Save the Peaks Court Rescheduled for July 20, 2010

NEWS ADVISORY: 07/12/2010
CONTACT
Klee Benally
928-380-2629
media@TrueSnow.org

http://www.truesnow.org/

Save the Peaks District Court Arguments Rescheduled for July 20th

USDA admits that reclaimed wastewater is a racist and destructive water source

By Save the Peaks

PHOENIX -- An Arizona District Court has once again rescheduled oral arguments in the lawsuit challenging the proposed use of treated sewage effluent for snowmaking on the San Francisco Peaks located in northern Arizona. The oral arguments have been moved from July 16th and rescheduled to be heard at 1:00 PM (MST-AZ), Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 in the United States District Court in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Save the Peaks Coalition and other groups are continuing their call for support and will be rallying at the courthouse on June 20th at 11:00 AM and urging everyone to join them in the courtroom at 1:00 PM.

The case known as The Save the Peaks Coalition, et al. v. U.S. Forest Service (USFS) will be heard before Honorable Judge Mary H. Murguia. The suit asserts, among other things, that the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) prepared by the USFS ignores the possibility of human ingestion of snow made from treated sewage effluent. Snowbowl would be the only ski area in the world to use 100% wastewater to make snow. They would use 1.5 million gallons per day, storing and spraying this wastewater on a mountain that is holy to more than 13 Indigenous Nations.

"This case was filed because we insist that our children not be used as guinea pigs for the profit of a single private business operating on our public lands." Stated Jeneda Benally, a complaintant in the lawsuit. "The Forest Service already has admitted that there was no consideration of the impacts if children consumed wastewater snow that they acknowledge contains untreated contaminants. We will continue to work to protect the Peaks until our children, our environment, and Indigenous ways of life are no longer threatened by greedy business owners and misguided government agencies and politicians."

Arizona Department of Environmental Quality regulations allow A+ class treated sewer water to contain fecal matter in three out of seven daily samples (R18-11-303 2a). Moreover, studies done by Dr. Catherine Propper, Professor of Biological Sciences at Northern Arizona University, on this same treated sewer water have concluded the waste water contains pharmaceuticals, hormones, endocrine disruptors, industrial pollutants like pesticides and herbicides, and narcotics. David Norris, PhD, an integrative physiology professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, found that pharmaceutical ethinylestradiol made it through the Boulder, Colo. Wastewater Treatment Plant and into Boulder Creek and reported that native male fish in Boulder Creek decreased in numbers with respect to females and numerous intersex fish were found downstream of the wastewater treatment plant. He states, "the fish are a wake-up call, our bodies and those of the much more sensitive human fetus are being exposed everyday to a variety of chemicals that are capable of altering not only our development and physiology but that of future generations as well."

Additionally, according to biologist Dr. Paul Torrence the treated sewage effluent may also contain antibiotics, such as triclosan and triclocarban which can break down into bio-accumulating cancerous dioxins when exposed to the high altitude sunlight of the peaks. There have also been documented cases of treated sewage released into the Colorado river that have caused numerous outbreaks of norovirus among Grand Canyon rafters. Plaintiffs involved in this ongoing lawsuit have consistently insisted that the USFS take a hard look at what might happen to the people when they come in contact with or ingest snow made from treated sewage effluent. Under the National Environmental Policy Act, the USFS is obligated to consider these types of potential impacts on the quality of the human environment. In 2007 a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court found that the USFS failed to adequately consider the possibility of human ingestion of snow made from treated sewage effluent. In Judge William Fletcher's opinion, he concludes "the FEIS does not contain a reasonably thorough discussion of the risks posed by possible human ingestion of artificial snow made from treated sewage effluent, and does not articulate why such discussion is unnecessary." The holding of the three-judge panel was later overturned on a technicality by an en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit.
On July 2, 2010 the USDA granted Snowbowl ski resort permission for development including a choice to use either direct sourced treated sewer water for snowmaking or "recovered-reclaimed" water from a Flagstaff City water line. When the Flagstaff Water Commission pressed for a definition of what exactly "recovered-reclaimed" wastewater is at a recent meeting, a city employee admitted that this was actually Flagstaff's drinking water supply. If "recovered-reclaimed" water is approved by the Flagstaff City Council the federal government would offset additional costs with a tax payer loan of $11 million.

Howard Shanker, representing the Save the Peaks Coalition and additional plaintiffs, filed for a temporary restraining order to block the proposed development.

