#triballands — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #triballands, aggregated by home.social.
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A Geologic Map Funded Through The STATEMAP Component Of The National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program Was Published In Direct Response To A Tribal Nation’s Science Needs.
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https://www.usgs.gov/programs/national-cooperative-geologic-mapping-program/news/utah-and-navajo-nation-geologic-mapping <-- shared USGS technical article/details
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https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Prodesc/proddesc_119584.htm | https://doi.org/10.34191/OFR-781DM <-- shared geologic map, ‘Interim geologic map of the Oljeto quadrangle, San Juan County, Utah’
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H/T @USGS
“A first for STATEMAP. 🗺️
For the first time, a geologic map funded through the STATEMAP component of the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program was published in direct response to a Tribal Nation’s science needs.
The Utah Geological Survey, in collaboration with the Navajo Nation, recently published the geologic map of the Oljeto 7.5-minute quadrangle in southeastern Utah.
STATEMAP plays a critical role nationwide by matching federal funds with state geological surveys to produce high-priority geologic maps that address societal needs, from infrastructure planning and responsible land use to natural hazard mitigation and groundwater resource management.
Geologic maps provide a foundational framework for understanding Earth’s resources and processes. Detailed mapping gives resource managers and other stakeholders the scientific information they need to make informed decisions about the land and resources they manage.
For the Oljeto quadrangle, the mapping work supports Navajo Nation science needs by helping better understand the relationship between regional geology and groundwater resources.
This collaboration demonstrates the value of STATEMAP in supporting high-priority mapping needs and building partnerships between state geological surveys and Tribal Nations…”
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“Funded through the STATEMAP component of the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP), this geologic mapping work supports Navajo Nation needs to better understand the relationship between regional geology and groundwater supply.
An outcome of the geologic partnership between the Utah Geological Survey and the Navajo Nation, the benchmark Oljeto 7.5' quadrangle map is the first-ever publication funded under the STATEMAP component of the NCGMP in direct response to Tribal Nation science needs. This collaboration demonstrates a proven model for STATEMAP partners conducting geologic mapping work in areas of Tribal Nation interest…”
#mapping state #geology #geological #cooperation #STATEMAP #tribe #tribal #TribalNation #firstnation #triballands #NationalCooperativeGeologicMapping Program #USA #Utah #Oljeto #Utah #opendata #usecase #water #hydrology #waterresources #naturalresources #spatial #mapping #partnership #groundwater #regionalgeology
@Utah Geological Survey | @Navajo Nation | @USGS -
Some good news! Though potential contamination from long-term storage needs to be addressed (what else is new).
#EPA to Relocate Toxic #UraniumMine Waste from #NavajoNation
By Neely Bardwell, January 08, 2025
"The Environmental Protection Agency will move #uranium mine waste from #ChurchrockNewMexico to the #RedRock regional landfill where it can be safely stored forever.
"The federal agency signed an action memo to transport radioactive waste at the Quivira Mining Co. Churchrock Mine to a disposal site at the Red Rock regional landfill about six miles east of the Village of Thoreau. The cleanup will begin in early 2025 and continue for 6-8 years.
"For the Red Water Pond Road Community Association (#RWPRCA), which has advocated for waste removal since 2006, the decision marks a significant shift in addressing #UraniumContamination on Navajo land.
"'Removing the mine waste from our community will protect our health and finally put us back on a positive track to #Hózhǫ (balance),' said Teracita Keyanna, RPWPRCA executive committee member. 'I think this decision empowers #grassroots organizations like ours and our allies to continue to advocate and educate to clean up hundreds of abandoned uranium mines that threaten our #Diné communities every day.'
"RWPRCA President Edith Hood said the community has dealt with the impact of uranium mining since the late 1960s. Commercial mining began at the site under #KerrMcGee Corporation, which later became the #QuiviraMiningCompany. The operation extracted an estimated 1.3 million tons of uranium ore before closing in 1986. The Navajo Nation currently has more than 520 documented #AbandonedMines, with no disposal facilities for uranium waste within 350 miles of #TribalLands.
"'Many of us suffer chronic health problems and a degraded homeland as a result,' Hood said. 'We advocate for a regional approach to addressing remediation of nearly 100 abandoned uranium mines in the Eastern Navajo Agency. We are committed to making sure the removal of mine waste from our community does not threaten the health and safety of our Diné neighbors.'
"Previous attempts to address the waste proved unsuccessful. In 2011 and 2013, the EPA and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a plan to place 1 million cubic yards of waste from NECRM on top of the existing tailings pile located half a mile from RWPRC village. Effectively, neither of those wastes were removed from the communities.
"The #RedRockLandfill currently handles municipal waste from McKinley and Cibola counties and Navajo Nation communities as far away as Tuba City. The planned #UraniumDisposalCell will occupy a separate area of the 640-acre site adjacent to the shuttered #Escalante power plant.
"The Northwest New Mexico Regional Solid Waste Authority (#NNMRSWA), which owns the landfill, must show that its operations can protect #GroundWater, air and soil, while safeguarding public health for decades to come. The New Mexico Environment Department will oversee long-term monitoring of the site.
