Thursday, April 03, 2008

"Cowboy" Ted's Letter to the Residents of Kane County - Uranium issue still leaves unanswered health questions


The controversy surrounding the Uranium mining operation on the Arizona Strip and the request by Coconino County and the state of Arizona to cease Uranium exploration has left a number of unanswered health questions. The issue of protecting the Grand Canyon as a recreation area is fine, but what about health issues that have surrounded the Uranium industry for years. Have we forgotten about the down winders tragedy of only 50 years ago?

As a parent of small children, I have a number of questions about this Uranium mining operation and I encourage other parents to ask questions related to the safety of your kids. Tuba City, Monticello and Moab have a host of health problems and one thing in common - Uranium.

We also have pretty conclusive evidence that there is radioactive material in the soil from the nuclear tests in Nevada in the 50's.
I question the logic in supporting an industry that will bring limited economic benefit to the area with a number of health concerns still up in the air.
I also question the logic of digging up Uranium and disturbing radioactive soil downwind of Kanab and Kane County with the history of down winder Cancer cases in our area.

It is a known fact and has been verified by health insurance providers, that Kane County has higher incidence of Cancer than the rest of Utah. The Uranium companies have said there are no more health risks to our residents than any other part of the country. I believe we need expert opinion from health professionals that are unaffiliated with the mining companies before we continue to support the Uranium mining efforts of our neighbors to the south.

True, the mining will take place in Arizona and there are no mining claims in Kane County, according to the mining folks, but we should be concerned about the health of folks in Kane County. Nevada is also a bordering state and their actions led to health issues and we collectively supported the discontinuation of the Divine Strake testing. Why is this issue on the Arizona Strip and its effects on Kane County and residents of Utah any different than the Divine Strake tests?

I suggest we require a lot more conclusive information about health risks to our kids before we provide our support to the Uranium mining activity in our region.

Concerned in Kanab
Cowboy Ted Hallisey

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"Why is this issue on the Arizona Strip and its effects on Kane County and residents of Utah any different than the Divine Strake tests?"

The Divine Strake was a proposed non-nuclear conventional explosive test, not affiliated with nor similar to mining. The fear raised by the Divine Strake proposition was that the explosion would re-mobilize particulate radioactive material which may have been deposited on the surface by past nuclear testing. These two issues are entirely dissimilar.

Ted, please accept the responsibly of a public figure and desist in feeding the fears of the uninformed.

-Andrew