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DIY Emergency Handwashing Station Instructions Zine

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We offer this ‘zine in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020. Our unsheltered relatives cannot simply “stay home if they are sick” and “constantly wash their hands” as instructed by callous politicians who, predictably, had no plans to ensure the wellbeing of our relatives.

We’ve assembled this DIY emergency hand washing station (based on several other models) as a way to support our relatives on the streets. Please replicate and improve these plans and ask unsheltered folx where they would be most useful to them. Let’s take care of each other. Capitalism is pandemic. Colonialism is a plague.
If you purchase all the materials they cost about $25-30 each to make (not including some extras like duct tape etc).
These can be made in about 20-45 minutes each (much less time if you are working on multiple at once.)
Most supplies listed can be donated, scavenged, or liberated.

We will update this page with more info and mods/tips, please leave your ideas/mods/etc in comments below! SEND US YOUR BUILD PICS & WE’ll POST THEM BELOW!

PRINTABLE ZINE PDF (1.1MB): DIY Emergency Handwashing Station zine-PRINT

READABLE PDF (12MB): DIY Emergency Handwashing Station zine-READ

SUPPLIES:

5-gallon buckets (x2)

Bucket lids (x2)

Fluid siphon
Rubber bulb kind, test the ones you have access to before getting them in bulk.

Small oval tub/bowl
For wash basin, oval shape leaves room for soap dispenser.

Foam mat
Has to be thick enough to make sure pressure from pumping won’t smash the bulb over time.

Curtain rod
With L bent shape, metal cheap kind, they come in packs of two.

1/2” tubing (approximately 2 feet)
Tubing size depends on the connection to your Fluid siphon.

8” Zip ties (at least 10)

OPTIONAL:
1” Diameter PVC pipe (4-5 inches length)
This is just to hold the tubing assembly in place ands make it easier to remove.
1/2″ plastic tubing coupler (x2)
To connect tubing if the Fluid siphon tubing is too short.

EXTRAS:
Duct Tape
Sharpie
Packing Tape (to laminate signs)
Printer & paper

TOOLS:
Drill with 1/2” bit and 3/16” bit
*Though in a pinch all holes can be made with a knife.
Sharp knife
Scissors or wire cutters to cut zip ties
Hand saw (optional, for cutting PVC)

1. PREPARING THE CLEAN WATER (BOTTOM) BUCKET:
Use the sharpie to mark a spot about an inch from the rim of the bucket. Drill a hole with the 1/2” bit. This will be for the siphon intake so make sure it fits. If it is too snug widen the hole. You can wrap duct tape on the siphon intake tube if it is too loose.
Put one of the lids tightly on the bucket and set aside.

2. MAKING THE PUMP:
Using the sharpie trace two large foot prints on the Foam Mat. Cut them out with a sharp knife.
Place the two foot cutouts on top of each other and make two incisions near the heel and two more right above those going along where the arch would be. The cuts need to be just big enough for zip ties to fit through.
Push the blade all the way through so that each slit is lined up on both foot cutouts.
Put zip ties through the slits and secure.
Cut the excess plastic from the zip ties (do so with every zip tie you secure from now on)

Now open the front of the two sandwiched foot cutouts and place the Fluid siphon so that the tubes extrude from the sides. With the sharpie, mark right above and below where the tubes connect to the bulb pump.
Remove the Fluid siphon and make incisions. Replace the Fluid siphon between the foot cutouts and secure with zip ties.

3. MAKING THE WASH BASIN & GREY WATER (TOP) BUCKET:
The small oval tub/bowl will be our wash basin. Use the sharpie to mark two spots an inch apart on the left side of the wash basin, do the same thing on the right side. In the middle of the wash basin mark three spots in less than 1/2” apart for drainage holes. Drill holes on your marks, some plastic bins may crack so go slow!
Place the wash basin on top of a bucket lid and use the drilled holes to mark drill points with the sharpie.
Remove the wash basin and drill the marked holes through the lid.
Line up the holes you made on the wash basin and the lid then secure the left and right holes together with zip ties . Dont worry about leaks coming through these holes, if they drain too much patch them with duct tape.
Secure the lid to the bucket.
Place the top bucket on top of the bottom bucket.

