Four million tons of uranium mill tailings are currently being cleaned from the area. In New Mexico, the Quivera uranium mine is causing unique cleanup problems. The company reported a dam break in 1997. Smog problems are especially dangerous for children in African-American communities where hospitalizations for asthma are five times higher than for white children. In Milwaukee's inner city, for example, hospitalizations are two and one-half times the state average for kids with asthma.
Ozone causes tens of thousands of emergency room visits by asthma patients each year.
The report also shows that if older coal burning power plants were required to meet the same emission limits placed on new plants, the electric industry's contribution to smog would be cut by 66 percent. The WWEP is a statewide alliance of environmentalists, Native Americans, sportfishing groups and unionists founded in 1995 to educate and organize citizens against the threat of metallic sulfide mining.