"Snowmaking with treated sewage effluent is a bad choice for the environment, public health and the sanctity of the Holy San Francisco Peaks." stated Moran Henn, an environmental scientist. "It's good that the USDA has finally recognized that fact but they cannot pretend that using "recovered-reclaimed" which is really Flagstaff's drinking water will be less offensive in a community where water is scarce, where water is life."

Volunteer supporters of the Save the Peaks Coalition are also proceeding with a prayer vigil and rally as planned for July 16th. They will use the opportunity to educate Phoenix residents about threats of untested and untreated pharmaceuticals, hormones and cancer causing agents in wastewater and possible impacts to the Holy San Francisco Peaks. The planned Flagstaff solidarity vigil will go on as scheduled on the 16th as well.

Additionally, we are urging Flagstaff residents to attend the July 29th Flagstaff City Water Commission's public hearing on whether or not Flagstaff's drinking water will be sold to Snowbowl instead of treated sewage. The hearing will be located at Flagstaff City Hall and volunteer supporters will set up a vigil in front of city hall at 4PM.

For a background, legal documents, photos, updates, and further information please visit: http://www.truesnow.org/

SCHEDULE:

THURSDAY, JULY 15TH

Taking Action for Healthy Communities
Free dinner and discussion - 6:30PM - 9:30PM

At Serena Juste (Padilla) Residence
Onk Akimel O'odham Nation (Salt River)
9312 E. Thomas Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85256

Camping available
Please RSVP at www.TrueSnow.org

FRIDAY, JULY 16TH

Sunrise Prayer Gathering for Protection of Sacred Places
At Serena Juste (Padilla) Residence
Onk Akimel O'odham Nation (Salt River)
9312 E. Thomas Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85256

NOON - Rally to Protect the Peaks
Wesley Bolin Memorial Park
1700 West Washington St.
Phoenix, AZ 85007

FLAGSTAFF 2PM to 4PM
Solidarity Vigil
City Hall (RT. 66 & Humphries)

TUESDAY, JULY 20TH

11:00AM - 2:00PM - Rally & Vigil
(Rally to continue outside for those who do not wish to enter courthouse)
Sandra Day O'Connor U.S. Courthouse
401 W. Washington St.
Phoenix, AZ 85003-2118

1:00PM - Courtroom Oral Arguments
Public is welcome! Bring picture ID

2:25PM - News Briefing with Lawyer Howard Shanker

THURSDAY, JULY 29TH

4:00PM - Rally at Flagstaff City Hall Lawn
5:00PM - Flagstaff City Water Commission Public Hearing

More information: http://www.truesnow.org/
phxrally@TrueSnow.org

Nuclear Industry's Legacy of Death in New Mexico: July 16

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Navajos and other New Mexicans remember legacy of death from Trinity atomic bomb detonation and Church Rock uranium spill on July 16

By Brenda Norrell

Narcosphere

Photo Atomic bomb detonation Trinity, NM, 1945

CHURCH ROCK and TULAROSA, N.M. - As the Obama Administration plans more nuclear power plants, and corporations target Navajo communities with new uranium mining, Navajos and other New Mexicans will gather to remember the nuclear industry's legacy of death at Church Rock and Tularosa, N.M., on July 16.

It was on this day, July 16, 1945, when the first atomic bomb was detonated 35 miles southeast of Socorro, N.M., at the Trinity Site. In Tularosa on Friday, a candlelight vigil will remember those who died of cancer. Survivors will offer testimony on Saturday.

It was also on this day, July 16, 1979, when the Church Rock uranium mill tailings spill took place. When an earthen tailings dam broke at the United Nuclear Corporation Church Rock Uranium Mill, large amounts of liquid radioactive waste spilled into the Puerco River in New Mexico, which eventually flowed downstream into Arizona. The majority of those living along the stream are Navajos.
Read article ...
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/brenda-norrell/2010/07/day-death-july-16-remembering-church-rock-spill-and-atomic-bomb-deto

Lakota Debra White Plume: Radioactive Sacrifice Area

Keep Out! Radioactive Sacrifice Area


by Debra White Plume, Oglala Lakota Author, Artist, Activist from the Beautiful Pine Ridge Homeland

Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Photo: Bring Back the Way
http://www.bringbacktheway.com/default.htm

