Catholic Charities of Gallup

Healing for Ourselves and Earth

Most people in the U.S. never heard of the July 1979 Church Rock uranium tailings spill, even though resulting radioactive contamination was greater than the Three Mile Island near meltdown, four months earlier.

Over two hundred people gathered July 16, 2009 to commemorate the 30^th Anniversary of the Church Rock uranium tailings spill by keeping the memory alive and honoring impacted Native communities still suffering health and environmental impacts from the nuclear accident.

On July 16, 1979 the earthen dam at United Nuclear Corp.’s uranium mill tailings facility collapsed releasing 1,100 tons of radioactive tailings and 94 million gallons of toxic wastewater into the Puerco River.  It was the largest release of radioactive waste, by volume, in U.S. history.

The 30^th anniversary commemoration day began at 7:00 am with prayer at the home of Teddy Nez in  Church Rock chapter at Red Water Pond Road, in a community of 48 families sandwiched between two mountains of uranium tailings, left 30 years ago and yet to be remediated by the U.S. EPA.  The event, sponsored by the Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment - a coalition of environmental groups -  brought together young and old alike to retrace the route of the tailings and see first-hand the wound of contaminated land left behind.

We walked from Red Water Pond Road along the highway to the UNC spill site, now a Superfund site requiring continual monitoring and remediation.  There we heard accounts from Larry King and Tony Hood, both former uranium miners, who were working July 16, 1979 when the UNC dam burst releasing radioactive tailings and waste water into the Puerco.  They described huge cracks visible in the dam wall, left unrepaired by UNC managers in a frantic rush to maximize production and profits from uranium processing.

From there we continued the five mile walk to Larry King’s family ranch, where Hydro Resources, Inc. has applied for a license to start  in-situ leach uranium mining on this ranch land to extract uranium from the underground aquifer. In spite of the Navajo Nation’s 2005 Diné Natural Resources Protection Act,  HRI continues to ignore the Navajo ban in their determined plan to start mining in Church Rock and Crownpoint.

Speakers at the program held at the King ranch included Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. “The memory of the Church Rock disaster helped galvanize the Navajo people and their elected leaders in passing the Diné Natural Resources Protection Act of 2005, imposing a moratorium on all uranium mining and processing in Navajo Indian County until all adverse economic, environmental and human health effects from past uranium mining and processing have been eliminated or substantially reduced to the satisfaction of the Navajo Nation Council,” he said.  The President’s message was clear.

“We will be tireless in our efforts.  These are not unrealistic dreams.  The American people need to be educated and reminded about the disproportionate sacrifices made by Navajos so that the United States of American could win the Cold War.  Navajos are not asking for reparations.  All we are seeking is justice, “ the president said.

 Sr. Rose Marie Cecchini, MM

August 6, 2009