Uranium in Ontario

Serpent River Anishinabe (Ojibwe) band councillor Keith Lewis testified on the role of Rio Algom in the Elliot Lake uranium mining district in Ontario. His band's traditional way of life began to change in 1948, when uranium was discovered. By the early 1950s there were a dozen uranium mines and a sulfuric acid plant established within a 12-mile radius of his settlement. Because there were few, if any environmental laws at the time, Rio Algom and Denison Mines dumped their untreated mine wastes into the lakes that feed the Serpent River. Lewis testified that, “The downstream areas of the watershed contained thousands of tons of tailings spilled and released in the first 15 years of mining. These tailings were well supplied with oxygen (necessary to produce sulfuric acid) and continue to release sulfuric acid as well as to release radioactive nuclides into the water.”

In 1976, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment reported that 18 lakes in the Serpent River system had been contaminated by uranium mining. Despite several years of clean-up efforts, Professor Scharer of the University of Toronto reported in 1978 that there was still no possibility of fishing or safe swimming in the Quirke, Whiskey, McCabe or Hough lakes (Gulliver File, p. 643). An Environmental Impact Protection Program study in 1982-84 found that Serpent River young adults reported twice the rates of chronic diseases (such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, arthritis and deafness) as those in two other studied Native reserves without uranium mines. The Toronto Jesuit Centre's “Joint Health Report: Spanish, Mississagi and Serpent River Reserves” also found that rates of miscarriages and abnormal live births were higher at Serpent River. (Moody, Plunder, p. 134).

Goodrich recently defended Rio Algom's record in Ontario. “By the early 1970s,” he wrote, “the problems had been identified and all discharges either stopped or were subject to treatment. That has been the case ever since, and the fish have rebounded.” (Capital Times, 4/20/94). Lewis is familiar with the argument: “They will tell us, by twisting the truth, even though we've impacted the river in a negative way, now you've got perch, now you've got salmon....The fundamental fact remains, that river had certain forms of life in it, plant and animal, before this company came along and decided to do what they wanted to do....Who gives them the right to change it, to impose that kind of impact on nature?” Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources area biologist Will Samis confirmed in January 1994, “I have spoken to my peers and no one on our staff has indicated that this river system is pristine or fully recovered in all its parts.” (1/24/94)

Coal in Colombia

Armando Valbuena Gouriyú of Colombia's Wayuu (Guajiro) Indian nation testified on the impact of the El Cerrejón coal mine, where Goodrich was Vice President of Operations. The open pit mine encompasses 94,000 acres of mostly Wayuu lands. As the largest coal mine in the Americas, it exported 13 million tons of coal in 1993. (Isthmus, 7/8/94).

When the coal is hauled by rail to a port 95 miles away, dust flies off the top of open rail cars, harming nearby animals, plants, and Wayuu homes. There have been complaints of increased eye and lung problems, in both humans and livestock. “Since it's an open-pit mine,” testified Gouriyú, ”we're talking about ten years of contamination from coal dust. Ten villages are being affected around the mine, as well as all the Wayuu who live in the area.” Some Colombian doctors have warned of the effects of the coccidioidomicosis fungus, which lives in the semi-arid ground of the Guajira Peninsula. One study reported, “When released to the air as a result of digging, this fungus can be lodged in the lungs of human beings, causing a severe illness that can result in death.” (Cultural Survival, p. 43). Gouriyú testified, “People in two of the towns had to demonstrate in the capital that they wanted to be moved away from the coal dust. After their demonstration, the Minister of Health ordered that these people be relocated.”

One study observed before the project even began, “Little, is any concern has been shown by the government or Exxon regarding the negative effects that this decrease in water supplies will have on the waterholes and water sources used by the Guajiro.” (Gutierrez, p. 74) According to Gouriyú, the coal mining has indeed depleted water supplies: “As the shovels move down and the pit grows wider, they reach subterranean water. That water is pumped out, and then the water table is falling. The adjoining rivers and streams are falling and drying up, and the people's wells are drying up.....Our survival depends on the water. We give our life for water.” (Isthmus, 7/8/94)

Does Colombia have any environmental laws to prevent this? Gouriyú's testimony was instructive to Wisconsin citizens: “I know Exxon very well in Colombia. It has changed the environmental protection laws in Colombia. There's nobody to hold them back. Exxon will follow the law; they made the law in Colombia.”

Oil in Alaska

On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound. One of the first Exxon representatives to arrive on the scene was J. Wiley Bragg, now the public relations officer for Crandon Mining Co. Bragg promised local officials money and help, “but no oil containment booms because Exxon has run out of them.” Frank Monsey, the emergency operations manager in Seldovia, threatened to arrest Bragg for being so unresponsive to the disaster. Monsey said, “I personally feel that every Exxon employee should be brought here and put in a jail cell.” (United Press Int'l, 4/16/89).

U.S. Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner echoed this assessment when he told the Senate Environmental Protection Subcommittee that industry plans for dealing with an Alaskan spill had been a “zero” on a scale of 1 to 10. Skinner said that the Bush Administration decision to leave Exxon with primary clean-up responsibility stemmed from a belief that the company had committed itself to the clean-up and “had the technical expertise to deal with the problem.” (Milwaukee Journal, 4/20/89).

In fact, the “key story” behind the disaster escaped most media reports, namely, “that the Exxon Valdez disaster was the culmination of the oil company's breaking its promises to the natives and its disregard of oil shipping regulations” Alyeska marine superintendent James Woodle wrote a note to his company president in 1984, that “serious doubt exists that Alyeska would be able to contain and clean up a medium or large-size oil spill,” and cited outdated, inadequate, and broken equipment. (Palast, 9/21/94). Exxon and its six oil company partners in the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. “gradually and quietly scrapped many safeguards and never even built others others that it told Congress it planned.” (McCoy, Wall Street Journal, 7/6/89).