"Chris Shuey, who has documented mining and #milling impacts in the #Churchrock area for 40 years as an environmental health specialist at Southwest Research and Information Center in Albuquerque, said relocating uranium waste is essential for tribal communities.
"'Removing mine wastes from Navajo communities to engineered, regional disposal sites is a #PublicHealth imperative,' Shuey said, noting that more than half of all Navajo chapters have at least one source of unhealthy uranium exposure. 'The federal government must continue looking for suitable sites for long-term disposal of mine wastes to protect current and future Navajo populations.'
"'This decision will remove over 1 million cubic yards of waste that has haunted the #RedWaterPondRoad and #PipelineRoad communities for too long,' EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman said in a statement.
"'This solution is a compromise that will get #RadioactiveWaste in this area off of the Navajo Nation as soon as possible,' Navajo Nation President #BuuNygren said in the EPA statement. 'It’s not everything the three affected communities would wish for but it’s action in the right direction now rather than in the future. Most importantly, this will protect our people from harmful exposure.'"
Source:
https://nativenewsonline.net/environment/epa-to-relocate-toxic-mine-waste-from-navajo-nation
#NoNukes #NoWar #NoMiningWithoutConsent #NoUraniumMining #UraniumMills #NukingTheNavajo #Genocide #WaterIsLife #NativeAmericanNews #HaulNo -
via @arizonamirror
If #Hobbs is serious about protecting #groundwater, she must work to close the #mining loophole
by Russ McSpadden
February 12, 2024"In her first State of the State address just over a year ago, Gov. #KatieHobbs was unequivocal about her commitment to tackling one of the state’s greatest challenges: our dwindling #water supply.
“Our groundwater should be used to support #Arizonans, not foreign business interests,” she said in that speech, referring to the Saudi Arabian conglomerate #Fondomonte. Over the past few years, Fondomonte has been pumping unlimited amounts of groundwater in La Paz County for alfalfa crops that it ships to feed cows on the other side of the earth.
"Though the Hobbs administration has already canceled one of Fondomonte’s four leases and says it won’t renew the others when they’re up this month, the problem doesn’t end with Saudi agriculture.
"It’s also mining companies that take advantage of loopholes in the state’s water laws to maximize profit at the expense of Arizonans — including mining giants #RioTinto and# BHP.
"Because of intense pressure from #lobbyists, when lawmakers adopted the much-heralded #ArizonaGroundwaterManagementAct in 1980 they exempted #mines from groundwater regulation, even when located in #ActiveManagement Areas — state-designated areas where groundwater pumping is controlled. That means that mines can pump unlimited amounts of water without paying the state a dime.
"This exemption was controversial in 1980. Today it’s existentially dangerous.
#ResolutionCopper, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto and BHP, is a perfect example. Their proposed mine at #OakFlat — about 70 miles east of #Phoenix in the #TontoNationalForest and within the Phoenix Active Management Area — would pump 250 billion gallons of desert groundwater over the life of the project.
"That’s 17 million gallons of water every day for four decades.
"Under current water prices, that equates to $404 million worth of groundwater that Resolution Copper will get for free. Arizona won’t see a cent for it. And it’s more than likely that the copper ore from Oak Flat will be exported to China for smelting, again depriving local communities of economic benefit.
"This limitless pumping would happen even as the #megadrought that has plagued the #AmericanSouthwest for the past two decades is likely to worsen, straining the #ColoradoRiver and #Gila rivers even more and making us all more reliant on groundwater aquifers.
"If left intact, the mining loophole will facilitate construction of Resolution’s massive mine. The extreme water pumping from the #EastSaltRiverValley will lead to groundwater depletion and subsidence, threatening to deplete wells and damage infrastructure.
"The #CenterForBiologicalDiversity, where I work, has been fighting for decades to stop this mine, and Canadian mining company Hudbay’s disastrous plan to mine for copper in the #SantaRita Mountains south of #Tucson (in the Tucson Active Management Area).
"Both projects would devastate surrounding fragile #ecosystems, pushing endangered species like the #MexicanSpottedOwl closer to the brink of #extinction. They would also destroy sacred #TribalLands and gulp down massive amounts of water when other users are being asked to conserve.
"Handing mines unlimited access to Arizona’s precious desert groundwater would be an injustice to Arizona’s #Tribes and every resident of this state.
"Fortunately, Hobbs has the vision and courage to fight for a secure water future for Arizona. It is time for her to work with legislators to close the mining loophole in Arizona water law and subject mines to the same groundwater pumping limits that apply to other entities within the state’s Active Management Areas.
"We’re hopeful she will work to block #ResolutionCopperMine and other terrible mining projects like #Hudbay’s. At the very least, it’s time for mining giants to pay for the water they use just like the rest of us."
#WaterIsLife #HumanRightsViolations #CulturalGenocide #CopperMining #Mining #CorporateColonialism #EnvironmentalRacism #IndigenousNews #SaveOakFlat #IndigenousRights #Apache