The human beings, who comprise Powertech USA, Inc., (PT) are embarking on a path of destruction from which there is no return, which we on the Plains must face for generations, while they reside far away in their homelands of Canada and France.
This new corporation has no history of accountability in adhering to environmental laws or in the cleanup of a mined-out area. According to the NRC website, there are thousands of reports by mining corporations that document problems in containing uranium-laden water to the mine site to be located in Custer and Fall River Counties, 12 miles northwest of Edgemont, SD. It is challenging to accept that a new corporation mining uranium in an area with thousands of improperly abandoned boreholes and fractured aquifers will have the capacity to contain the radioactive water it plans to pump to the surface through miles and miles of pipe. Pipe which, according to the NRC website, leaks!
Powertech’s planned Dewey-Burdock In Situ Leach mining will puncture through four aquifers and endanger a fragile geologic situation. PT knows of the thousands of uncapped boreholes in their mine permit area and the faults and fractures horizontally and vertically between aquifers through which groundwater can spread thorium, radium, arsenic and other contaminants disturbed with ISL mining. These metals can travel to contaminate clean drinking and surface water, which may eventually end up in the pipe that brings drinking water into our homes, or the garden hose that waters our family gardens. Arsenic and alpha emitters make people sick. The history of earthquakes in the Black Hills makes ISL uranium mining even more dangerous.
Does PT have the finances to pay fines for leaks and spills that other corporations have had to pay (according to the NRC website), or to cleanup? It is not clear if PT has the resources to pay for cleaning up its mess.
PT’s uranium mining applications to the NRC and the SD Dept of Environment and Natural Resources were deemed inadequate. Rather than denying the applications, both entities helped revise PT’s applications. The fact that the corporation failed to complete a satisfactory application does not create confidence and makes one wonder about these governmental entities: are they here to look out for the well-being of people and the environment, or for the mining corporations?
The opportunity to view the public records of PT’s 6,000 page application as limited to Internet availability is prejudicial, it assumes that everyone has Internet access and eliminates untold members of the general public. Let me be clear, this practice impacts the most vulnerable: the poor and the isolated.
The Dewey-Burdock area is in 1868 Ft Laramie Treaty Territory and in a place sacred to the Lakota People: the Black Hills, The Heart of Everything That Is. The 1868 Ft Laramie Treaty was ratified by Congress and was never amended. Under international law it is our land.
Our ancestors fought the United States, many people died, to protect the Black Hills and our landbase. There are hundreds of places in the proposed mining area identified as archaeological, historical, cultural, etc. There are tipi rings, stone cairns, graves. There are nests there, for eagles which need protection. For a corporation to have more rights than human beings is a violation of Human Rights. To keep us away from a sacred place is to kill our people and way of life. What kind of government makes such laws? to turn this area into a “National Sacrifice Area”?
The laws of the United States, the NRC regulations, and the individuals who sit behind those desks can honor Treaty Law, the life way of the Lakota, and respect Mother Earth by denying Powertech USA, Inc.’s application to mine uranium. After PT has mined for 20 years, used billions of gallons of water, fouled our aquifers and land, and completed processing its Yellow Cake imported from Wyoming, the individuals on PT’s Board of Directors and its shareholders will remove the pumps that keep radioactive water “contained”, cap the deep disposal wells storing billions of gallons of radioactive waste, dismantle its buildings for shipment to a nuclear waste dump, lay off the handful of local employees, close its Hot Springs Office and enjoy their financial profit back in their home offices in Canada and France. The NRC staff will file away the paperwork of the Dewey-Burdock Uranium Mine. Will the file tab read, “South Dakota: Radioactive, Keep Out”?

Printed with permission.

New Mexico: First atomic bomb and Church Rock uranium spill: July 16th

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In the New Mexico homelands of Navajos and Pueblos, July 16 marks a day of secrecy and the legacy of death

Photos: Trinity detonation of first atomic bomb, 35 miles southeast of Socorro, NM. Photo 2: Church Rock Memorial Walk by Maria Varela/SRIC Photo 3: Church Rock spill contamination.

By Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety

http://www.nuclearactive.org/
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NEW MEXCIO: July 16th is a historic day in New Mexico because it was the day in 1945 when the first atomic bomb was detonated at the Trinity Site and it was the day in 1979 when the Church Rock Uranium Mill Tailings Spill took place. To commemorate these events, prayer walks, candlelight vigils and community education events will be held.

First, to remember the communities affected by the Church Rock Uranium Mill Tailings Spill 31 years ago, the Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment will hold events in the Red Water Pond Road Community. From 7 to 9 am there will be a Prayer Walk on Highway 566 in remembrance of the communities affected by the spill. There will be a Commemoration Proclamation and Reaffirmation of the Navajo Nation's Uranium Mining Ban that was set forth in the Dine' Natural Resources Protection Act of 2005. A luncheon will begin at noon.

