Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Chapter 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
Canyon, and Chupadera Mesa site northeast of Bingham. These sites have been remediated and
are not directly related to mining activities, but contribute to the legacy of uranium production
and handling in New Mexico.
EPA Uranium Cleanup Enforcement Actions
In September 2010, the EPA entered into two enforcement actions related to cleanup of uranium
contamination at the Navajo Nation and Hopi Reservation. One involves the control of radium (a
decay product of uranium and precursor to radon) from the Quivira Mine site near Gallup, New
Mexico. The other involves a comprehensive investigation of the levels of uranium and other
contaminants in the waste, soils, and groundwater at the Tuba City Dump Site in Arizona. To
date, two New Mexican uranium mills have been remediated. The Phillips Uranium Mill in
Ambrosia Lakes cost $40 million to remediate 3.1 million tons of tailings. The Shiprock Mill cost
$25 million to remediate 1.7 million tons of tailings; and the Homestake Mill with its 22 million
tons of tailings to remediate and the groundwater issues will probably far exceed the $56 million
suggested by the NRC.
Future Uranium Mining Health
Legacy Activities – Grants Mining District
Region 6 of EPA has developed a 5-year plan that is intended to compile all activities contributing
to the identification and cleanup of legacy uranium milling and mining activities in the Grants
Mining District in the State of New Mexico. Assessment efforts will be coordinated among
Federal, State, and tribal participants responsible for protecting human health and the
environment. The authorized organizations will implement appropriate laws, regulations, and
policies within their jurisdiction to accomplish cross-organizational activities. Although this plan
is specific to the Grants District, it is anticipated that some of the actions adopted here may be
applied elsewhere. A separate plan for the Ambrosia Lake District is underway and is under the
jurisdiction of the Navajo Nation.
The goal of the 5-year plan is to promote and advance the work needed to help restore and
preserve the natural and cultural resources in the Grants Mining District and to ensure protection
of human health for future generations. There are six objectives in the plan which will be
implemented by the State of New Mexico or the Federal Government:
1. Assess water resources for contamination. Test and evaluate potential groundwater and
well contamination to evaluate the impacts of legacy uranium sites and historical
activities.
2. Evaluate and clean up abandoned mine sites. This includes screening of mine sites in the
Poison Canyon area in 2009, assessment and abatement of 13 legacy uranium mines in
the Ambrosia Lake and Laguna subdistricts, and cleanup on Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) lands under CERCLA (Superfund).
3. Assess, clean up, and manage old uranium processing sites, including USDOE
monitoring and maintenance at the Anaconda Bluewater mill, Ambrosia Lake-Phillips
mill, and L-Bar mill. NRC is also overseeing cleanup of the Homestake Mining and
Ambrosia Lake-Rio Algom mills in the Ambrosia Lake subdistrict.
440 DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest