A Story of betrayal

The tiny community of Monticello, Utah, was home to a federally-owned and operated mill that processed uranium ore from the mid-1940’s through 1960 for the United States’ nascent atomic weapons program. During its heyday, the mill emitted a virtual toxic soup from its smokestack that constantly rained down on the community.

The mill was located inside of town, just a block away from the nearest residence, and the facility’s smoke-stack blew dust containing hazardous chemicals like sulfuric and hydrochloric acids over the homes of residents as it operated. House wives would often have to dry laundry indoors to prevent those pollutants from eating holes in their clothes.

When the mill shut down in the 1960s, nothing was done to alert residents to the remaining hazards. Children swam in contaminated tailings ponds; residents unknowingly used radioactive materials for construction; and some of the material even wound up in children’s sandboxes. Decades later, the abandoned mill was declared a Superfund site, and although the federal government spent $250 million to decontaminate the land, not one penny was spent to address the health calamities—cancers and respiratory diseases—that beset the surrounding community.

Tragically, a local health survey has found over 470 cancers in the small town of about 2,000—including 29 cases of leukemia in current or former Monticello residents.

The Monticello-based group, Victims of Mill Tailings Exposure (VMTE), has been working for over a decade to obtain a modicum of justice for the pain, sickness, and death imposed upon their community by the mill.

Within the last year, VMTE has made major progress, securing the support of Senator Orrin Hatch and Congressman Jim Matheson to provide their community the restitution they deserve. The group is working to secure federal funds for a medical screening program for area residents, and is also seeking compensation for health costs.