Mark Sells from the EPA shows Yerington residents Peggy Pauly and Donald Shipman how levels of atmospheric radiation are portrayed on the Scanner Van's computer screen. | Photo Source: GBMW

In 2004, Great Basin Resource Watch and Yerington residents began collaborating on mine cleanup efforts.

With support from the Yerington Paiute tribe, town residents and Great Basin Resource Watch staff worked together to convince Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn to allow EPA authority over the investigation and cleanup.

Together we?ve pursued radioactivity testing in the community. The community, with GBRW support, has secured a scan for uranium levels. Efforts to secure air monitoring in neighborhoods are under way.

The newly formed Yerington Community Action Group recently submitted a petition signed by 91 residents requesting an aerial survey for radiation in the community, immediate temporary air monitors in the community (not just on the mine site), soil sampling within the community, a community risk assessment, an Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) health survey, site security, independent oversight on the sampling conducted by Atlantic Richfield, and an enforceable action plan.

Learn more about Radioactivity and the Yerington Mine.

A Yerington Perspective

Read the column that Yerington community leader Peggy Pauly wrote in the Winter 2005 Bristlecone newsletter.

Yerington Action Center

The Yerington Community Action Group meets the second Monday of each month at the Yerington Public Library. Contact us for more information.

Be sure to visit the website that details progress at the Yerington mine.