26. The Peoples of New Mexico: Abandoned Uranium Mines

Petuuche Gilbert is an elder from the Pueblo of Acoma. He talks about his life in the “Grants Mining District,” and takes us on a tour of cultural sites and abandoned uranium mine lands in the region, where he worked and still lives today.

Uranium extraction in New Mexico was primarily done in the “Grants Mineral Belt,” or “Grants Mining District” –depending who you ask, which is in the northwest part of the state. Residents in this area have had abnormally high rates of lung cancer, from radon gas in poorly ventilated in underground mines. The effect was particularly pronounced among miners, because the incidence of lung cancer is normally low among Indigenous populations. Further south in central New Mexico, on July 16th, 1945, a plume of plutonium mushroomed over New Mexico. Less than 20 miles away from people and communities. This was the United States government's first detonation of a nuclear weapon, a part of the Manhattan Project, one of the first ways New Mexico became a national sacrifice zone for the nuclear industry.

Contact with Jesse Deer in Water and Leona Morgan: [email protected] [email protected]

Resources: https://tewawomenunited.org/

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/04/travel/new-mexico-atomic.html

http://www.dinenonukes.org/radiation-monitoring-project/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDgBUwhUAVE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u0o48EWO-E

Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6AHdI1RakU