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Native American nations of North America are the miners’ canaries for the United States trying to awaken the people of the world to the dangers of radioactive pollution.” - Charmaine White Face, The Defenders of the Black Hills
In 2015 the Gold King Mine spill was a wake up call for the nation to address dangers of abandoned mines, but there are currently more than 15,000 toxic uranium mines
that remain abandoned throughout the US.
For more than 50 years many of these hazardous sites have already been contaminating our land, air, water, and national monuments such as Mt. Rushmore. Indigenous communities have been disproportionately impacted as approximately 75% of these abandoned uranium mines (AUMs) are located on public and Tribal lands.
Each one of these 15,000 AUMs is a potential Gold King mine disaster with the greater added threat of radioactive pollution.
For the sake of our health, air, land, & water, we can't let that happen.
The Clean Up The Mines! campaign is centered around passing the Uranium Exploration and Mining Accountability Act, a bill we’ve painstakingly drafted & have submitted as a draft to Congressman Raul Grijalva (D–AZ) for introduction in Congress.
As we look forward to 2016 we recognize that politicians once again have hit the snooze button on the alarm clock of this ongoing radioactive crisis.
This year we plan to make our wake up call grow even louder to ensure long overdue clean up of the thousands of abandoned uranium mines.
We need your support.
We’re starting this new year off by taking the fight against radioactive pollution to Washington, DC. We’re organizing a delegation of Indigenous Peoples from the Southwest and the Northern Great Plains to go to DC for events to support this & other efforts directly addressing radioactive pollution.
TAKE ACTION:Contribute to our crowdfunding campaign.We need to raise $4,000 for travel expenses for the DC delegation:
www.cleanupthemines.org/campaigns/washingtondc/Sign our new petition.We will be delivering this petition while in DC. Please sign and spread the word:
www.diy.rootsaction.org/p/cleanuptheminesWrite letters to Congressional representatives.Urge them to prioritize & support passage of the Uranium Exploration and Mining Remediation Act.
Form letter:
www.cleanupthemines.org/contact-congress/Email Congressman Raul Grijalva: www.grijalva.house.gov/email-raul
Join our social media storm!From Jan 25-28 tweet, post, & share with: #ResistRadioactivePollution, #MinersCanary, #cleanupthemines
www.facebook.com/cleanupthemineswww.twitter.com/CleanuptheminesSign our organizational support letter.If you are part of an organization, please sign up here:
www.cleanupthemines.org/open-letterFor more info & ways to take action:www.cleanupthemines.orgWith your support we can not only shed light on this invisible national crisis, we can safeguard our communities from further harm by ensuring clean up of these toxic abandoned mines.
Radioactive pollution is an invisible national crisis with millions of Americans being exposed on a daily basis. Exposure to radioactive pollution has been linked to cancer, genetic defects, and increases in mortality.