I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., announced today they are leading efforts to expand compensation for those exposed to radiation.
The New Mexico Environmental Law Center filed an appeal Wednesday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower court’s decision to allow (ISL) uranium mining in the Four Corners region of New Mexico.
That decision threatens the safety of…
An internal U.S. Department of Energy investigation found that Los Alamos National Laboratory and its federal managers have repeatedly skirted nuclear safety rules at plutonium labs, the Albuquerque Journal reports.
Mexican consul Gustavo de Unanue has accused city…
Uranium mining in Churchrock advanced last week as an appeals court cleared the way for Hydro Resources to start in-situ leaching in Northwest New Mexico. But residents and environmentalists worry that the mining will contaminate water. Because of the ongoing issue of abandoned mines that haven’t been cleaned up and a legacy of illness caused by exposure in the mines, the Navajo Nation banned uranium mining of all types in 2005.
Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed a new law yesterday that puts a cramp in plans to re-open the old Mt. Taylor uranium mine in northwestern New Mexico. The law requires uranium mills, which process the ore from uranium…
A 1978 report for Congress on the 1965 disappearance of more than 200 pounds of weapons-grade uranium from a nuclear plant in Apollo, Penn., has been declassified.
Investigators were unable to draw any firm conclusions because of stonewalling by…
A controversial plan to open an old uranium mine on Mt. Taylor, near Grants is now facing a new obstacle. The Colorado state Legislature just passed a law requiring uranium mills to clean up existing contamination before accepting any new ore. If Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter signs the bill, it will apply to the Colorado mill that is supposed to handle the ore from Mt. Taylor, and could put the mine project on hold.
Senator Tom Udall is among the sponsors of federal legislation introduced yesterday that would expand restitution for Americans sickened from working in uranium mines or living near atomic weapons tests. The plan was hailed by Navajo Nation Council Delegate Phil Harrison, who represents two communities that hold uranium mining legacy sites, who told The Independent it would close gaps that exist in current legislation and provide for a much needed study of the workers, their families and community members.
First, Laura Paskus at Environmental News for New Mexicans points us to a study showing that residents of Rio Arriba County have some of the highest body levels of uranium on record in the United States — nine…
A truckload of three large containers of nuclear waste left Oak Ridge, Tenn., today heading for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad. Oak Ridge is known as Atomic City for being one of the home…