Eyak Native fisherman Dune Lankard testified, “You hear about the area being cleaned up, but it's not and it's not going to be for a long time. The herring does not return to Prince William Sound anymore. There are age classes that have disappeared completely off the map, and that industry is worth 40-50 million dollars annually to U.S. fishermen. Only 20% of our pike salmon are returning. The mortality rate for the wild stock salmon within the Prince William Sound is 90%, which is incredible high.”

Lankard continued, “What Exxon said when the spill happened was ‘we will make you whole again'. No one has made us whole. Doing the work I'm doing now is the only healing that I can endure...getting the word out that you have to stop these disasters before they happen. Preventative maintenance measures are the most important keys that are going to protect our environment....Exxon spent two billion dollars on their clean-up extravaganza, and a half-billion on public relations campaigns doing videos for the Department of Education and getting videos into the schools.....No amount of money can compensate me(for the loss of) my way of life in Alaska.”

Uranium in Wyoming

Exxon's largest domestic minerals operation was its Highland uranium mine in the Powder River Basin, near Douglas, Wyoming. Exxon's former Crandon project manager Robert Russell pointed to Highland as an example of Exxon's commitment to environmental responsibility (Milwaukee Journal, 11/18/77). The mine began operation in 1972, and produced 3200 tons of ore daily by 1978. The mine contributed nine percent of all U.S. uranium in 1980 (Atlantis, p. 72).

The key problem at the Highland mine was the handling of tailings, or mine wastes, which had an output 40 times larger than the output of ore. In 1980, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (WDEQ) sent a letter to Exxon Minerals' William Taylor informing him that the company was operating its tailings pond “contrary” to its 1974 permit and reclamation plan. The letter cited several factors making the plan obsolete, including the raising of the tailings dam above planned levels (thus increasing seepage), raising of a waste pile 100 feet above its planned level, the construction of an unapproved mill water pond, the lack of mitigation plans to deal with underground mine subsidence, and disregard for the reclamation schedule (WDEQ, 12/29/80).

Dr. Garth Kennington of the University of Wyoming found that plants growing near the Highland mill contained more radioactive radium than plants further away, and that jackrabbits in the area absorbed 26 times more radiation per pound than the recommended levels for human beings. The measurements suggested “reasons for concern about the plant and animal populations surrounding the tailings pond area”, but no further studies were conducted. (Kennington, p. 11, Bavarskis, p. 7).

A truck carrying radioactive uranium concentrate from Highland crashed into three horses on a Colorado highway in September 1977, and spilled 10,000 pounds of the ‘yellowcake'. Federal officials said the accident was the largest-ever spill of yellowcake, which can cause radiation poisoning and fatal kidney failure. The Colorado Office of Health Protection's director of environmental programs, Robert Siek, wrote that “if the accident had occurred near a water course, in a metropolitan area, or in a mountain area, the problem would have been compounded many-fold”, adding that Exxon employees were “not only improperly instructed but inadequately trained and equipped for their mission.” (Critical Mass Energy Project, 1977).

Chemical leaks in the U.S.

In Baytown, New Jersey, Exxon's underwater oil pipeline exploded, releasing more than a half-million gallons of heating oil into the Arthur Kill waterway. According to the New York Times, Exxon for years had filed reports that falsely indicated that the company's leak detection system in the Arthur Kill was in good working order.” (Gulliver File, p. 366). In October 1992, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed a $110,000 fine against Exxon for allegedly not reporting the release of certain chemicals at its Bayway refinery, which it has since sold (Council on Economic Priorities, p. 3). In 1990, the company paid $11 million as part of a settlement with 200 residents of Highlands, Texas, who claimed widespread illness due to the nearby Liberty Waste dump, where they believed illegal chemicals were deposited (Gulliver File, p. 366). Exxon spent at least $4 million to buy out neighbors of its Baton Rouge plant, where two workers were killed in a 1989 explosion. The relocation of residents was intended to prevent lawsuits against companies in Louisiana's “Chemical Alley.” (Milwaukee Journal, 12/9/90)

Areas of concern

Exxon and Rio Algom claim that they can create a tailings pond for its Crandon mine which will eliminate the threat of acid mine drainage (Crandon Chronicle, Dec. 1994). Their own experiences in Wyoming and Ontario uranium mines, however, bring these claims into question. Even in situations where radiation could threaten human health, the companies' responses were often too little, too late. It is worth noting that, although there is not enough uranium in the Crandon deposit to economically extract, the presence of uranium in the area brings up the question of radon exposure to both miners and residents. (U.S. Department of Energy 10/80, p. 106; Kalliokoski, 6/76).

Another unanswered question is brought out by recent studies on the role of zinc exposure in causing or exacerbating Alzheimer's Disease (New York Times, 9/6/94). The U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has profiled zinc as a toxic substance, leading some states and countries to regulate its industrial use. (Mining Industry International, p. 21).

When defending Rio Algom's Elliot Lake clean-up, Crandon Mining Co. official Don Moe said at a DNR technical meeting (1/10/94) that the contamination occurred only before provincial and federal laws were put into place to curb uranium mine pollution. This contention fits a common pattern that both companies appear to practice throughout the world. They repeatedly test the limits of environmental laws, and at times go beyond the law, yet want to claim credit when the law forces them to change their practices. In crisis situations (such as Alaska and Colorado), they seem to clean up only when ordered to do so, yet then point with pride to their clean-up efforts. Rather than acting in a responsible manner toward communities, without legal prodding, the companies consistently keep their eye on public relations. This trend is especially disturbing when the companies bring their message to local schools, again as Exxon did in Alaska. The companies should realize by now that public relations cannot bring back the health of fish, animals, and human beings.

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