March 31, 2017
March 28th 2017
Today we arrived at Taala Hooghan (“Flat Roof” gathering place) in Flagstaff to meet with Klee Benally, an organizer for the No Haul Campaign. This campaign strives to prevent operations related to Canyon Mine, a reactivated uranium mine just east of Hwy 64 that leads to Grand Canyon Village; Canyon Mine is located approximately 2 miles from the south rim of the Grand Canyon. The intent of Energy Fuels mining company is to run up to 25 trucks per day, each one carrying up to 32 tons of uranium ore a total of 300 miles, the bulk of which will travel through Dine’ and Hopi land to a processing site called White Mesa Mill, in Utah. These trucks will not only create more danger for other highway users (including Dine’ and Hopi) but also a constant possibility of radioactive contamination along the route. Because of trucking rules, any load like this that’s less than 32 tons only needs a plastic tarp covering it, with fasteners every 6 feet along the trailer sides.
In coming days, we are planning on attending a Police State Symposium at Northern Arizona University, possibly driving the proposed uranium trucking route, visiting the site of Canyon Mine to document the spraying of contaminated water that has been observed recently, visiting Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, presenting information and music at a local Flagstaff coffee house, (Friday Mar, 31), attending a limited gathering near Chaco Canyon, and we will update you as we go.
Going back a bit, we wound up staying at Oak Flat longer than expected and were glad for the time on the land and with the Apache Stronghold leadership. We also had the opportunity to spend time there with the leadership of Veterans Respond, a group that was formed at Standing Rock. Veterans Respond is interested in the Oak Flat issue and is interested in co-signing a resolution with VFP for repeal of John McCain’s 2015 ‘midnight rider’ if VFP is also amenable to this. Alternatively we could each send our own resolutions. Wendsler Nosie, Sr. and Apache Stronghold leadership are very interested and have asked for specific assistance from veterans on this. Wendsler feels that this rider to the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act is something that veterans should publicly oppose. On a side note related to this, earlier attempts to open up this land for Resolution Copper and Rio Tinto all failed on their own merits; the only way to facilitate the land swap was by this midnight rider. We are attaching a draft of this resolution to get your feedback; we’ve also emailed the draft to Shelly for her review/edit. After edited and if approved by you all, we can email it to Wendsler and Veterans Respond to get approval, co-signatures/endorsement, then send to the appropriate congressional reps.
Contact Martin Bates if interested in working on a possible resolution!