Human Rights

The entire nuclear fuel chain involves the release of radioactivity, contamination of the environment and damage to human health. Most often, communities of color, indigenous peoples or those of low-income are targeted to bear the brunt of these impacts, particularly the damaging health and environmental effects of uranium mining. The nuclear power industry inevitably violates human rights. While some of our human rights news can be found here, we also focus specifically on this area on out new platform, Beyond Nuclear International.

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Entries by admin (383)

Sunday
Aug302020

A message from the most bombed nation on earth

Ian Zabarte speaking at a press conference at a Nuclear Forum event he organized at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas in 2016.More than 900 nuclear tests were conducted on Shoshone territory in the US. Residents still live with the consequences.

A videotaped interview with, and written column by, Ian Zabarte, Principal Man of the Western Bands of the Shoshone Nation of Indians, published by Al Jazeera.

Learn more about the Western Shoshone, nuclear weapons testing on their land, high-level radioactive waste dumping targeted at their land, and more, at the Native Community Action Council website. Ian Zabarte serves as NCAC secretary.

Friday
Jul312020

Congressman John Lewis's votes against environmentally unjust radioactive waste dumps

As the Honorable U.S. Representative John Robert Lewis (Democrat-Georgia-5th) was laid to rest in power yesterday, it is fitting to remember his good environmental justice votes against radioactively racist high-level radioactive waste dumps in the past.

On May 10, 2018, Congressman Lewis voted against H.R. 3053, the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2018. He was one of only 72 U.S. Reps. to vote against the bill on the House floor; 340 U.S. Reps. voted for it.  H.R. 3053 would have greased the skids for the opening of the permanent repository for highly radioactive wastes at Yucca Mountain, Nevada -- Western Shoshone land. In addition, it would have authorized so-called consolidated interim storage facilities targeted at a majority Hispanic region of the New Mexico/Texas borderlands, not far from the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation. Fortunately, the U.S. Senate never took up the legislation that session, so it did not become law. (Learn more about the House floor vote, and the legislation, here.)

However, a nearly identical bill, H.R. 2699, the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2019, did pass subcommittee and full committee on the U.S. House side last year. Although it has not (yet) gone to the House floor for an up or down vote, it has been taken up on the Senate side (S. 2917). We must remain vigilant and resist its passage into law. (Learn more, here.)

And on May 8, 2002, Congressman Lewis voted against Joint Resolution 87, the override of Nevada's veto against the Yucca Mountain dump. (See the NIRS press release from that day, here.) Only 117 U.S. Reps. voted against the override; 306 voted in favor of it. The U.S. Senate followed suit, voting 60 to 39 to override Nevada's veto on July 9, 2002. Despite this, the Yucca Mountain dump has been staved off, led by the resistance of the Western Shoshone and a thousand environmental groups, as well as the efforts of the State of Nevada and its U.S. Congressional delegation. The Obama administration cancelled the Yucca Mountain dump early on; efforts to revive it since have not succeeded, but eternal vigilance is required.

Also, as Mustafa Ali, former head of EJ at US EPA, and now serving at the National Wildlife Federation, pointed out on Democracy Now! in early September 2019, the high-level radioactive waste shipments to such dumps in the Southwest, whether by road, rail, or waterway, would themselves be a large EJ burden on people of color and/or low income communities.

As the nation honors the iconic life and work of Congressman John Lewis, we express our thanks for his environmental justice votes in 2002 and 2018, in resistance to high-level radioactive waste dumps targeted at people of color communities, and the large-scale, high-risk Mobile Chernobyl shipping campaign the opening of any one of these dumps would launch.

Friday
Jan242020

The Fire This Time In the Face of Rising White Supremacist Violence, Police Continue to Investigate Victims and Activists

Intercept article on March 2019 white supremacist hate crime committed at the Highlander Center in Tennessee, where the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability's fall meeting was held in late Oct.-early Nov. 2019, and law enforcement's response (or lack thereof, or worse than that -- blaming the victim):
Highlander is famous for its civil rights, social justice, and environmental activism. This has included support for the Oil Chemical and Atomic Workers Union, and anti-nuclear activism, given its proximity to the Oak Ridge nuclear weapons complex facility.
Thursday
Aug012019

More Than 160 Environmental Defenders Were Killed in 2018, and Many Others Labeled Terrorists and Criminals

Tuesday
Jul032018

July 14 Uranium Legacy Commemoration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 3, 2018
 
Contact: Edith Hood, Red Water Pond Road Community Association
505.905.8051 home, 505.713-4085 cell

Susan Gordon, Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment, coordinator
505.577.8438  sgordon@swuraniumimpacts.org  contact for photos or graphics
 
Red Water Pond Road Community: 39 Years Since North East Church Rock 
Uranium Tailings Spill That Was Never Investigated Nor Cleaned Up
 
  •  Uranium Legacy Commemoration, Saturday, July 14, 7 am to 3 pm
  •  12 miles North of Red Rock State Park on State Highway 566 near Church Rock, NM
The Red Water Pond Road Community on Navajo Nation will be hosting their 39th annual commemoration of the 1979 Uranium Tailings Spill that is the largest uranium tailings spill in the United States. 
   
On July 16, 1979, an earthen dam that held liquid uranium waste broke, releasing 1,000 tons of solid radioactive mill waste and more than 90 million gallons of acidic and radioactive liquids into the Rio Puerco. The contaminants flowed downstream through Gallup, NM and across nine Navajo chapters. Several days after the spill, United Nuclear Corporation sent a handful of people out with shovels and buckets in an attempt to remediate the mess. To this day there has been no reclamation, no study to see how far the contamination went and its impacts on local water systems and people’s health. United Nuclear Corporation has not been held accountable for the spill.
    
“Let us come together again and share these issues and concerns, collaborate and strategize, to push clean up of these contaminated environments among our Diné people, to restore, preserve and protect our Mother Earth,” said Edith Hood, Red Water Pond Road Community resident. “It is time for our state and tribal governments to stand up and help these impacted communities on Dinetah. There has been enough talk. It is time to take action on behalf of the people."  
    
The North East Church Rock community are concerned about the uranium contamination legacy that has poisoned Mother Earth, including our sacred waters, land, and livestock. This gathering will provide a venue to discuss and educate everyone about the impacts of uranium mining and milling and about the ongoing work to remove uranium contaminated soil from the surrounding areas to protect our families and environment. 
    
There will be a 7 am walk to the spill site to offer healing prayers. Following the walk people will gather under shade for food, community education, speeches, and a silent auction.
     
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