Government have a fundamental responsibility in regulating mining jobs and activities, especially activities that are prone to adverse reaction or effect on human lives and their communities. This is not the case in the United States where studies have found a great laxity in government enforcement of mining regulation. In addition, the safeguard of the public interest in terms of management of public owned interest and exploitation must be protected by the government. The apparent permissiveness in enforcing uranium regulations, the public as well as the government have had to contend with the negative environmental impacts of uranium mining.
Since the 1940s, the United States started the uranium industry in Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New …show more content…
Over this period of time, it was reported that 11 of these men died from respiratory cancer and were nonsmokers. Major mortality rate due to lung cancer has been demonstrated in this group of people. National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance and epidemiology research have suggested that the workers were exposed to dusty mines with little to no effective ventilation, inadequate work gears, exposure to silica dust and radon gas. Evidently, these exposures created massive health issues on workers as well as the community. Given the sensitivity of uranium and the danger it portends to the workers, environment, and communities, there ought to be a rigid efforts explicitly to regulate this sector to avert crisis (Zupon, 2014). In the past, the laws, policies and regulation overseeing uranium mining, its process, and reclamation in the U.S were not thoroughly transparent or fully integrated (Graetz, 2014). This is because of the manner in which these regulations and laws were promulgated or enacted over the past century were a response to a certain crisis. In other words, the process and urgency of making existing regulations was necessitated by the need to address a contaminant, or a particular situation that was not unique to uranium mining processing activities. The consequence of this is the obvious gaps in current regulations that make it difficult for state agencies to work …show more content…
Critics of the current uranium mining regulations rightly point out the gaps in implementation of the laws. For instance, Parker and Roston (2015) observe that the law as currently drafted can only be applied to companies who mine on federally owned lands. Where mining that takes place in private lands, there is no sufficient legislation to ensure that mining companies adhere to strict mining laws. As such, there is need to revisit the current law to ensure the safety of these miners (Segal, 2012). Where the state does not have programs that regulate uranium mining relevant regulatory infrastructure specifically for uranium is required. Uranium mining is seen to be the future of energy, It is rich in source of clean energy that is critical in combating change ( Campbell et al., 1980). With the risks, uranium portends great benefits to countries. It is a good source of nuclear energy that potential produces insignificant amount of greenhouse gases. In addition, if well harnessed, it can be used to generate more power that oil, natural gas and coal
Since the 1940s, the United States started the uranium industry in Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New …show more content…
Over this period of time, it was reported that 11 of these men died from respiratory cancer and were nonsmokers. Major mortality rate due to lung cancer has been demonstrated in this group of people. National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance and epidemiology research have suggested that the workers were exposed to dusty mines with little to no effective ventilation, inadequate work gears, exposure to silica dust and radon gas. Evidently, these exposures created massive health issues on workers as well as the community. Given the sensitivity of uranium and the danger it portends to the workers, environment, and communities, there ought to be a rigid efforts explicitly to regulate this sector to avert crisis (Zupon, 2014). In the past, the laws, policies and regulation overseeing uranium mining, its process, and reclamation in the U.S were not thoroughly transparent or fully integrated (Graetz, 2014). This is because of the manner in which these regulations and laws were promulgated or enacted over the past century were a response to a certain crisis. In other words, the process and urgency of making existing regulations was necessitated by the need to address a contaminant, or a particular situation that was not unique to uranium mining processing activities. The consequence of this is the obvious gaps in current regulations that make it difficult for state agencies to work …show more content…
Critics of the current uranium mining regulations rightly point out the gaps in implementation of the laws. For instance, Parker and Roston (2015) observe that the law as currently drafted can only be applied to companies who mine on federally owned lands. Where mining that takes place in private lands, there is no sufficient legislation to ensure that mining companies adhere to strict mining laws. As such, there is need to revisit the current law to ensure the safety of these miners (Segal, 2012). Where the state does not have programs that regulate uranium mining relevant regulatory infrastructure specifically for uranium is required. Uranium mining is seen to be the future of energy, It is rich in source of clean energy that is critical in combating change ( Campbell et al., 1980). With the risks, uranium portends great benefits to countries. It is a good source of nuclear energy that potential produces insignificant amount of greenhouse gases. In addition, if well harnessed, it can be used to generate more power that oil, natural gas and coal