On the morning of July 16th, an earthen tailings dam at the United Nuclear Corporation Church Rock Uranium Mill failed, spilling large amounts of liquid radioactive waste into the Puerco River in New Mexico, which eventually flowed downstream into Arizona. The Church Rock spill is second only to the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown for the amount of radiation released from an accident. The spill contributed to the long-term contamination already present in the watershed from the release of untreated or poorly treated uranium mine water into the Puerco River. The commemorative event serves as a reminder that the Dine' communities throughout the area still carry the burden of the uranium legacy to this day.

Church Rock: For more information, contact Teddy Nez at 505 879-2910.

Second, the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium and Las Mujeres Hablan will hold a statewide gathering in Tularosa in support and remembrance of those who were exposed to the radiation released from the detonation of the first atomic bomb at the Trinity Test Site, near Socorro.

On Friday, July 16, the Consortium will hold a candlelight vigil from 8 to 10 pm for those who have lost loved ones to cancer or are cancer survivors.

On Saturday, July 17, the Consortium and Las Mujeres Hablan will hold an all day community gathering at the Tularosa Community Center, beginning at 9 am. Participants will have the opportunity to share their memories of the Trinity Test. They will learn also about the amendments to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, proposed by Senator Udall, which would cover those exposed to radiation from the Trinity Test. http://tomudall.senate.gov/?p=video&id=484
Tularosa is located 35 miles southeast of Socorro and north of Alamogordo, N.M.

For more information, please contact Tina Cordova at 505 897-6838.

WIKIPEDIA:

The Church Rock Uranium Mill Spill occurred in New Mexico, USA, in 1979 when United Nuclear Corporation's Church Rock uranium mill tailings disposal pond breached its dam. Over 1,000 tons of radioactive mill waste and millions of gallons of mine effluent flowed into the Puerco River. Local residents used river water for irrigation and livestock and were not immediately aware of the toxic danger. In terms of the amount of radiation released the accident was comparable in magnitude to the Three Mile Island accident of the same year and has been reported as the largest radioactive accident in U.S. History.

On July 16, 1979, United Nuclear Corporation's Church Rock uranium mill tailings disposal pond breached its dam and 1100 tons of radioactive mill waste and approximately 93 million gallons of mine effluent flowed into the Puerco River. The contaminated water from the Church Rock spill travelled 80 miles downstream, reaching as far as Navajo, Arizona. Shortly after the breach below the dam radiation levels of river water were 7000 times that of the allowable level of drinking water. The flood backed up sewers, affected nearby aquifers and left stagnating pools on the riverside. Read more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Rock_Uranium_Mill_Spill

WIKIPEDIA excerpts: Trinity was the code-name of the first nuclear-weapons test of an atomic bomb. This test was conducted by the United States Army on July 16, 1945, at a location about 35 miles (56 km) southeast of Socorro, New Mexico, on the White Sands Proving Ground, of the U.S. Army.Trinity was a test of an implosion-design plutonium device. The weapon's codename was "The Gadget". Using the same conceptual design, the Fat Man device was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945. The Trinity detonation produced an explosive power equivalent to the explosion of about 20 kilotons of TNT explosive. This date is usually considered to be the beginning of the Atomic Age.

While U.S. and British attempts to investigate the feasibility of nuclear weapons began as early as 1939, practical development began in earnest in 1942 when these efforts were transferred to the authority of the U.S. Army and became the "Manhattan Project". The weapons-development portion of this project was located at the Los Alamos Laboratory in northern New Mexico, though much other development and production work was carried out near Oak Ridge, Tennessee, (the separation of uranium-235); near Hanford, Washington, (the production and separation of plutonium-239); and in and near Chicago, Illinois, (at the University of Chicago and at the Argonne National Laboratories).

Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_(nuclear_test)

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Also:
VIDEO:  Navajo Leona Morgan interview at US Social Forum: Navajos Oppose New Uranium Mining in New Mexico. Recorded by Earthcycles:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/7887536

COLUMN: Lakota Debra White Plume: Radioactive Sacrifice Area in South Dakota
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2010/07/lakota-debra-white-plume-radioactive.html

VIDEO:  Tewa Women United at Detroit Social Forum: Legacy of Death at Los Alamos National Labs in New Mexico. Recorded by Earthcycles:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/7887096

Alamogordo News: Did Trinity cause cancers?
http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_15501916

 

Photos Francisco Dominguez: Indigenous Peoples Without Borders

Indigenous People Without Borders

Date: Thursday, July 15, 2010

Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm

Location: Watsonville Bike Shack

Street: 555 Main Street (Behind the Old Chavez Furniture Store)

City/Town: Watsonville, CA
Documentary by Photographer Francisco J. Dominguez Jr.

