Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Topic Alternative 1 – No Action
Alternative 2 – Proposed Action
(Two-shaft alternative)
Safety (cont.) • May increase demand on local health care
services through the direct or indirect
increase of certain conditions including
alcohol and drug related issues, social
pathology and increased rates of infectious
disease.
• Overall impacts to health stemming from
workforce migration would be less than
significant.
• Stress and anxiety levels of residents in the
ROI and, in turn, the mental, physical, and
social health effects of these feelings, are
affected by both historical and present-day
factors, which include known and
unknown health effects of uranium mining
and large number of unreclaimed and
contaminated mine sites within the area.
• High levels of poverty and the past reality
and future possibility of a boom-bust cycle
magnify the potential for impacts to mental
health in the ROI.
• Overall cumulative impacts on human
health and safety would be significant.
Chapter 2. Alternatives, Including the Proposed Action
Alternative 3 – One-shaft
Alternative
DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest 79