Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Chapter 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
Pueblo of Zuni
General Concerns
The Pueblo of Zuni opposes exploratory drilling and mining for uranium in the area surrounding
Mt. Taylor. The pueblo recognizes the impacts to tribal communities that have resulted from
uranium activity in the past. This activity is believed to have caused significant health issues and
these problems continue today. The Zuni express a great deal of concern and frustration over the
fact that tribes would be left to deal with the aftermath of this extractive activity.
Religious societies within Zuni collect and use resources from Mt. Taylor for their ceremonies.
The collection of seeds and other materials (forest products, minerals, pigments, feathers, etc.)
has a direct bearing on any given society’s ability to conduct their ceremonies, and some items
must come from specific places on the mountain. Access restrictions and impacts to the
environment within Zuni’s cultural landscape represent a constant erosion of their ability to
practice their religion. The Zuni are concerned about the impacts arising from mining projects,
such as impacts to archaeological sites, development of new roads allowing access into
previously remote areas, damage to their cultural landscape, disruption and displacement of
traditional cultural and ceremonial activities, and the impacts to the mountain itself, not just on
the surface but from extraction of materials.
Proposed Uranium Mine
Zuni Pueblo has determined that the proposed RHR mine project would adversely affect Mt.
Taylor and its associated resources, values, and environment through direct, indirect, and
cumulative impacts. Most of the project’s impacts are anticipated to be permanent. Some longterm
(if not permanent) impacts include the continued exclusion of Zunis from their traditional
landscape, changes to the viewshed, ecosystem shifts, and the physical health and well-being of
animal, plant, and human life that comes into contact with uranium ore. The mine’s infrastructure
and activities would directly “interrupt” the land’s beauty, the viewsheds of the historic mountain,
and its sacredness. The permanent impacts include the destruction of archaeological sites and
shrines, removal of earth and water beneath Mt. Taylor, disturbance of ancestral human remains,
and the disrespect shown to the spirits and beings that make the mountain of such irreplaceable
value to the Zuni people.
It is the position of the Pueblo of Zuni that the proposed project would adversely impact those
qualities and characteristics that the Zuni people ascribe to Mt. Taylor as a living being, and that
make it a NRHP-eligible TCP. It would fundamentally alter the integrity of the mountain and its
natural and cultural landscape. The mining activity and infrastructure would directly diminish the
land’s beauty, the viewshed, and the sacredness of the mountain. The removal of millions of
gallons of water would drain the “lifeblood” of the mountain. Desecration of the mountain
through extraction of ore, disturbance of the surface, and degradation of the ecosystem would also
directly harm the Spiritual Beings that are associated with the mountain. These impacts would
damage the Zuni relationship with the total landscape of the mountain, and alter the ability of the
Zunis to use Mt. Taylor to obtain, share, and honor important information about their history.
The Zunis believe that Mt. Taylor and all ancestral sites are rooted in Zuni traditions and are still
vitally needed today to ensure the survival of Zuni culture. Site impacts raise subsequent concerns
about the well-being of the Zuni ancestors’ spirits and the living. The destruction of ancestral
sites, the alteration of the traditional landscape, and the disrespect shown to the ancestors would
seriously impact the freedom of Zuni cultural practices, beliefs, and ceremonies. Further limiting
348 DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest