Sad for my country that this level of ignorance exists. 
And she was left wounded to suffer.

Allow me to define the perpetrator as a Jack Ass.

What was the point? Senseless killing.

Rare White Wolf Killed in Yellowstone Park Was Shot Illegally

By JIM ROBBINSMAY 12, 2017

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Yellowstone’s rare white wolf, an elderly alpha female 

who hikers found near death in April. A necropsy has determined 

she that she was shot illegally. CreditNeal Herbert/Yellowstone National Park

A rare white female wolf that hikers found as she lay dying last month on the north side of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming was shot illegally, officials have determined.

The wolf had to be euthanized by park officials because of the severity of her wound.

She was the only white wolf living in the park, though there had been two others before her. She was 12 years old when she was killed, twice the average age of wolves in Yellowstone.

She was the alpha female of the Canyon Pack, one of 10 packs in the park, and she had paired with the alpha male for nine years. Over that period, biologists say, she whelped 20 pups, 14 of which lived to be adults.

After she was euthanized, the white wolf’s carcass was sent to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service forensics lab, and the preliminary results of the necropsy were released on Friday. Park officials are treating the shooting as a crime.

Due to the serious nature of this incident, a reward of up to $5,000 is offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual(s) responsible for this criminal act,” said Dan Wenk, Yellowstone National Park superintendent, in a statement.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/12/science/rare-white-wolf-killed-in-yellowstone-park-was-shot-illegally.html?ribbon-ad-idx=3&rref=science&module=Ribbon&version=context&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Science&pgtype=article

VoteVets.org

 

Absolutely heartbreaking! Iraq Bronze Star combat dog shot and killed by a bicyclist in Wyoming. These dogs have save hundreds of lives, and they deserve our respect.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/…/Bronze-Star-combat-dog-Mike-sh…

Iraq Bronze Star combat dog is shot and killed by bicyclist in Wyoming

Mike, a nine-year-old Belgian Malinois who served in Iraq, was killed in the town of Powell while his owner and service partner, retired Army Ranger Matthew…

DAILYMAIL.CO.UK

Hero Bronze Star combat dog who suffered from PTSD is shot and killed by bicyclist in Wyoming who felt he was being threatened

• Mike, nine, served two tours in Iraq with a Special Operations Forces unit
• Was killed in town of Powell while owner Matthew Bessler, 43, was hunting
• Retired Army Ranger aided dog with PTSD and also suffers from condition 
• Does not believe dog was acting aggressively enough to warrant shooting
• Cyclist, 59, was not injured in the incident or cited for any wrongdoing
• Fundraising campaign to give Mike military funeral and burial has started

By EVAN BLEIER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 08:20 EST, 17 October 2015

A bomb-sniffing combat dog who earned two Bronze Stars during two tours in Iraq in a Special Operations Forces unit was shot dead by a bicyclist in Wyoming who felt the hero canine was a threat.

Mike, a nine-year-old Belgian Malinois, was killed in the small town of Powell while his owner and service partner, retired Army Ranger Matthew Bessler, 43, was hunting in the Bighorn Mountains.

A friend was staying at Bessler's house and was watching Mike and Bessler's other dog Ziva when the veteran canine somehow escaped and encountered the cyclist in the area outside of the home.

Scroll down for video 

Retired Army Ranger Matthew Bessler (right) came home to find out his combat partner Mike (left) was dead

The combat-turned-service dog was shot and killed by a bicyclist who felt threatened in Powell, Wyoming 

Mike helped his owner deal with his PTSD symptoms and also took Prozac because he suffered from anxiety 

There were no witnesses, but the Powell man told police he used his bike to shield himself from the attacking dog but finally shot the animal with a revolver from a distance of five to ten feet away. 

The combat-turned-service dog had transitioned from helping his owner on the battlefield to aiding him with the fight against symptoms of post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) at home. 

Mike and Bessler earned two Bronze Stars in Iraq

The 20-year veteran also helped Mike as well because the service dog was also dealing with PTSD symptoms and had even been prescribed Prozac to calm his anxiety, according to the Army. 

Bessler does not believe the cyclist's claims that Mike, who was shot in the backside by the biker's bicycle-mounted holstered revolver, was acting aggressively enough to warrant the shooting.  

He plans to find out exactly what happened to his beloved dog, the Billings Gazette reported.

 Bessler said: 'He has his story. 

'I know my dog. I have my story.'

The retired Staff Sergeant added: 'I would like to take a civil avenue to go after him - the gentleman that shot him - because Mike was a retired military officer.

'I mean, it's not just a wrongful use of force.

'It's way too soon. I mean, it's every time I see him everywhere that I go. 

'Because he was, he was with me almost everywhere I went and he was always playing and he was always... he always wanted to play and everybody loved him. 

'Everybody could pet him.' 

The Park County Sheriff's Office has not cited the 59-year-old cyclist, who was not injured in the incident, for any wrongdoing, according to the Powell Tribune. 

Park County Sheriff Scott Steward said: 'Essentially, if you feel your life is in danger or threatened by an animal, you can act against it.'

Bessler does not believe the cyclist's claims that Mike was acting aggressively enough to warrant the shooting

The cyclist was not injured. A campaign to give Mike a full military funeral and burial has been created online

Bessler seen playing with his other dog Ziva (left) and Mike (right) at his home in Powell in June of 2015

What, if anything, will happen remains unclear, but a GoFundMe account for Mike was created. 

'We are a community coming together to mourn the loss of a brave military service dog, who deserves the honor to be laid to rest with a military funeral and burial,' according to the account.

'This soldier was found fatally wounded by his owner and friend Matt Bessler (also a military war veteran) after Matt returned home from a hunting trip. 

'Major Mike is a former military combat dog that had served two tours of duty in Iraq. 

'Please help us fund a funeral that will do this military war veteran the respect he deserves.'

Extra donations will be distributed to a program that honors and supports military war veterans.

Read more:

• Soldier, combat dog share PTSD diagnosis, road to recovery | Article | The United States Army
• billingsgazette....
• Service dog/retired military K-9 killed in weekend incident
• www.gofundme.com...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3277028/Bronze-Star-combat-dog-Mike-shot-dead-bicyclist-Wyoming.html#ixzz3oroJXvaJ
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Killing for the sake of KILLING

Predators ensure the health of the ecosystem by culling the weakest, among other things.

There is no scientific basis for hunting wolves, quite the contrary.

This is KILLING FOR THE SAKE OF KILLING.

Center for Biological Diversity

The shooter "swears he didn’t park an SUV with a dead wolf strapped to the roof on the Town Square just for the attention..."

Read the full story here: http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/print.php?art_id=10399&pid=news — This is what wolf hunting looks like. (3 photos)

Hunter parks with wolf on the roof at Square

By Mike Koshmrl, Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Date: October 18, 2013

Bill Addeo swears he didn’t park an SUV with a dead wolf strapped to the roof on the Town Square just for the attention.

Addeo sat on a bench next to his Ford Excursion across the street from the Cowboy bar Thursday afternoon, eager to answer questions posed by folks passing by.

“It’s a neck shot,” Addeo said. “The bottom of the neck is blown apart and there’s blood everywhere, so I didn’t want to put him in the back.”

The Hoback Junction resident killed the wolf, a black 85-pound female, that morning while elk hunting near Bondurant.

Addeo said he toted the still-warm canine to Jackson to register it at the Wyoming Game and Fish office on North Cache Street. He parked it on the Town Square, he said, while his wife was shopping.

At the time Addeo shot the wolf, she and four packmates were sitting around “satiated” after having eaten an antelope, he said.

“We saw them from about one mile away,” Addeo said. “Then we crawled to 375 yards.”
His guide, Sammy L. Coutts, had forgotten shooting sticks to rest a rifle on for a shot, so the duo needed to improvise, Addeo said.

“He kneeled down and I put it right on his shoulder,” Addeo said. “It blew the hat right off his head.”
Coutts called the Jackson Hole News&Guide on Thursday afternoon to alert the newspaper to his client’s position on the Square.

The day before, Coutts had a shot at the wolves, Addeo said, but the hunting guide’s rifle didn’t prove steady enough.

“Yesterday, Sam saw the big one at about 250 yards,” Addeo said. “He gets on the hood of his truck and misses twice.”

Coutts stewed all night.

Back on the Square, almost everybody passing by stopped for a look. Most snapped photos.

Despite the interest, nobody gave Addeo flak for putting his wolf on display.

“There hasn’t been one person that’s said anything negative,” he said. “Everybody’s happy.”

Because Addeo was hunting in Wyoming’s wolf predator zone, where there are virtually no rules, a license was not necessary. The free-fire zone encompasses about 85 percent of the state. The southern edge of the zone starts in Wilson, just south of Highway 22, for about half the year.

Addeo could have shot all five wolves if he had the opportunity. The other four packmates, however, scampered off.

“After the shot went off,” Addeo said, “we ran the draw and never saw them again.”


http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/print.php?art_id=10399&pid=news

 

 

Concealing the truth about fracking.....

Please join with others speaking out against censoring research showing the adverse effects of fracking by adding your name below:

From Environmental Action,

You won't believe what the EPA is covering up now. The agency has already covered up reports on fracking in Wyoming, Texas, and Pennsylvania to protect the polluters, not the planet. A new story in EnergyWire suggests why: they have been under political pressure to cover up fracking's danger to our planet, and to our health.*

The EPA needs our help to stand up to that pressure and do its job. That's why
I will be standing with members of all three affected communities next Wednesday at EPA Headquarters and the White House. Click here to add your name, and I will deliver it in person.




Environmental Action members demanded Gina McCarthy be confirmed to head the EPA because we believed she would take strong action to protect our environment, as she has in the past. Sign here to tell McCarthy to stand up to frackers and politicians alike by reinstating the research that proves fracking is bad for our water, land and air.

Shocking reports show that EPA research proved that fracking was contaminating people's drinking water, even rendering it flammable. But when the research looked bad for frackers, the EPA didn't pull the plug on drilling, it pulled the plug on the research**.

Thanks to courageous whistleblowers at EPA, we now know the agency has been sweeping its own research on fracking under the rug and putting the health of families and our environment at risk. We have already gone to the EPA office in Philly to thank the whistleblowers and speak out against censorship. Now we need to get the message to the head of the EPA. McCarthy wasn't head of the EPA when this happened, but McCarthy inherited the scandal and needs to address it.

Censorship of fracking studies has already happened in Parker County, Texas, Pavillion, Wyo., and now, in the town of Dimock in my home state of Pennsylvania. You might recognize that name, because it's near where Josh Fox of Gasland I and II lives. Well if the EPA wanted to cover up research proving that fracking contaminates drinking water, they picked the wrong town in the wrong state to do it. But we need your help to make sure this scandal gets attention from the most powerful people at EPA and the White House. Click here to tell the EPA to reopen their investigations into contamination of water by fracking.

Jesse Bacon,
Environmental Action

*Top Obama aide worked the Pavillion fracking investigation, Mike Soraghan, EnergyWire, September 11, 2013

**Fracking EPA Censorship: 3 times is a tradition, Jesse Bacon, Environmental Action Blog, August 7th 2013

Tell the EPA to stop blocking fracking investigations

They are not protecting us. Over the past year, the Environmental Protection Agency has repeatedly shut down its own fracking-related water contamination investigations after being pressured by the oil and gas industry.

We knew that fracking has contaminated water from Pennsylvania to Wyoming, and thanks to EPA whistleblowers, now we know the EPA knew it too. So now they need to reopen their investigation into this dangerous and dirty drilling practice and stand with the people and the planet hurt by fracking.

Please fill out the form below and edit the message with your own story of what water you hold dear. We'll deliver your messages to the new EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and President Obama to make sure the EPA does its job to protect all of us.

Will Trains Bring 48M Tons of Coal a Year Through Seattle? Not If the Locals Can Stop It

Will Trains Bring 48M Tons of Coal a Year Through Seattle? Not If the Locals Can Stop It

           

A plan to bring coal from Wyoming to the Pacific Northwest coast and ship it to Asia will test the mettle of the region's environmentalists.

 

Attendees show their opposition to the coal export plan at a hearing in Seattle in December of 2012. Photo by Jeff Dunnicliff, courtesy of the Backbone Campaign.

Three years after Big Coal and its partners in rail and shipping announced plans for a giant export terminal on Puget Sound in Washington state, organized citizen pushback appears to be gaining ground.

Opponents of the terminal dominated the meetings with speeches ranging from the personal and emotional to those giving precise scientific data.

Agencies charged with review of the terminal announced on July 31 that their guidelines will be unprecedented in scope, taking into account environmental, rail-traffic, and climate-change impacts of plans to transport coal across the state by rail, then ship it across the Pacific to the yawning furnaces of Asian power plants.

Coal trains near the North Antelope Rochelle mine in Wyoming. Photo by Kimon Berlin.

American coal companies are losing domestic markets to cheaper natural gas, and environmental regulations have forced the closure of old coal plants that don’t meet pollution-control standards.

Coal companies that operate the enormous strip mines of Wyoming’s Powder River Basin have turned their focus to export to Asia through ports in the Northwest, as have oil companies seeking new markets for the prolific Bakken shale oil field in North Dakota. Oil and coal trains could be running side by side through crowded rail corridors in the Pacific Northwest if the numerous proposals for export terminals are approved.

The proposed $664 million Gateway Pacific Terminal (GPT) at Cherry Point, north of Bellingham, Wash., would be the largest coal port in the United States. Meeting its capacity to handle 48 million metric tons of Powder River Basin coal a year would require 18 unit trains a day (9 loaded and 9 returning empty). A unit train is a mile and a half long, and communities along the route have complained about potential traffic delays, noise, and coal dust from the trains.

When SSA Marine announced plans in late 2010 for Gateway Pacific, the plans to scale up export of coal, a major contributor to climate change, immediately drew fire from environmentalists. A campaign opposing the terminal began in the small, green-friendly city of Bellingham, and developed into the umbrella organization Power Past Coal, spearheaded by the Sierra Club, a longtime coal opponent. The coalition includes a host of community, health, and environmental groups.

Cesia Kearns, who directs the campaign, praised the review ruling from the Washington State Department of Ecology and Whatcom County, where Gateway would be located, as "a reflection of Northwest values—the depth and breadth of the scope is absolutely on target and appropriate given the impacts this project would have on our way of life."

Bob Watters, senior vice president of SSA Marine, the terminal’s developer, saw it otherwise: "The state is setting new precedent with the broadness of this scope," Watters said in an email. "This potentially has negative impacts on Washington state’s trade. ... It has potential negative impacts for future rail and infrastructure improvements required to support a vibrant and growing state economy."

The region's two governors are climate hawks.

The terminal’s opponents demanded and got an extensive public commenting process. Seven public meetings were held in towns and cities along the export route. About 8,000 citizens showed up at the meetings—many with signs and bright pro-terminal or anti-coal T-shirts and all with an opinion. The online commenting process drew 16,000 people who entered individual statements, while online petitions against the terminal gathered 109,000 signatures.

Opponents of the terminal dominated the meetings with speeches ranging from the personal and emotional to those giving precise scientific data. Only in the town of Ferndale, Wash., near Gateway's proposed site at Cherry Point, was there a strong pro-terminal turnout. Terminal backers launched a robust advertising and public relations campaign stressing jobs for local blue-collar workers and tax benefits for local governments. The "jobs, jobs, jobs" mantra has a limited geographic appeal, however: The farther from the terminal, the fewer the jobs and the higher the negatives of the coal trains.

Map of coal train routes is by Earthfix and is used with permission.

The review process is managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as well as state and county agencies. The Corps, operating under federal rules, defined a narrower scope than the state agencies but is also examining claims by Native Americans that GPT intrudes on sacred burial sites and traditional fishing grounds. The Lummi Nation, whose ancestors fished and hunted on the terminal site, rejects Gateway's offers to mitigate the damages, and calls for denial of permits, a demand the Corps says it must consider. Native Americans were prominent among speakers at the public hearings and are reaching out to tribal and community groups from Montana to British Columbia.

Gateway Pacific is the first of three coal-export terminals proposed in the Pacific Northwest. The two-year process of determining a scope of review for Gateway is about to be replicated for Millennium Bulk Terminals, a 44-million-ton coal port at Longview on the Columbia River’s Washington shore. Permits will also be needed at Boardman, on the Oregon side of the river, where trains would transfer coal to barges for shipment through three major dams to a site near the town of St. Helens where coal would be transferred to ships. That proposed complex would handle 8 million tons of coal a year.
Coal companies are already competing for slots at the Northwestern terminals; Peabody Coal has a contract for 24 million tons and Cloud Peak for 16 million tons at Gateway; Arch Coal and Cloud Peak are in line at Millennium. Some U.S. coal is currently shipped through ports in British Columbia, but capacity is limited. The big American terminals are central to the industry’s plans to increase exports, particularly for companies heavily dependent on Powder River Basin coal.

The big engineering firm handling the environmental review has already racked up a $1.8 million bill just for the scoping process.

Recent months have also introduced the Northwest to unit trains bearing crude oil from the burgeoning Bakken oil fields of North Dakota, more than a thousand miles from refineries in Washington. When a Bakken train exploded in Quebec in July, killing more than 40, train safety was suddenly added to the agenda.

Combined, the coal terminals and the unexpected onslaught of crude-oil trains threaten to overwhelm local railways. Critical sections of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) line such as the Columbia River Gorge and tracks along Puget Sound are already overburdened and could be overwhelmed by increased traffic from the massive unit trains if the new proposals are accepted.

The bill for millions of dollars in road and overpass upgrades could be foisted onto communities. That has towns and cities entering into alliances with major climate-change organizations such as the Sierra Club. The commuter city of Marysville, Wash., for example, has 11 train crossings at street level; Cheney, near Spokane, is bisected by railroad tracks. Added train traffic also threatens to disrupt traffic to the busy Port of Seattle and would cross scenic neighborhoods to the north of the city.

A massive disconnect exists between the way the energy industry views coal exports and the "green" agenda of the Pacific Northwest, which has perhaps the most environmentally aware population in the United States. If opponents use the broader review to delay or even stop the terminal, the decision could affect international trade, climate change, and world energy markets.

Climate change plays strongly in the region's largest city; Seattle is a hotbed of environmentalism, and the Sierra Club is very active. Mayor Mike McGinn is only one of several public officials with direct links to green organizations. The region’s governors—Jay Inslee of Washington and John Kitzhaber of Oregon—are climate hawks, and urged agencies to take a broad look at the terminals. The Washington Department of Ecology says Inslee played no role in its decision to include climate change impacts in its review guidelines, but describes him as "comfortable" with the ruling.

The big engineering firm handling the environmental review has already racked up a $1.8 million bill just for the scoping process. Gateway must pay the tab. A draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is expected in about two years, triggering more hearings before a final EIS is sent to the permitting agencies.

That in turn triggers the most political portion of the process. Elected officials in Whatcom and Cowlitz counties (the latter is the site for Millennium) will determine two of the major permits, but the Corps and Washington Ecology also have major roles to play, along with several smaller agencies. In the case of Gateway, the proposed terminal adjoins a state aquatic reserve, and the state's elected Commissioner of Public Lands must grant a lease under a strict set of guidelines.

---

Floyd J. McKay wrote this article for YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media project that fuses powerful ideas and practical actions. Floyd is professor emeritus of journalism at Western Washington University and was a print and broadcast journalist in Oregon for three decades. Recipient of a DuPont-Columbia Broadcast Award for documentaries, and a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard, he is also a historian and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Washington. He resides in Bellingham and can be reached at floydmckay@comcast.net.
Read more:

• Full Speed Ahead for Coal Train Opposition
• Why We’re Putting Ourselves on the (Pipe)Line With the Tea Party
• “The Fight Against Fossil Fuel Giants Is the Fight of Our Time”

http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/will-trains-bring-48-million-tons-of-coal-a-year-through-seattle-not-if-locals-can-stop-it

 

 

A TRAGEDY THAT MUST STOP

FromPeg Holzemer shared Earthjustice's photo.

 

A TRAGEDY THAT MUST STOP: Last week, Yellowstone’s most famous and beloved wolf was shot and killed outside of the park, prompting a huge outcry from park visitors and scientists alike. It’s a sobering reminder of why we need to put an immediate end to Wyoming’s wolf slaughter. Here’s where you can help: http://ow.ly/g1jd9

The majestic wolf, known as 832F or simply ‘06’ by her fans because she was born in 2006, was a favorite among park visitors because of her incredible intelligence and devotion to her pups. One visitor described watching ’06 outsmart and lure 16 wolves from another pack away from the den in order to protect her pups. She was the alpha female of the famed Lamar Canyon wolf pack and her death was a huge loss to behavioral scientists who were studying the pack’s movement. ’06 spent 95% of her time in the park—unfortunately, wolves can’t read borders on a map, and she was shot and killed while still wearing her radio collar outside of Yellowstone’s protective boundaries.

So far, 265 wolves have already been shot or killed in the Northern Rockies. This tragedy cannot be allowed to continue—for the sake of wolves like 06 and the health of the ecosystem. We’re mounting an aggressive legal battle to stop the slaughter of gray wolves, so please help out any way you can: http://ow.ly/g1jd9

Click SHARE to help us spread the word! Share your thoughts and tributes to ‘06 below.

(photo courtesy of Doug McLaughlin. ’06 is seen on the left, while the other wolf, a majestic male, was shot and killed last month)

President Obama achieves goal for wind energy!

Salazar Announces Approval of 3-GW Wind Farm in Wyoming

By Vince Font, Contributor
October 10, 2012

Salt Lake City, UT -- For a state so often associated with cowboys and so evocative of "old west" imagery, Wyoming has a surprisingly progressive record. In 1869, Wyoming became the first state to grant women the right to vote. And on October 9 of this year, Wyoming became the future home to what could end up becoming the biggest wind power farm the world has ever seen.

In a visit to the state capital of Cheyenne, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar gave the official green light for the construction of the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project, a proposed wind farm to be located in a 350 square mile area near the towns of Sinclair and Rawlins in Carbon County, Wyoming. The proposal for construction of the wind farm was submitted in 2008 by Power Company of Wyoming LLC, and will include 1,000 wind turbines capable of generating enough electricity to power approximately 1 million homes. Once constructed and in full swing operation, the wind farm will have the capacity to generate between 2 to 3 GW (gigawatts) of electricity.

In addition to providing clean energy generation on a massive scale, the approval of the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project will also bring jobs to south central Wyoming. It’s estimated that construction of the wind farm will create as many as 1,000 jobs over time, although it’s likely that number will be spread out over the course of three years as 300 to 400 wind turbines are constructed per year. Once construction is complete, there will be 114 permanent jobs created for general operations and maintenance.

Salazar was quick to point out this additional benefit, citing “tens of thousands of jobs now being created by wind energy” throughout the country. The approval of the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project marks completion of a goal set by the Obama administration in 2009 to authorize 10,000 MW of renewable energy on public land.

“Wyoming has some of the best wind energy resources in the world,” Salazar said, “and there’s no doubt that this project has the potential to be a landmark example for the nation. President Obama challenged us in his State of the Union address to authorize 10,000 megawatts of renewable energy on our public lands by the end of the year – enough to meet the needs of more than 3 million homes – and today we are making good on that promise.”

With Salazar’s official stamp of approval, the next step in development will be for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to begin environmental analysis for construction of the proposed wind farms, a 230 kilovolt transmission line, a rail distribution facility, substations for connection to the electric grid, and the laying of the roads necessary to make it all happen. Initial groundbreaking is set to begin sometime in 2013, with the actual installation of wind turbines to follow beginning in 2014.

