Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Chapter 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
inextricably linked to their survival in both a physical and cultural sense. An overwhelming
concern for the Pueblo of Acoma is the depletion of the water table and the potential for
widespread contamination of the aquifer(s) resulting from mining. The Rio San José has
significant cultural value to the pueblo, and it is the primary source of water for the pueblo, along
with smaller tributary drainages that feed it. Water from the San José is used each spring for
religious purposes. Portions of the river flow through or near pueblo lands. This river is fed by
permanent springs. The pueblo believes that mine dewatering would deplete the aquifers, move
water from one basin to another and thereby take water that they depend on, and affect the flow of
water in springs.
The pueblo is also concerned that mining activity around Mt. Taylor would result in
contamination of water that is relied upon for domestic, agricultural, and ceremonial uses. The
Rio San José water system is downstream of historical and proposed uranium development on
national forest lands along the western portion of Mt. Taylor. Water quality specialists at the
pueblo anticipate that adverse groundwater impacts would eventually migrate downstream to
Acoma before they can be mitigated or detected.
There is great uncertainty and concern in the pueblo about how uranium development would
affect the next generation’s relationship with the mountain. Spiritual places are altered by
activities that impact the earth, and the pueblo believes that these cultural impacts cannot be
mitigated by simply moving drill locations or facilities in order to avoid physical impacts to a
particular site. Activities such as drilling and mining that impact the earth are seen to have an
impact on the integrity of the area. This integrity is diminished regardless of whether or not the
work is designed to avoid physical impacts to archaeological resources that may possess
information valued by the scientific community.
Uranium activity is seen by the Acoma as a “one way street” with no benefits. It consumes
resources, but provides no benefit except to those few who profit from its extraction and sale. It is
also costly to the people of the area who rely upon the mountain’s resources to sustain their
livelihood, both physically and spiritually. The cost is seen in terms of resource contamination
and spiritual degradation. The activity would affect the integrity of the area in general.
Proposed Uranium Mine
The Pueblo of Acoma foresees multiple impacts to traditional cultural resources from the
proposed RHR mine. Water, pilgrimage trails, shrines, archaeological sites, locations where
certain plants, animals, and minerals traditionally have been harvested, and viewsheds, are all
predicted to be subject to a variety of direct and indirect impacts associated with the proposed
land altering activities. Other impacts they are concerned about include violations of sacred
blessing places, and disturbance of subsurface archaeological deposits that are not yet identified.
Depletion of water from the aquifers as a result of dewatering the proposed mine, and
contamination of the water that remains, are a major concern. Dewatering is seen as a threat to
Horace and Gummi Springs, as well as other springs on Mt. Taylor. These springs are vital to the
economic, social, and cultural identity of the pueblo. Surface and groundwater are predicted to be
adversely affected by the dewatering of the mine, resulting in long-term consequences.
The Pueblo of Acoma holds that the proposed mine would result in the severing of relationships
between cultural resources, relationships that have accrued over time, that are essential for each
property’s meaningfulness and integrity. Direct disturbance of the ground would impede the flow
DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest 345