors--the direction of the fallout path dreadful poison. There were no roadblocks to prevent people from entering this area assuredly now radiation and other chemical and toxic materials. saturated with : In my mind, there is little difference between a terrorist spreading radiation and chemical substances clandestinely among our people than commercial and government entities knowingly allowing the winds to carry particles of solid matter laden with radiation and other chemicals to our people. Tragically, we have not yet learned how to control radioactive pollution. The material after processing is supposed to be impounded in lined cells and overlain with cover material to meet radon release standards. But what about the huge _ piles not yet processed? Huge piles accumulate. | Dy, oe Sleight LIKE A ’DIRTY BOMB’... Radioactive Fallout in San Juan County I attended the Winter Olympics’ "Carrying of the Torch" at Monument Valley on Feb 4, 2002. Some 10,000 excited Native-American people turned out for the event that included 3,000 school children bussed from all parts of the Navajo Reservation. It proved a great inspirational experience for all. In the afternoon at the end of the main events, I pretty much ran the three miles back to my truck to beat the crowd. Then driving northward on Highway 191 through Bluff, I drove to the top of the White Mesa. Ahead of me there seemed to be a fire — or dense dark smoke. On driving closer, rather, I noted it was a huge dust cloud or plume, carried by a sudden and unexpected wind that came drifting toward me. On driving through the village of White Mesa the dark cloud surrounded me, and I could see no more than a hundred yards ahead. In a few minutes, as I emerged from the northern end of the high plume, I saw from whence the large fallout cloud of dust came---swept and sucked upward from the new White Mesa nuclear.and chemical woste Gue ee Blending ie wind carried the stench-laden "hot stuff” out of the dumpsite and onto public domain and Indian lands. Air does not respect private property, county, state, national or even international boundaries. Had the wind come up earlier, the cloud of radiated and noxious dust may well have quickly carried southward to Monument Valley and could have zapped the unsuspecting 10,000 men, women, and the many children who gathered to enjoy the Olympic activities Even then, we're not aware just how many of our people were actually exposed to these radioactive and noxious materials. It reminded me of the test shots during the 1950s at Yucca Flat during those fateful fallout years. I still have a copy of The Day We Bombed Utah by John G. Fuller that recounts those terrible days following the "Dirty Harry” bomb test that killed thousands of sheep and later many of our citizens. An abbreviated environmental impact statement (EIS) was prepared in 1979 for the construction of a uranium processing plant on White Mesa. However, the EIS did not On driving through the village of White Mesa, the dark cloud surrounded me, and I could see no farther than 100 yards ahead...As I emerged from the northern end of the high plume. I saw from whence it came... consider the impact of the present and future transport and open storage of hazardous wastes from Tonawanda, New York and elsewhere from across the nation that seriously increased the level of radioactivity to the surface environment.The 1979 EIS reads. “There will be no discharge of liquid or solid effluents from the mill and tailings site. The discharge of pollutants to the air will be small and the effects negligible." But it further reads, “there is a potential for the air quality to be impaired primarily as a result of an increase in total, suspended particulate matter." It reasoned that the atmosphere would be self-cleaning because of the then anticipated low concentrations. But it did not adequately treat the gross and minute releases of radioactivity and other dangerous materials that escape into the atmosphere, the soil, the rivers, and water table. It did not adequately treat the substances that show up in animal, vegetable, and inert matter. It did not adequately. show that radiation crosses species and concentrates through the food chain, subjecting other animals and humans to its damaging effects. How large are the radiation doses our people are now absorbing? The 1979 EIS states, "Radiation dose commitments to individuals living in nearby residences will not be permitted to exceed the 25-millirems-per-year EPA limit (40 CFR Part 190). We don’t know the present "acceptable dose." We don’t know the extent of cumulative radiation doses, but we do know that large amounts of ionizing radiation can suppress the immune system and cause cancer-related deaths. Genetic damage from radiation exposure is cumulative over lifetimes and generations. Even low-dose BUILD THE CAST LE OF YOUR DREAMS ON ONE OF OUR LOTS, AND ASIS YOUR BELOVED, “ARE WE THERE YET?" |