Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Chapter 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
The New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources has stated that nonsmoking miners
have a 100 times greater chance of getting lung cancer than the rest of the population. Miners
who smoke have been shown to be at higher risk of developing cancers than nonsmoking miners.
No mention of modern mining practices and ventilation control and its effects was provided.
However, mine ventilation systems and dust control are control mechanisms to reduce radon
exposure health risks to miners.
Legacy Health Effects, Uranium Industry Workers
One of the concerns related to legacy health effects is the potential for increased health problems
in New Mexico among residents, tribal members, and uranium industry workers. A number of
epidemiological studies have been conducted in New Mexico to examine the potential for such
problems and they continue today. Such studies can be challenging because they need to cover
dozens of years and multiple exposures to various sources, and determine if observed effects are
related to the uranium industry or to many other exposure possibilities.
Mining and Milling
A cohort mortality study of mine workers was conducted on workers engaged in uranium milling
and mining activities near Grants, New Mexico, during the period from 1955 to 1990 (Boice et
al., 2008). Vital health status of these miners was tracked and determined through 2005.
Standardized mortality ratio (SMR) analyses were conducted for 2,745 men and women alive
after the year 1978 who had been employed for at least 6 months in the uranium mining and
milling industry. Overall, mortality from all causes (SMR 1.15; 95 percent CI 1.07-1.23; n = 818)
and all cancers (SMR 1.22; 95 percent CI 1.07-1.38; n = 246) was greater than average U.S.
mortality rates.
Increased mortality, was seen among the 1,735 underground uranium miners and was due to
malignant (SMR 2.17; 95 percent CI 1.75-2.65; n = 95) and nonmalignant (SMR 1.64; 95 percent
CI 1.23-2.13; n = 55) respiratory diseases, cirrhosis of the liver (SMR 1.79; n = 18), and external
causes (SMR 1.65; n = 58). The lung cancer excess likely was attributable to the historically high
levels of radon in uranium mines of the Colorado Plateau, combined with the heavy use of
tobacco products by the same miners. In the early days of uranium mining, smoking was not
prohibited and ventilation was not provided in underground mines to the extent it is provided
today.
Among 718 mill workers with the greatest potential for exposure to uranium ore, no statistically
significant increase in any cause of death of a priori interest was seen, i.e., cancers of the lung,
kidney, liver, or bone, lymphoma, nonmalignant respiratory disease, renal disease, or liver
disease. Although the population studied was relatively small, the followup was long (up to 50
years) and complete. In contrast to miners exposed to radon and radon decay products which did
show effects, uranium mill workers exposed to uranium dusts and mill products showed no clear
evidence of uranium related disease. This indicated that exposure to normal levels of uranium ore
was not an acute health risk, while exposure to radon within an enclosed mine did appear to cause
health problems.
Another study, published in 1997 (Mapel et al., 1997) concluded that Native American miners
have more nonmalignant respiratory disease from underground uranium mining, and less disease
from smoking, than other miner groups, and are less likely to receive compensation for mining
436 DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest