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Show FROM AROUND THE BEND... In San Juan County the danger, or even to inform the workers. Indian people, needing work and unaware of the health dangers, were especially duped. : Biodiversity: The loss of biodiversity in our canyons is of great concern. We are faced with losing several species, and once extinct it's permanent. We need biological diversity to survive. We cannot long destroy or desecrate the wonderful works of our creator if we are to survive. ; Human Population: Population is also one of our most urgent problems. We have about six billion humans on earth, and the numbers are expected to double within another 44 years. Does not this concern us when many of those people come to discover our beautiful canyons? Many will need be turned away to preserve the resources and the remaining biodiversity of the region. We need to achieve a negative population growth. As a rich developed nation, America needs to lead the way. By Ken Sleight Glen Canyon: In Glen Canyon there are features that can never to be brought back. They're gone. Many Indian ruins and sites have already been destroyed, and many other ~ landscape features are still threatened. Rainbow Bridge for one; it is irreplaceable and once lost, it's gone. Natural processes could never rejuvenate it, but many other side canyons could quickly resurrect their enchantment and beauties if the reservoir was taken out. Clean rivers and waters: We must stop polluting our waters with hazardous wastes and radio-nuclides from the Atlas mill and from the tailings at Uravan. We need to support Wild and Scenic River designation on many of our State's waters. Forests - Global warming, the depletion of our earth's protective ozone layer, will affect our forests. It's already affecting moist rainforests, and it will affect our forests here too. Many logging roads need closing. Some 350,000 miles of such roads have been built in our forest lands across America--over seven times the length of the interstate highway system. Private forests, rather than development, need to be established adjacent to our national rests. Health: The rate of human cancers, nervous system diseases, immune system disorders, hormone imbalances, and birth defects are all rising. Most cancers have an environmental origin from chemical and radiation sources. Frightfully, strong evidence indicates that some chemicals trigger cancer by damaging cellular genes, which genes in turn might be passed on to a persons's child. THE GLEN CANYON GROUP A Sweet, Sweet Victory , It took over a year to get it, but the Sierra Club has now taken root in the southern portion of our state. We do now proclaim victory! The Club is no longer strictly a Wasatch Front entity. An ambitious project - the new Glen Canyon Group covers seven counties: San Juan, Grand, Emery, Carbon, Wayne, Garfield, and Kane. A broad multicounty ecosystem. 5 The Club is now organized. Named to the Executive Committee (Excom) were John Weisheit (Chair), Jean Binyon (Vice chair), Patrick Diehl (Secretary), Kevin Walker, and Ken Sleight. Jim Gostlin was named as Treasurer. Kevin Walker was chosen as the Utah Chapter representative, Victoria Woodard as Conservation Chair. Several sub-committees were formed and chair persons selected: Colorado River Committee (Owen Lammers), Membership Committee (David Orr), Forest and Wildlife Committee, (Dan Kent), Local Issues/Political Committee (Jean Binyon) and the Nuclear Waste Task Force (Ken Sleight). I'moptimistic. This group will succeed. Especially is it refreshing that most of our drag- We must be concerned with the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink. And it has been shown that our people in southeast Utah are not the exception. Epidemiological studies are certainly in order. Poverty: Ending poverty will require us to set new policies. Inequality is growing each year between our peoples. The rich are getting richer and the poor or getting poorer. To reverse this it will take more education, the transfer of skills and technology, better health care, and expanded political rights and social opportunities. A few feathers have been ruffled...and I hope the remaining problems can be solved by working hand in hand with the Utah Chapter. The Sierra Club is a democratic institution and it has a diverse group of people. out fights will now be aimed at our real enemies and not with the Chapter. However, I see conflicts continuing until the national office, the Chapter, and the Group can pull in the same direction and learn to work together. A few feathers have been ruffled along the way, and I hope the remaining problems can be solved in working hand in hand with the Utah Chapter. The Sierra Club is a democratic institution, and it has a diverse group of people. Some members are extremely active, most are armchair-gladiators, and then there are those desiring the Club as a social or hiking club only. The members come in many stripes and don't always work in harmony. During major environmental conflicts the membership grows in numbers, and when there are no lightning-rod issues, the membership drops. : There are about 5,000 members in Utah, and only about 110 or so of those numbers live in our