Canada's Cameco targets Lakota homelands with uranium mining

Cameco, the company that just bought 500 tons of Iraqi yellow cake via the US and transported to Montreal, is not only connected to the Bush secret society of Skull and Bones, but Cameco has also targeted the Lakota homelands

PRESS RELEASE
20 July 2008
contact info: Debra White Plume 605-455-2155

OWE AKU STATEMENT
email: lakota1@gwtc.net
During early winter of 2007, for the first time in 17 years, seven petitions were filed with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission regarding In Situ Leach uranium mining. The petitions were seeking to intervene in the uranium mining license amendment application of the Crow Butte Resources, Inc. In Situ Leach uranium mine in northwest Nebraska (ISL mining utilizes a system of underground piping to extract uranium.)
Three of the seven petitioners were granted “Standing to Intervene” by the Atomic Licensing Board (ALB), following a January 16, 2008 hearing in Chadron , Nebraska . The petitioners and their legal counsel will attend a hearing in front of the ALB on July 23, 2008 at 10am at the Scottsbluff Room of the Student Center at Chadron State College in Chadron , Nebraska to settle some issues that will determine how the big hearing itself will take place.
The three petitioners granted “Standing” (Debra White Plume, Oglala Lakota from Pine Ridge , SD , the Western Nebraska Resource Council, and Owe Aku, Bring Back the Way, a nongovernmental organization on the Pine Ridge, SD Indian Reservation) opposed the expansion application by Crow Butte Resources, Inc. to establish a second ISL mine called “North Trend” northwest of Crawford , Nebraska . “Standing” is a term that designates meeting strict criteria established by the ALB and allows the petitioner to present their “Contentions”. Contentions are the petitioners’ reasons why the NRC should not grant a license to the mining corporation.
Three contentions of Debra White Plume and Owe Aku that have been accepted by the ALB include ISL uranium mining’s potential impact on the environment and health of the Oglala Lakota people and members of Owe Aku; potential for contamination of the drinking water source of the Oglala Lakota people and members of Owe Aku; and protection of cultural and historic resources in the area of the proposed North Trend ISL uranium mine.
On July 23, 2008 oral arguments will be presented by the three petitioners’ legal counsel. The first discussion regards the right of the Oglala Sioux Tribe to participate in the process. The OST filed an Amicus Brief concerning their right to water, health, and a clean environment. The argument on a fourth Contention by the petitioners concerns Foreign Ownership, as Cameco, Inc. is a Canadian-based corporation. The final argument concerns the process for the actual hearing. The petitioners want to proceed under the rules of “Sub-part G”, which allows discovery and witnesses.
Attorney Bruce Ellison of Rapid City , SD is legal counsel for petitioners Ms. White Plume and Owe Aku. David Frankel of Aligning for Responsible Mining is legal counsel for WNRC, and the Gonzalez Law Firm is representing the Oglala Sioux Tribe.
“Cameco, Inc. recently agreed to pay the state of Wyoming a $1.4 million settlement for failure to comply with state environmental standards at its’ Smith Ranch-Highlands ISL uranium mine. The folks at Cameco seek to expand their extraction of uranium near Crawford , Nebraska . We question Cameco’s ability to adhere to environmental laws. We are in the fight of our life here. To Cameco, it’s about financial profit. To us, it’s about wasting and destroying water, and deadly contaminants that can never be contained or cleaned being released into the environment. Many generations of the future will be impacted by lethal contaminants, our generations will become stricken with fatal diseases-there is no cure for cancer and diabetes-this means genocide for our people. ISL uranium mining has the potential to wipe the relatively small population of Oglala Lakota people off the face of the earth and to turn this part of the country into a sacrifice area. We need our sacred water” says petitioner Debra White Plume. “We are currently using the process of the federal government to protect our environment and people. We oppose the expansion of Cameco. They have had 23 leaks and spills since they began operations in 1998, and they want to open 3 more uranium mines? Isn’t Cameco’s recent payment to Wyoming for environmental violations a clear message? Their current reclamation bond of $40 million had to be increased to $80 million as part of the Wyoming settlement. Their reclamation bond in Nebraska is $20 million.”

Recipe for disaster: Yellow cake and Skull and Bones
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2008/07/recipe-for-disaster-yellow-cake-and.html