4. TUBE/SPOUT & PUMP ASSEMBLY
Take one of the curtain rods out of the package and place it so that “L” bend of the rod is above the wash basin (about 4-6 inches). You can either duct tape the curtain rod to the top bucket or you can use the 1/2” PVC pipe section as a guide. If so, duct tape the PVC pipe in the middle of the top bucket and slide the curtain rod through it.

Connect the Fluid siphon intake tube to the bottom bucket (through the 1/2” hole). Make sure that the tube is long enough to go to the bottom and not get kinked, if not, connect the additional 1/2” tubing (you can just duct tape it or use a coupler.)
Bring the other section of tubing up through the PVC (if used) and make sure it is long enough to extend over the curtain rod.

Now secure the tubing to the curtain rod with zip ties (making sure not to pinch the tubing too much).
Carefully bend the curtain rod down slightly to ensure the water pours into the center of the wash basin.

5. FINAL ASSEMBLY
Grab the soap dispenser and place it near the front of the hand washing station (just pick a side to be the front, we put our foot pump on the right so we figured that was the front).

Make two marks on each side of the soap dispenser about 1/2” down from the top of lip of the wash basin. Remove the soap and drill holes on the marks. Secure the soap dispenser to the wash basin with a zip tie (make sure the zip tie is below the pump so you can screw off the top to refill).

Take off the top bucket and remove the foot pump tube from the bottom bucket.

Fill up the bottom bucket until water is just below the foot pump tube.
Reassemble the wash station and test.
It takes several pumps get water flowing.

You may have to make adjustments to tubing so that it is out of the way and people dont step on it while pumping. This can also be duct taped.

Print out our hand washing station use template from www.indigenousaction.org, make your own, or simply write on the buckets with sharpie to let folx know how to use and maintain them.

NOTES:

Make sure to write on the bucket “Not for Drinking – Non-potable Water.”

The top bucket will need to be cleaned after heavy use. Prepare a bleach & water solution (1 part bleach to 9 parts water). Use rubber gloves. Remove the lid, rince and then scrub with bleach solution. Replace the lid.

If no water is coming out of the spout, check the pressure from the Fluid siphon, some cheap siphons take a lot of pumping. We initially had some faulty siphons and had to replace them.

Insulate these in cold weather with blankets, a couple hoodies, or we figure those reflective insulated foils they make for vehicle windshields would work well and can be easily found at thrift stores.

You may want to consider securing the washing station to a tree or post to ensure it doesn’t get easily knocked or blown over. This could be done with tie downs, wire, rope, more duct tape, etc! Just make sure it’s not too much trouble to maintain.

You may want to schedule checking on the buckets to ensure the clean water is full and the grey water is being emptied. In high use areas this may need to occur multiple times a day or multiple hand washing stations may need to be placed in those areas. In our area we figure we will check each station once a day.
You could put your contact on them or simply ask unsheltered folx and neighbors to help maintain them.

We’re considering drilling a hole in the middle of the grey water top bucket and connecting about 3-4 feet of tubing so the grey water can drain off and they don’t overflow.

We’re also considering placing a hose intake on the bottom clean water bucket so a garden hose can be connected for easier refilling.

If you come up with other mods and  ideas email us at: indigenousaction@gmail.com.

UPDATES:

Modification for ensuring clean water tube reached to bottom of clean water bucket:
A rigid 1 foot section of plastic tubing larger than your clean water bucket tubing can help ensure that the water is drawn up easily from the bottom of the bucket. (pictures coming soon).

From the United Front Against Displacement in the Bay Area:
We discovered that no water could flow through the Siphon Bulbs we bought! We were able to fix this by attaching a silicone fuel check valve to the end of the hose which sits in the clean water bucket. We also added some washers to that end of the hose as we found it was too coiled and would not sit properly at the bottom of the bucket unless it was weighed down. We figured that, if other people had access to similar supplies (we used whatever we could find at home depot, ace hardware and autozone) it might be helpful to include these tweaks in your guide.


Insulating:

You can insulate the emergency hand washing stations with self sealing rubber pipe insulation (6′ for $6 covers one station) for the tubes and reflective insulation (16″x25′ for $16.25 covers quite a few buckets) for the buckets. Just need to cover the bottom bucket enough so it doesn’t freeze or can thaw quickly, you can also do multiple layers. The tubing doesn’t need to be insulated all the way up as the water usually falls down the tube quite a ways. The foot pump bulb may freeze, that’s harder to insulate so we’re testing some fixes. It just may need to be maintained by pouring hot water over it in the morning. Otherwise during the day these all thawed and held up well.

Securing the buckets together:
We used a 24″ bungee cord. We pulled it between the soap dispenser and basin then secured it to the lid of the bottom bucket. We see this as a necessary measure for the kind of use these will get.

Refiling tips:
Gamma lids make refilling easy. You can also make multiple bottom buckets for refilling. You’ll just have to swap out the bottom buckets rather then remove and refill. Duct tape the tube hole of filled the bottom bucket for ease of transport.

#UNSHELTEREDREFUGEES #mutualaid

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12 Comments

12 Comments

  1. Nef

    April 4, 2020 at 11:29 PM

    Thank you for sharing this! It looks fairly simple to make, but I am wondering how to maintain a supply of clean water. I don’t drive or have a car and the people I know who do are essential workers who wouldn’t be able to help every day. I would love to hear from anyone who has overcome this obstacle!

    • admin

      April 7, 2020 at 8:45 PM

      Great question. Perhaps choosing a spot where they can be maintained by folx in the area? We have 7 out in our area right now and most of them are maintained by neighbors. Also, you could also put multiple wash water buckets with notes to replace as needed.
      They could also be transported on a bike trailer.

    • Mack

      August 6, 2020 at 10:51 PM

      Hi!
      I am also trying to solve that issue: How to keep handwashing stations stocked, functional, and findable.
      I just got into UC Berkeley Engineering and have the opportunity to get some funding to design and deploy something that involves a cheap simple sensor that connects to a sim card, so we can create a UI that points users to the closest filled, functional station. I’m working with a couple other transfer students on this. Would you like to collaborate with us?

      -Mack, 8/6/2020
      The sooner you reply the more I can incorporate your advice into making something that works. <3 They didn't give me much time to design it.

      • admin

        November 9, 2020 at 9:37 AM

        For some reason we missed this comment. We’re more analogue here but sounds creative. Did it work out?

  2. Christian

    April 30, 2020 at 9:00 PM

    Just put one together and I want to recommend a change to the language where y’all recommend 2 feet of tubing. I needed more like 4 feet because the siphon that I bought didn’t have large enough tubing like yours did. Maybe amend it to say how much total tubing you would recommend? Thanks for the instructions, I’m glad to have found this.

    • admin

      November 9, 2020 at 9:37 AM

      Yes, we’ve been meaning to update this overall with the experiences and feedback we have. Thanks!

  3. ShireBb

    November 9, 2020 at 9:00 AM

    This is awesome; any suggestions for cold weather modifications, to keep it from freezing in colder climes?

    • admin

      November 9, 2020 at 9:36 AM

      We effectively used radiant barrier insulation (the foil/reflective stuff) on the bottom bucket only and foam pipe insulation on exposed tubing. We were concerned that the siphon pump would freeze but if you set it up with the foam mat it didn’t in our experience. This basic insulation helped multiple hand washing stations from freezing in 2 feet of snow! We have a video going over this on our instagram account too.

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Support Needed to Get Indigenous Action to Bash Back!

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Support a queer contingent of @IndigenousAction attend and provide workshops at this year’s Bash Back! Convergence in occupied Chicago.
Funds are needed for travel, food and printing resources and ‘zines.
Venmo, Cashapp, Paypal: IndigenousActionBB

It is so important to bring queer, anti-colonial analysis to this space to connect, share, tear down and attack! We can’t wait to get there and we need your help!

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#nonukes

A quick & dirty review of the movie Oppenheimer

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We watched this movie after arguing with social media pro-nuke apologists who accused us of being ill-informed as not having viewed Christopher Nolan’s biopic, so excuse the mess… (and if you haven’t already, read our initial post here for the context).

Oppenheimer is a glorification of the “complicated genius” and ambitions of white men making terrible decisions that imperil the world. 

Many have remarked that the film is not a glorification, yet Christopher Nolan himself says, “Like it or not, J Robert Oppenheimer is the most important person who ever lived.”
Some of you may have even had a burst of laughter during the scene where Truman asked Oppenheimer what he thought the fate of Los Alamos should be and “Oppie” retorted, “Give the land back to the Indians.” But alas, the poisoned scarred landscape today is host to a 10-day “Oppenheimer Festival.” To underscore the disconnect of legacies, a small commemoration near the Churchrock spill site was also held on the anniversary of the Trinity detonation, a few hundred miles away. Yes, what glorification?

The movie is basically a Western à la John Wayne. It very well could have been called, “The Trial of the Sheriff of Los Alamos.”
Oppenheimer rides his horse with a black hat on and pulls a poster down from a fence post. He then strides into a debate on the “Impact of the gadget on civilization.” To respond to the question of how scientists can justify using the Atom Bomb on human beings, Oppenheimer speaks, “We’re theorists yes, we imagine a future and our imaginings horrify us. They won’t fear it until they understand it and they won’t understand it until they’ve used it. When the world learns the terrible secret of Los Alamos our work here will ensure a peace mankind has never seen. A peace based on international cooperation.”

Nolan establishes the only narrative that matters is his attempt at historical redemption, he paints Oppenheimer as a victim. While perhaps not as depoliticized as Nolan alluded to in interviews (as the politics of American loyalty and the Red Scare drive the drama), the consequences of nuclear weapons and energy is barely considered (arguably barely at all considering the issue). This is a political omission of the most insidious sort and the film is even worse for it.

The movie cares more about constructing and clearing Oppenheimer as a victim of McCarthyism than the impacts of the atomic bomb and its deadly legacy of nuclear colonialism. As it’s stated, there’s a “Price to be paid for genius.” Everything else is dramatic notation. Nolan gives Oppenheimer the public hearing he feels like he was denied to ultimately prove he was an American patriot. In the end, the question “Would the world forgive you if you let them crucify you?” matters above all other concerns. The movie poses the argument as “science versus militarism” while the world and Indigenous Peoples continue to suffer the permanent consequences of nuclear weapons and energy in silence. A deadly silence more deafening than Nolan’s cinematic portrayal of the Trinity test. But hey, there’s even a minute of cheering after the test.

Nolan has us listening to the radio while two cities are destroyed and hundreds of thousands of lives are taken. Nolan keeps the camera on his lead actor’s face while the horrors of his bomb are shown on slides. Oppenheimer simply looks away. What more about this film do we need to know? 

15,000 abandoned uranium mines poisoning our bodies, lands, and water. 1,000 bombs detonated on Western Shoshone lands… the list goes on (we only stop here because we’ve stated much more in our original post). All omitted and sentenced to suffer in catastrophic silence. Films like Oppenheimer are only possible because people keep looking away from the deadly reality of nuclear weapons and energy.

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Architect of Annihilation: Oppenheimer’s Deadly Legacy of Nuclear Terror

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Read our quick and dirty review of the movie here.

Klee Benally, Indigenous Action/Haul No!
Contributions by Leona Morgan, Diné No Nukes/Haul No!

Printable posters (PDFs): 11″x17″ color, 11″x17″ black & white

The genocidal colonial terror of nuclear energy and weapons is not entertainment. 

To glorify such deadly science and technology as a dramatic character study, is to spit in the face of hundreds of thousands of corpses and survivors scattered throughout the history of the so-called Atomic age.