Sacramento-based Francisco Dominguez is a photographer and art educator and has documented native people in political struggle for the last 20 years. He has documented the lives of immigrating and displaced people and were directly affected by US economic trade policies. Francisco has used his work to bring attention to the injustices on the Mexico/US border and in states such Arizona.

The infrared-sensitive film he uses creates an ethereal atmosphere, a timeless reflection of the cultural legacy of his subjects. Dominguez’s photography gives an unexpected twist to the common assumption that documentary photographs reveal “objective” portrayals. Dominguez has participated in many exhibitions in California.

Sponsored by the Watsonville Brown Berets and Migra Watch.

For More Information Check Out http://www.brownberets.info/ 

Francisco Dominguez at fotowaddle@gmail.com

Roberto Rodriguez: Arizona's SB 1070: A crack law by any other name

Arizona’s SB 1070: A crack law by any other name
By Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez

By now, most of the world has learned that the Republican-dominated legislature in Arizona and its unelected governor are capable of creating laws more associated with repressive regimes – or bygone eras – than with modern states. And it also knows it has become a magnet for supremacists of every stripe and color.
That’s not a good thing, but for those thousands who are bankrolling Gov. Jan Brewer’s defense of the state’s racial profiling law SB 1070 – scheduled to go into effect July 29 – many actually believe she is putting up a valiant defense against invading and violent [brown] hordes. Seemingly unbeknownst to her supporters, contrary to her recent claims, the vast majority of migrants are not involved in the drug trade. Despite Border Patrol officials telling her otherwise, she continues with her uninformed falsehoods and fear-mongering, with the effect of continuing to associate migrants with [drug] criminality.
Also unbeknownst to these legislators, is that ironically, one of their wacko laws can actually provide the solution to ending the drug cartel violence raging across Mexico: the state’s anti-human smuggling law. In this state, migrants can be charged and convicted of conspiring [with their coyote] to smuggle themselves into Arizona. The law was not designed that way, but leave it to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to interpret the law in such a manner.
After having been stripped of his 287g federal immigration powers – stemming from his penchant for media choreographed mass dragnet raids aimed at red-brown communities – he now relies on the state’s anti-human smuggling law to stage his dehumanizing productions.
As bizarre and abused as this law is – if emulated to fight the drug war in the United States – the drug cartel wars in Mexico would come to a virtual halt overnight. If the same Arpaio logic were applied to the nation’s drug trafficking laws, then every American who uses imported illegal drugs would be complicit and guilty of conspiring to smuggle those drugs into this country. And we would need a lot more prisons.
Either that or perhaps the drug demand by Americans would drop quite precipitously… pronto. No one can seriously doubt that it is the American demand for drugs that is fueling the drug cartel wars in Mexico. The American market is extremely lucrative. Cocaine, for example, is not grown or produced in Mexico. Yet, it is funneled through Mexico to quench the voracious American appetite. As part of this demand, American noses and arms are satisfied while many thousands of Mexicans die in the crossfire.
The state legislature or Congress could charge drug users with conspiracy to smuggle the drugs they use. There is but one reason this will never happen: WE ARE AMERICANS!
Americans have rules for everyone else and rules for themselves (Invading nations without a just cause is one example). Actually, “Americans” in this case is more specific; when it comes to drugs, there are rules for White, middle and upper middle class Americans, and then there are rules for people of color.
Cocaine is the perfect example. Since 1986, there has been a 100 to 1 possession disparity between its consumption as crack (wrongly associated with poor blacks) or in its powder form (middle class whites). Historically, under federal law, 5 grams of crack is the same as 500 grams of powdered cocaine. Each trigger a 5-year prison sentence. Over the past generation, this sentencing and incarceration disparity, not coincidentally, has long been indisputably racial in nature, resulting in the filling up of this nation’s prisons with black and brown drug offenders.
But back to how Arizona’s bizarre anti-smuggling law could be used to stem the drug cartel violence. American drug users – most of whom are white – could be charged, not with simple possession, but with felony conspiracy to bring in their own drugs. If applied judiciously and uniformly, the fear of long-term prison incarceration – 10 years, for example – would invariably dry up the fuel for the drug cartel violence.
It would also deflate the conflation between drug smuggling and migrants.
As most of the world already knows, that conflation has always been false.
Yet that’s par for Arizona where bizarre is normal and truth is difficult to find. Perhaps the Justice Department – which has now sued Arizona over SB 1070 on the grounds that immigration policy is the purview of the federal government, not the states – will bring a little bit of truth to the desert. Meanwhile, 153 bodies have thus far been recovered this year in that same merciless desert (http://www.derechoshumanosaz.net/).
Rodriguez, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona, can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com