WHITE MESA, Utah — In the kitchen of his sister’s weathered, single-story home, Michael Badback thrusts a blue plastic cup under the faucet, fills it halfway and trudges into her living room.
“Smell this,” he said, holding out the tepid water.
Sulfur. Rotten eggs. Leaves a rust-colored stain on bathtubs and kitchen sinks.
He shakes his head. Nobody in his family has been willing to drink the water for years. Not with the White Mesa Mill – a uranium and rare earth processing plant – just a few miles to the north...