Think of it this way, for every minute that passes during the film’s 3-hour run time, more than 1,100 citizens in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki died due to Oppenheimer’s weapon of mass destruction. This doesn’t account for those downwind of nuclear tests who were exposed to radioactive fallout (some are protesting screenings), it doesn’t account for those poisoned by uranium mines, it doesn’t account for those killed during nuclear power plant melt-downs, it doesn’t account for those in the Marshall Islands who are forever poisoned.

For every second you sit in the air conditioned theater with a warm buttery popcorn bucket in your lap, 18 people dead in the blink of an eye. Thanks to Oppenheimer.

Though you’ll certainly learn enough about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb,” thanks to director Christopher Nolan’s 70mm IMAX odyssey, let’s be clear about his deadly legacy and the overall military and scientific industrial complex behind it.

After the successful detonation of the very first atomic bomb, Oppenheimer infamously quoted the Hindu scripture Bhagavad-Gita, “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” Barely a month later, the “U.S” dropped two atomic bombs devastating the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and more than 200,000 people were killed. Some of the shadows of those perished were burned into the streets. One survivor, Sachiko Matsuo, relayed their thoughts as they tried to make sense of what was happening when Nagasaki was struck, “I could see nothing below. My grandmother started to cry, ‘Everybody is dead. This is the end of the world.” A devastation that Nolan intentionally leaves out because, according to the director, the film is not told from the perspectives of those who were bombed, but by those who were responsible for it. Nolan casually explains, “[Oppenheimer] learned about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the radio, the same as the rest of the world.”

Months after the atomic detonation at the “Trinity” site in occupied Tewa lands of New Mexico, Oppenheimer resigned. He walked away expressing the conflict of having, “blood on his hands,” (though reportedly he later said the bombings were not “on his conscience”) while leaving a legacy of nuclear devastation and radioactive pollution permanently poisoning lands, waters, and bodies to this day. 

U.S. military and political machinery cannibalized the scientist and turned him into a villain of their imperialist cold-war anxiety. They reminded him and the other scientists behind the Manhattan Project, that they and their interests were always in control.

Oppenheimer never was a hero, he was an architect of annihilation. 

The race to develop the first atomic bomb (after Nazis had split the atom) never could be a strategy of peaceful deterrence, it was a strategy of domination and annihilation. 

Nazi Germany was committing genocide against Jewish people while the U.S. sat on the political sidelines. It wasn’t until they were directly threatened that the U.S. intervened. Though Nazi Germany was defeated on May 8th, 1945, the U.S. dropped two separate atomic bombs on the non-military targets of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6th and 9th, 1945.

To underscore Oppenheimer’s complicity, he suppressed a petition by 70 Manhattan Project scientists urging President Truman not to drop the bombs on moral grounds. The scientists also argued that since the war was nearing its end, Japan should be given the opportunity to surrender. 

Today there are approximately 12,500 nuclear warheads in nine countries with almost 90 percent of them held by the U.S. and Russia. It is estimated that 100 nuclear weapons is an “adequate… deterrence” threshold for the “mutually assured destruction” of the world.

Oppenheimer built the gun that is still held to the head of everyone who lives on this Earth today. Throughout the decades after the development of “The Bomb,” millions throughout the world have rallied for nuclear disarmament, yet politicians have never taken their fingers off the trigger. 

The Deadly Legacy of Nuclear Colonialism

Nuclear weapons production and energy would not be possible without uranium.

Global uranium mining boomed during and after World War II and continues to threaten communities throughout the world.

Today, more than 15,000 abandoned uranium mines are located within the so-called U.S., mostly in and around Indigenous communities, permanently poisoning sacred lands and waters with little to no political action being taken to clean up their deadly toxic legacy.

Indigenous communities have long been at the front lines of the struggle to stop the deadly legacy of the nuclear industry. Nuclear colonialism has resulted in radioactive pollution that has poisoned drinking water systems of entire communities like Red Shirt Village in South Dakota and Sanders in Arizona. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has closed more than 22 wells on the Navajo Nation where there are more than 523 abandoned uranium mines. In Ludlow, South Dakota an abandoned uranium mine sits within feet of an elementary school, poisoning the ground where children continue to play to this day.

