Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Chapter 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
chromosomal aberrations, which can potentially give rise to cancers and birth defects (Shields et
al., 1992; Au et al., 1995) although these results should be interpreted with caution. Effects on the
cardiovascular system, liver, muscle, and nervous system have also been noted (Taylor and
Taylor, 1997).
Community Health Studies in the ROI
Government agencies and community residents are greatly concerned about the ongoing impacts
of past uranium mining and abandoned uranium mine sites on environmental and human health.
This concern is reflected in the continued efforts being made by both groups within the ROI to
better understand the health impacts.
Overall, a number of scientific studies have shown negative impacts on the physical environment
of uranium mining communities. Contamination of water and aquifers and its subsequent health
effects on humans and animals has been a significant concern (Kurttio et al., 2002; Brugge et al.,
2005; Raymond-Whish et al., 2007; Orloff et al., 2004; Zamora et al., 1998; Malczewska-Toth et
al., 2003). It has been estimated that 25,320 acres and 69 miles of streams have been affected by
acid mine drainage and inactive and abandoned mines in New Mexico (US EPA/DOE, 1996).
More specifically in regard to human health, a number of ongoing studies in the ROI are
continuing to investigate how historical mining may have impacted local residents. These studies
reflect a continued high concern surrounding uranium mining issues.
• Dine Network for Environmental Health (DiNEH) Project – an ongoing project that
began in 2004 to investigate the relationship between kidney disease, diabetes, high blood
pressure, and autoimmune diseases, as well as lifetime and current exposure to uranium
and other heavy metals within the Navajo population. Preliminary results from this study
suggest that proximity to mines and past uranium mining exposure are predictors of poor
health outcomes, specifically kidney disease, diabetes, hypertenstion, and autoimmune
disease (Shuey, 2010; Lewis et al., 2011).
• Post-71 Uranium Mining Exposure Study – This study was created and administered by
workers and family members who worked in uranium mining and milling. The survey,
which was sent out in 2007 and again in 2009, examines the health conditions of uranium
workers who were employed in New Mexico after 1971 and advocates for the expansion
of Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) compensable disease (Evers et al.,
2009).
• Navajo Birth Cohort Study – this study will examine uranium waste, reproductive
outcomes, and child development in the Navajo Nation (Begay and Charley, 2011;
Dearwent, 2011).
• Navajo Uranium Miner Oral History and Photography Project – an oral history and
photography project that details the lives of 25 Navajo people that had been impacted by
uranium mining. The stories detail the physical and mental health impacts that resulted
from years of mistreatment by the U.S. government and mining companies during the
initial years of the uranium boom on Navajo Nation lands. The study documents the
impacts on wives of miners who became widows, including depression and poverty, the
exposure of the wives to uranium dust when they washed the clothes of their working
husbands, the questions and hurt that remain over the government’s nondisclosure of
health impacts of uranium mining when the health impacts were already well established,
DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest 429