SPOKANE, Wash. – Uranium mines were an economic driver for the Spokane Tribe of Indians. Decades later, an onslaught of cancer cases has left a complicated legacy surrounding the mines. A new Climate Commitment Act (CCA) study could turn one of those former mines into a solar farm.
Spokane Tribal Council Chairman Greg Abrahamson is looking forward to the $90,000 CCA viability study, which will determine whether the tribe’s historic uranium mine could be converted into a solar project.
“We had two uranium mines, and this one was reclaimed back in the mid ‘90s,” Abrahamson said.
According to The Spokesman Review, both major mines on Spokane tribal land which were active throughout the Cold War failed to enact proper safety precautions to keep miners and their families safe from radioactive radiation.
While the extent of the radioactive exposure is contested, the danger of uranium from the mines to local water systems was illustrated by a 2008 Seattle Times investigation.
“One scientific model used by the EPA concluded that someone living on food gathered in the Blue Creek drainage and using the water for sweat lodges had a 1-in-5 chance of getting cancer from the added radiation,” the investigation found.
Decades after the uranium projects have shuttered, cleanup from the Midnite Mine project is still ongoing due to uranium contaminated groundwater.
“We take a lot of pride in working to create a clean water system,” Abrahamson said.
Abrahamson said that the solar project would bring a new source of energy to a mining project with a complicated history.
“These mines had such an impact on employment at the time, and we haven’t been able to prove the effects healthwise, but we feel that they have had a health impact,” Abrahamson said.
Spokane tribal leaders have taken the lead in coordinating US Environmental Protection Agency and Washington Department of Ecology efforts to reclaim land contaminated by uranium.
The feasibility study falls under the wider goals of the Climate Commitment Act, which has boosted funding efforts to reduce Washington’s greenhouse gas emissions by 95% by 2050.
If it finds that the reclaimed uranium mine could be converted into a solar farm, it could turn a former mine that tribal leaders say has led to dozens of early cancer deaths into a source of affordable renewable energy.
“We’re in the infant stages of [the study]…after the feasibility study, we’ve applied for some other tribal clean energy grants through the Washington Department of Commerce and are looking at some other federal dollars, but that will be when we know what we want to do with the project,” Abrahamson said.
Spokane tribal leaders, despite institutional barriers and environmental issues caused by poorly regulated mining projects, continue to lead Washington in responding to the climate emergency.