Nuclear colonialism has ravaged our communities and left a deadly legacy of cancers, birth defects, and other serious health consequences, it is the slow genocide of Indigenous Peoples.

From 1944 to 1986 some 30 million tons of uranium ore were extracted from mines on Diné lands. Diné workers were told little of the potential health risks with many not given any protective gear. As demand for uranium decreased the mines closed, leaving over a thousand contaminated sites. To this day none have been completely cleaned up.

On July 16, 1979, just 34 years after Oppenheimer oversaw the July 16, 1945 Trinity test, the single largest accidental release of radioactivity occurred on Diné Bikéyah (The Navajo Nation) at the Church Rock uranium mill. More than 1,100 tons of solid radioactive mill waste and 94 million gallons of radioactive tailings poured into the Puerco River when an earthen dam broke. Today, water in the downstream community of Sanders, Arizona is poisoned with radioactive contamination from the spill.

Although uranium mining is now banned on the reservation due to advocacy from Diné anti-nuclear organizers, Navajo politicians have sought to allow new mining in areas already contaminated by the industry’s toxic legacy.  It is estimated that 25% of all the recoverable uranium remaining in the country is located on Diné Bikéyah.
Though there has never been a comprehensive human health study on the impacts of uranium mining in the area, a focused study has detected uranium in the urine of babies born to Diné women exposed to uranium.

Western Shoshone lands in so-called Nevada, which have never been ceded to the “U.S.” government, have long been under attack by the military and nuclear industries.

Between 1951 and 1992 more than 1,000 nuclear bombs have been detonated above and below the surface at an area called the Nevada Test Site on Western Shoshone lands which make it one of the most bombed nations on earth. Communities in areas around the test site faced severe exposure to radioactive fallout, which caused cancers, leukemia & other illnesses. Those who have suffered this radioactive pollution are collectively known as “Downwinders.”

Western Shoshone spiritual practitioner Corbin Harney, who passed on in 2007, helped initiate a grassroots effort to shutdown the test site and abolish nuclear weapons. He once said, “We’re not helping Mother Earth at all. The roots, the berries, the animals, are not here anymore, nothing’s here. It’s sad. We’re selling the air, the water, we’re already selling each other. Somewhere it’s going to come to an end.”

Between 1945 and 1958, sixty-seven atomic bombs were detonated in tests conducted in Ṃajeḷ (the Marshall Islands). Some Indigenous people of the islands have all together stopped reproducing due to the severity of cancer and birth defects they have faced due to radioactive pollution.

In 1987 the “U.S.” congress initiated a controversial project to transport and store almost all of the U.S.’s toxic waste at Yucca Mountain located about 100 miles northwest of so-called Las Vegas, Nevada. Yucca Mountain has been held holy to the Paiute and Western Shoshone Nations since time immemorial. In January 2010 the Obama administration approved a $54 billion dollar taxpayer loan in a guarantee program for new nuclear reactor construction, three times what Bush previously promised in 2005.

There are currently 93 operating nuclear reactors in the so-called U.S. that supply 20% of the country’s electricity. There are nearly 90,000 tons of highly radioactive spent nuclear waste stored in concrete dams at nuclear power plants throughout the country with the waste increasing at a rate of 2,000 tons per year.

From the 1979 disasters of Three Mile Island and Churchrock to the 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant melted down, the nuclear industry has been wrought with mass catastrophes with permanent global consequences.

In 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant catastrophically failed and began melting down after it was hit by an earthquake and tsunami. It’s been reported that the Fukushima plant has been leaking approximately 300 tons of radioactive water into the ocean every day. Today, the Japanese government is open about its plans to release remaining radioactive waters into the Pacific.

“Depleted Uranium” weapons deployed by the U.S. in imperialist wars (particularly Iraq and Afghanistan) have also poisoned eco-systems, including at proving grounds and firing ranges in Arizona, Maryland, Indiana and Vieques, Puerto Rico. Depleted uranium is a by-product of uranium enrichment process when it’s used for nuclear reactor fuel and in the making of nuclear weapons.

Nuclear energy production is now claimed as a “green solution” to the climate crisis, but nothing could be further from the truth of this deadly lie.