seven-county area. Most all of the members live along the Wasatch Front and so the challenge for us is to increase our numbers and our strength. We've been asked why we “agitators” didn't form our own group. Well that's just what we've done, albeit one tied to the Sierra Club itself. What I like about the Sierra Club is having national strength, a national following, and on the whole it has been successful. It has won many battles. It's a grass-roots environmental group that can take on many issues, not just one‘or two. Most environmental groups form around a limited number of specific issues, the selection of issues dependent upon the interests and makeup of the members. There are many issues to tackle. Here are a few of them. Nuclear and Toxic Waste: Several of my past columns in the Zephyr have dealt with nuclear waste and the severe health and environmental consequences that result from it. It is one of our top priorities. Years ago, we fought and defeated a high-level storage dump at the entrance to Canyonlands National Park. We can do it again at White Mesa. And we can oppose the introduction of any toxic wastes, such as we did a few years back in opposing the Grand County Commission's plan to place a toxic waste incinerator in the Cisco Desert. We cannot continue to allow the radioactive wastes to be unloaded at the Cisco station by International Uranium Corp. as is now being done--all without an environmental impact study. The continued transportation and storage of all such wastes in and through our canyon country must be stopped. Health, safety and environmental concerns must be of top priority: : Hazardous Waste Cleanup: Plans need to be formulated to clean up many old tailings sites that are a threat to our people. The movement of tailings from the Atlas site at Moab, and the tailings site at the White Mesa Mill near Blanding is in order. Our citizens should not have to bear the burden of storing this hazardous material. Radiation Compensation: Poisoned workers in the uranium mines and mills, who were subjected to extreme levels of radiation and chemical hazards and suffered therefrom must be adequately compensated by our government for their past and present medical costs and lost wages. Downwinders across Utah, subjected to deadly fallout from the nuclear tests from the early 1950s, are still suffering from the fallout. Most of these victims are now older and in poor health and are in need of immediate assistance. The government knew from the beginning the hazardous risks in working with uranium, but did little to reduce Resource Conservation: We need to reduce the use and accumulation of toxic chemicals. This will mean less logging, consumption of all kinds. Wilderness: We must fight to leave large tracts of land in those tracts damaged or destroyed. Large nature preserves Roads: New roads through our canyons and wilderness was successfully done regarding the Book Cliffs highway,) cleared out and re vegetated. We need to unpave the land Wildlife: We must protect our wildlife and assure that waste of fossil fuels and the less mining, and less wasteful a natural state, and to restore need to be established. areas must be stopped. (As Some old roads need to be when possible. there will never be a loss of species. ; Agriculture and Grazing: Ways and means must be devised to grow our crops in a more natural way. Fewer synthetic fertilizers and damaging pesticides need to be used on our farms. Our top-soils must be protected from continued erosion. Grazing on public lands needs to be responsible, sustainable and cost-efficient. Now that we're well along in our organization duties, we look forward to renewed vigor and accomplishments. It was such a tragedy that we lost a full year toward organizing a strong resistance to nuclear waste importation in and through our communities. We could have been well on our way to combating this threat. Many radiation victims would have been grateful, I'm sure. So now it is imperative to try to make up for lost time. We must study, research, inform, agitate and fight like hell if need be. We need to carry a sledgehammer and a monkey wrench if called upon. We've got to do something! We have the organization and the tools now so let's use them. NUCLEAR WASTE NOTES Each week, it seems, our nuclear waste problems are growing at even higher levels. America has found itself in a great dilemma We've run out of space for disposing of wastes. Moving the nation's waste to Utah may be the immediate answer for some, but that doesn't solve the nation's far-reaching problems or the new problems thrown upon us. Nuclear Waste Task Force: To combat this new threat and to overcome past tragedies, join our new Nuclear Waste Task Force. You can reach me at (435) 259-8575 or email me at ksleight@lasal.net. Though these efforts will be spearheaded by our new Glen Canyon Group, you don't need to be a member of the Sierra Club to participate. However, membership is encouraged. Important meetings: Utah Radiation Control Board, Salt Lake City. October 6, November 3, December 1. New finds: International Uranium Corporation continues to skulk about North America searching for new sources of nuclear waste to store at its White Mesa mill to satisfy its |