Lead image: Wyoming flag via Shutterstock


http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/10/salazar-announces-approval-of-3-gw-wind-farm-in-wyoming?cmpid=WNL-Friday-October12-2012

Nuclear Power's Other Tragedy

As a species, if it's not in our backyard [NIMBY], it's comfortable to ignore the environmental degradation caused by mining our 'energy source.'

Such is the case of nuclear energy. We can't see it or touch it and it's too far away to care.

Much as with Dirty Coal, Uranium Mining leaves behind environmental destruction that Big Corporations escaped cleaning up.

When believers promote Nuclear Energy as a solution for failed energy policies, let's also include a discussion about cleanup costs.

We already know that Nuclear Energy is too expensive to be cost competitive without taxpayer subsidies and loan guarantees. Must we pay for the cleanup as well?

From Earthworks:
Nuclear Power's Other Tragedy


Nuclear Power's Other Tragedy: Stories From the Frontlines of Uranium Mining [excerpts]
Report Documents Lax Standards, Safety Violations, Inadequate Cleanup

WASHINGTON, June 23 – The past and future of uranium mining threaten communities across America, which an antiquated federal law fails to protect from the hazards of abandoned mines, toxic waste dumps and contaminated water, according to a new report from Earthworks.

The recent decision by the Obama administration to advocate for the withdrawal from mining of one million acres around the Grand Canyon demonstrates the serious threat that uranium mining poses to water resources.

The 1872 Mining Law does not even require uranium miners – unlike all other extractive industries such as coal, oil and natural gas – to pay royalties to taxpayers that could be used to clean up radioactive contaminated sites, says the report, Nuclear Power’s Other Tragedy: Communities Living with Uranium Mining.

“It is long past time that regulation of uranium mining is brought into the 21st Century,” said Lauren Pagel, policy director of Earthworks, an international mining reform organization. “This outdated federal statute allows uranium mining companies, who are often foreign multinationals, to take minerals from public lands for free while polluting our country’s irreplaceable natural resources.”

The report pulls together alarming data on the lax standards and high number of safety violations at all active uranium mines and cleanup sites in the United States. Some of the more startling examples:

•At the Willow Creek mine and mill sites in central Wyoming, there were 260 reported spills of radioactive water from 1987 to 2004.

•Groundwater near the shuttered Schwartzwalder Mine near Denver is contaminated with uranium at levels 1,000 times higher than human health standards.

•In Texas, where the state rather than the federal government regulates uranium mining, mine operators are routinely allowed to promise to clean up groundwater to a certain level when applying for mining permits, but then lower the level of required cleanup after mining ends.

But the report also tells the stories behind the numbers, with case studies of Native and Anglo-American communities that are struggling with uranium mining’s legacy and concerned for the future. The report spotlights people working to help those affected by uranium mining’s legacy, and to prevent future tragedies. They include:


•Nadine Padilla, a Navajo-Pueblo activist who is fighting to keep Mount Taylor, N.M., a sacred site, safe from uranium mining while helping the victims of earlier mining. “It is our duty,” Padilla says, “to protect Mt. Taylor and other sacred places to maintain our balance in the world.”

• Deb Abrahamson of the Spokane tribe in Washington state, who is working to secure federal compensation for former workers at the Midnite Mine. “We no longer gather roots and berries from the area around the mine because of concerns about poisons,” she says. “People are afraid to eat, afraid to harvest.”

•Wilma Tope of Converse County, Wyo., who organized her neighbors to protect drinking and agricultural water around the nation’s largest active uranium mine. Says Tope: “If you don’t have good water, you have nothing.”

The report calls for removing uranium from the jurisdiction of the antiquated 1872 Mining Law which allows mining companies to extract uranium from public lands without paying royalties.

The Uranium Resources Stewardship Act, introduced by Reps. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, would institute royalties, a competitive leasing program, and give federal land managers more say over whether mining should be allowed in sensitive areas.



http://earthworksaction.org/publications.cfm?pubID=512