Navajo Nation Receives Congressional Support for Uranium Ban
Throughout the 1950s to the 1970s, thousands of uranium mines were developed on Navajo land. Radioactive tailings from many of these mines still need to be cleaned up. Funding for the cleanup, as well as for health studies and compensation to the victims, has been difficult to receive. President Shirley said, "We don't want to have any more mining of uranium. Our elderly, our children continue to die because of it. There are no answers to the cancer it causes."
In response to growing community concerns, the Navajo Nation passed the Dine Natural Resources Protection Act in April 2005. The law prohibits further uranium mining and processing anywhere within the Navajo Nation. The delegates conveyed the message that the Navajo Nation expects its sovereign right to make laws and live by them to be respected and that it will not tolerate further uranium mining or processing within its boundaries. President Shirley said, "The Navajo Nation passed this law to protect the health and safety of its people and the quality of its environment. We want to protect our resources, our water, and our cultural integrity. But [two companies] are trying to skirt Navajo Nation law and run around what Navajo has done."
The two companies, Hydro Resources, Inc. and Strathmore Minerals, Inc., are seeking permits from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and State of New Mexico to develop uranium in the Crown Point and Church Rock areas. Development of one of the mines would take place within an unprecedented half-mile of community schools and churches.
The companies propose to use a process called in-situ leach mining to develop the uranium. The process purposely contaminates groundwater in order to extract the uranium. Carbonated water is injected into the ground in order to separate the uranium from its host rock and bring the mixture to the surface. The result is a liquid waste, often referred to as a "toxic soup."
There is controversy over whether the process is safe. Mitchell Capitan, a co-founder of ENDAUM, said that the company he worked for was unable to remove the resulting radioactive contamination from water after four years of research. He added that the potential contamination of groundwater is at stake. Independent analysis has shown that this mining method would contaminate the aquifer within seven years. Fifteen thousand Navajo families in the eastern Navajo area use the aquifer.
The Navajo Nation recently received the international Nuclear-Free Future Award in recognition of the passage of the Dine Natural Resources Protection Act. On November 20, 2005, the New Mexico Environmental Law Center will also be honoring the Navajo Nation at its annual awards program in Santa Fe. For more information, please call 989-9022.
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