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What others are saying:

"All aspects of Uranium mining have adverse environmental consequences and, the main proposed mining method for Colorado sites is in situ and open pit mining that are known to contaminate groundwater (aquifers) and surface water resources with heavy metal and traces of radioactive uranium'' and "in areas where uranium mining has been performed in the past there is documented increase in rates of; testicular and ovarian cancer, leukemia, childhood bone cancer, miscarriages, infant death, congenital defects, genetic abnormalities and learning disorders in the population living near the mining site."
---Colorado Medical Society, Resolution adopted November 16, 2007

"The history of uranium recovery and management in the United States (and, indeed around the globe) is replete with environmental damage, serious worker safety and health abuses, and harm to entire communities.... Additionally, most of the environmentally damaged sites have not received adequate cleanup of past harms, and for what little cleanup has been done, most of the cost has been borne by taxpayers rather than the companies and associated beneficiaries of the uranium mined."
---Natural Resources Defense Council, Comments on Uranium Recovery GIS, November 30, 2007

"It is alarming that the nuclear power industry is talking about resuming uranium mining near a Navajo reservation...." "Regulators must not allow this to proceed until the enormous damage inflicted by past mining operations has been fully addressed. Residents of the Navajo Nation are haunted by radiation threats from more than a thousand gaping mine sites abandoned after the cold war arms race. After decades of uranium mining - and accumulating evidence of spikes of cancer and other diseases - mining companies walked away from their cleanup responsibilities." "The federal government has also shamefully failed its tribal trust obligation..."
---The Cold War Threat to the Navajo, New York Times, February 12, 2008

"The [New York Times] editorial also provides reason for pause as our nation considers a dramatic expansion of nuclear power production in the name of curbing global warming. There is haunting familiarity to nuclear proponents' claims that nuclear power will somehow meet rising energy demands while providing safe, clean, low-carbon electricity. The Navajo people were told this same story 50 years ago. In the 1950s the federal government and multinational energy companies stated repeatedly that uranium mining was safe, but history has shown otherwise. Thousands of Navajo miners have died from their exposures, and hundreds of communities still contend with abandoned uranium waste that contaminates water supplies, grazing lands and air quality. To anyone who touts nuclear power as being a clean energy solution to global warming, I heartily invite him or her to take a tour of Navajo Indian country or surrounding communities in New Mexico and Arizona."
---John Fogarty, Santa Fe, N.M., Feb. 13, 2008, The writer is a board member of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

"Finally, the conflict over proposed uranium mining may be weakening the cohesiveness of the community. Although the issue has yet to be resolved, a special-use permit was granted to erect uranium core storage facilities, a decision made by the Board of Zoning Appeals that went against the recommendation of the Pittsylvania County Planning Commission.[1] Although the potential risks of the uranium issue have not yet been fully assessed, the divisiveness that the issue is causing can be seen as a major obstacle to the community's attractiveness as a place to live and do business."
---From the report "Assessing the Economic Competitiveness of the Danville, Virginia Region," Contracted by the Danville Regional Foundation.

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