The company left
abandoned uranium mine sites, including contaminated waste rock piles, in the Lukachukai Mountains of Arizona, the Eastern Agency of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico, and in the Ambrosia Lake/Grants Mining District of New Mexico.
Caption: Waste outside as
abandoned uranium mine on the Navajo Nation, Cameron, Arizona (c) Joshua Lott
In Australia, the tailings dam of an
abandoned uranium mine was burst by monsoon rains, and subsequent dispersal of the waste by river and wind has polluted an area of 100 square kilometers of land--driving out the Aboriginal people who lived there.
This work at the Mariano Lake and Smith Lake sites is part of a broader program to screen, assess, and clean up
abandoned uranium mine sites throughout Navajo Nation.
to begin work to investigate potential risks at
abandoned uranium mine sites in Cameron and Smith Lake Chapters in the Navajo Nation.
Contaminated homes are usually found within a quarter-mile of an
abandoned uranium mine, White said.
Approximately $59 million will be allocated to pay for work at locations including
abandoned uranium mine sites in and near the Navajo Nation territory; Flat Top Mine, Ludlow, S.D.; former wood-treating sites in Columbus and Meridian, Miss.; Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp.
Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") to assist in the cleanup of Cold War era
abandoned uranium mines on the Navajo Nation and other nearby lands, with the EPA holding over $1.5 billion set aside in trust for those purposes.