An initiative will soon be underway in New Mexico focusing on the cleaning up of abandoned uranium mines across the state. In the closing hours of the New Mexico State Legislature’s winter session, lawmakers gave their approval to a bill already passed in the House directing the state Environmental Department to coordinate a mitigation effort. The Uranium Mine Cleanup & Reclamation Act, as sponsored by State Senator Jeff Steinborn, will focus on sites located on federal, local, and tribal lands, as well as lands owned by private parties. According to statistics compiled by the University of New Mexico’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research, there are currently some 1,100 uranium mine and drilling sites in the state. Those sites have been found to contribute to groundwater contamination, very often on or close to tribal lands. A separate UNM report in 2017 indicated that more than 600,000 Native Americans lived within 6 miles of a given abandoned mine. In presenting his legislation earlier this month, Steinborn noted that “communities have had to live alongside these contaminated lands for generations. This bill will help to finally start to resolve this sad, long-standing environmental legacy in our state.” With the second largest uranium ore reserves in the country, besides Wyoming, New Mexico saw a boom in uranium mining that lasted for roughly 30 years, from the early 1950s to the early 1980s. By Garry Boulard
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