John McCain wants 45 new nuclear power plants to help meet our national energy needs and reduce dependence on oil imported from the Middle East and Venezuela, without adding to CO2-related global warming.

John McCain does not understand —

1. Nuclear power is too expensive, will take too long to come on-line, and brings with it
long-term and near-intractable public health, environmental, and social costs that far
outweigh any possible benefits (apart from short-term profits to the nuclear industry).

Investment in energy conservation and efficiency, solar, wind and other clean and renewable energy sources will create more jobs and energy sooner and at far less cost.

See for example –

Amory Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institute
http://www.rmi.org/ images/ other/ Energy/ E05-08_NukePwrEcon.pdf

Architecture 2030
http://www.architecture2030.org/news/news_101608.html

Institute for Energy and Environmental Research
http://www.ieer.org/carbonfree/summary.pdf

2. Uranium mines and mills provide fuel for nuclear power plants. Uranium mining and
milling on the Colorado River watershed in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and
Colorado between 1950 and the present have left a legacy of unresolved public health
impacts and contaminated soils, waters, and ecosystems.

For 60 years, this legacy has disproportionately affected Navajo, Hopi, Havasupai,
Hualapai, Pai-ute, Laguna and Acoma Native American communities and homelands in
John McCain’s backyard in northern Arizona, and in New Mexico.

See for example –

Los Angeles Times series: Blighted Homeland
http://www.latimes.com/ news/ nationworld/ nation/ la-na-navajo-
series,0,4515615.special

Federal agency response to 10-2007 Congressional Oversight Hearings
http://www.epa.gov/ region09/ waste/ sfund/ navajo-nation/ pdf/ NN-5-Year-Plan-June-
12.pdf

McCAIN and URANIUM, continued

John McCain does not understand —

3. Since 2000, the Bush administration has encouraged tens of thousands of new Uranium
mining claims on federal, state and private lands in northern Arizona (including the borders
of the Grand Canyon National Park), New Mexico, Utah and Colorado.

Much of this “Uranium boom” is driven by speculative greed: there is enough Uranium in
existing mines and already developed to meet all possible future needs for decades.

To date, the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management have refused to consider
the potential cumulative impacts to public health and water quality of proposed new
Uranium mining and milling – on top of the legacy of the past 60 years of Uranium-related
radioactive and heavy metal contamination.

See for example –

Environmental Working Group
http://www.pewtrusts.org/ uploadedFiles/ wwwpewtrustsorg/ Reports/ Other_environmental/ Mining_Report81607.pdf

Analysis of Uranium Supply http://www.sric.org/ voices/ 2006/ v7n3/ Need_Greed.html

Los Angeles Times http://articles.latimes.com/ 2008/ may/ 04/ nation/ na-uranium4

4. Of major concern is the risk of further radioactive contamination of the Colorado
River – a critical source of drinking water to millions of people downstream in Las
Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, Los Angeles, and San Diego. See for example –

Southern Nevada Water Authority, Las Vegas
http://www.mohavedailynews.com/ articles/ 2008/ 06/ 22/ news/ state/ state6.txt

Janet Napolitano, Governor of Arizona
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/ campaigns/ public_lands_mining/ pdfs/ Uranium-
Napolitano-Kempthorne-etter.pdf

Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/ campaigns/ public_lands_mining/ pdfs/ LA-
Water-District-GC-Uranium.pdf

Christian Science Monitor
http://features.csmonitor.com/ environment/ 2008/ 08/ 19/ do-uranium-mines-belong-
near-grand-canyon/

McCAIN and URANIUM, continued

Conclusion and Recommendation –

Either John McCain simply does not understand, or he seems ready to ignore and even sacrifice the health and well-being of Native American homelands and communities in his home state of Arizona and throughout the Southwest; to risk contamination of national treasures including the Grand Canyon; and to threaten the long-term quality of principal water supplies of millions of people in the Southwest – all for short-term speculative benefits to the (largely foreign-owned) uranium mining and nuclear power industries.

We urge Barack Obama — please take a strong and clear position on this: no more Uranium development on the Colorado Plateau in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado, at least until:

1. all cumulative and synergistic impacts of past Uranium-related contamination of land and
waters, and public health are fully identified, documented and evaluated;

2. all costs (social, cultural, environmental as well as economic) of any new Uranium
developments are fully identified, analyzed and weighed against all purported benefits –
with transparency as to who pays the costs and who receives the benefits – and including
all costs and benefits of well-documented energy and economic alternatives to nuclear
power; and

3. the Uranium and nuclear industries can fully and clearly prove that their proposed activities
will not pose any risks to present and future public health, water quality, and ecosystem
integrity on the Colorado River watershed, and including downstream water users in Las
Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, Los Angeles and San Diego.

Thank you very much for your consideration and concern.

http://www.energyfromthorium.com/pdf/

So somebody please, put up and build your nuclear shmoo or shut up.