In April 2022, the Biden administration announced a $6 billion government bailout to “rescue” nuclear power plants at risk of closing. A colonial government representative stated, “U.S. nuclear power plants contribute more than half of our carbon-free electricity, and President Biden is committed to keeping these plants active to reach our clean energy goals.” They, along with Climate Justice activists cite nuclear energy as necessary to combat global warming, all while ignoring the devastating permanent impacts Indigenous Peoples have faced.

Due to this “greenwashing” of nuclear energy, we face a push for nuclear hydrogen, small modular nuclear reactors, and High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) driving a renewed threat of new uranium mining, transportation, & processing.

Though the Obama administration placed a moratorium on thousands of uranium mine leases around the Grand Canyon in 2012, pre-existing uranium claims were allowed. Environmental groups and Indigenous Nations are currently attempting to make the moratorium permanent and push for a new national monument, yet these will do little to nothing for the handful of pre-existing uranium mines that have been allowed to move forward.

Despite  these actions, underground blasting & above ground work has begun at Pinyon Plain/Canyon Mine, just miles from the Grand Canyon. Once Energy Fuels, the company operating the mine, starts hauling out radioactive ore, they plan to transport 30 tons per day through Northern Arizona to the company’s processing mill in White Mesa, 300 miles away. 

The White Mesa Mill is the only conventional uranium mill licensed to operate in the U.S. The mill was built on sacred ancestral lands of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe near Blanding, Utah. Energy Fuels disposes radioactive and toxic waste tailings in “impoundments” that take up about 275 acres next to the mill. Since there are limited radioactive waste facilities, White Mesa Mill has become an ad hoc dump for the world’s nuclear wastes that have no final repository.

In so-called New Mexico, a state addicted to nuclear monies for both nuclear weapons and energy facilities, there are two national nuclear labs and two national waste facilities. Along with legacy uranium mines and mills, there was Project Gasbuggy (an underground detonation), a “Broken Arrow” accident near Albuquerque, and countless tons of radioactive waste buried in unlined pits, Pueblo kivas, and watersheds. Currently, there are planned expansions and modifications at Los Alamos National Labs, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, and Urenco uranium enrichment facility. Most recently, the state has been threatened by two newly licensed consolidated interim storage facilities for “spent fuel” from nuclear power plants in New Mexico and Texas. The federal government continues to push nuclear projects with financial incentives.

Nuclear proliferation continues as the U.S. allows uranium miners and others who are eligible for the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to die. Many continue to suffer and wait for compensation funds to be allocated or are not eligible due to the limitations of the act. 

The devastation of nuclear colonialism, which permanently destroys Indigenous communities throughout the world, is not entertainment. This is the terrifying legacy of nuclear energy and weapons that movies like Oppenheimer and duplicitous climate justice activists advocate. 

Indigenous Peoples live, suffer, and continue to resist its consequences every day.

END NUCLEAR COLONIALISM!

###

Recommended links:

https://haulno.com
http://www.dinenonukes.org
https://tewawomenunited.org/programs/environmental-health-and-justice-program

https://stopforeverwipp.org/home
https://www.trinitydownwinders.com/
http://www.cleanupthemines.org

https://www.nirs.org/
https://www.radioactivewastecoalition.org
https://www.dont-nuke-the-climate.org/
https://www.nuclear-heritage.net/index.php?title=Nuclear_Heritage_Network

https://yukiyokawano.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBO_C6GkIpM&t=10s
https://apjjf.org/2022/1/Schattschneider-Auslander.html

Articles:
Red Water Pond Road
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/a-radioactive-legacy-haunts-this-navajo-village-which-fears-a-fractured-future/2020/01/18/84c6066e-37e0-11ea-9541-9107303481a4_story.html
ABQ Museum
https://www.abqjournal.com/lifestyle/arts/albuquerque-museums-online-exhibit-trinity-takes-a-look-at-the-aftermath-of-the-atomic-bomb/article_33d17c15-61c8-5e1f-b32c-99f4ebee5db4.html

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