MOSCOW, April 22 (RIA Novosti) – Activists from South Dakota launched a uranium disposal project called ‘Clean Up the Mines’ on Tuesday as part of efforts on Earth Day to educate Americans about the threat posed by abandoned uranium mines across the US, the Associated Press reported.
“We've been hollering about this to the state and anybody that would listen," Charmaine White Face, founder and coordinator for Defenders of the Black Hills, was quoted as saying.
“The state could do quite a bit if they would … All those 2 million visitors [per year] to Mount Rushmore, they're breathing in radioactive dust and they don't even know it," she said.
According to the activist, a large number of abandoned uranium mines are situated around Mount Rushmore, which is a federal land.
There are over 10,000 old mines in the Western States of the US, with 250 of them in South Dakota. Activists fear that local rivers could be contaminated by uranium waste, which can lead to cancer and brain tumors.
Defenders of the Black Hills recently teamed up with a US congressman to work on a mine reclamation bill, which could be completed as early as next month and sent to Washington.
Earth Day is celebrated annually on April 22 since 1970. Each year events are held in 192 countries to raise awareness on environmental protection issues.
