Global InformationUranium mining and the Navajo people information
Uranium mining and the Navajo people began in 1944 in northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah.
In the 1950s, the Navajo Nation was situated directly in the uranium mining belt that experienced a boom in production, and many residents found work in the mines. Prior to 1962, the risks of lung cancer due to uranium mining were unknown to the workers, and the lack of a word for radiation in the Navajo language left the miners unaware of the associated health hazards.[1] The cultural significance of water for the Navajo people and the environmental damage to both the land and livestock inhibits the ability of the Navajo people to practice their culture.[2]
The Navajo Nation was affected by the United States' largest radioactive accident during the Church Rock uranium mill spill in 1979 when a tailings pond upstream from Navajo County breached its dam and sent radioactive waste down the Puerco River, injuring people and killing livestock.[3]
In the Navajo Nation, approximately 15% of people do not have access to running water.[4] Navajo Nation residents are often forced to resort to unregulated water sources that are susceptible to bacteria, fecal matter, and uranium. Extensive uranium mining in the region during the mid-20th century is a contemporary concern because of contamination of these commonly used sources, in addition to the lingering health effects of exposure from mining.
Water in the Navajo Nation currently has an average of 90 micrograms per liter of uranium, with some areas reaching upwards of 700 micrograms per liter.[5] In contrast, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers 30 micrograms per liter the safe amount of uranium to have in water sources.[6] Health impacts of uranium consumption include kidney damage and failure, as kidneys are unable to filter uranium out of the bloodstream.[7] There is an average rate of End Stage Renal Disease of 0.63% in the Navajo Nation, a rate significantly higher than the national average of 0.19%.[8]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been cleaning up uranium mines in the Navajo Nation since as part of settlements through the Superfund since 1994. The Abandoned Mine Land program and Contaminated Structures Program have facilitated the cleanup of mines and demolition of structures built with radioactive materials.[9] Criticisms of unfair, inefficient treatment have been made repeatedly of EPA by Navajos and journalists.[10][11][12]
In October 2021, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights agreed to hear a case filed by the Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining, which accused the United States government of violating the human rights of Navajo Nation members.[13] Environmental journalist Cody Nelson explains further that: "the US government and its Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have violated their human rights by licensing uranium mines in their communities" (Nelson, "Ignored for 70 Years': Human Rights Group to Investigate Uranium Contamination on Navajo Nation"). Nelson also describes that "There is no moral value in having an international human rights body lay bare the absues of the nuclear industry and the US government's complicity in those abuses."[14]
- ^ Brugge, Doug; Goble, Rob (September 2002). "The History of Uranium Mining and the Navajo People". American Journal of Public Health. 92 (9): 1410–1419. doi:10.2105/ajph.92.9.1410. ISSN 0090-0036. PMC 3222290. PMID 12197966.
- ^ Herald, Patrick (November 7, 2017). "Navajos relate cultural, spiritual wounds from spill from Gold King Mine spill". The Durango Herald. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
- ^ Pasternak, Yellow Dirt: An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed, Free Press, 2010, p. 149, ISBN 1416594833
- ^ US EPA, REG 09 (2016-06-15). "Providing Safe Drinking Water in Areas with Abandoned Uranium Mines". www.epa.gov. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ US EPA, REG 09 (2016-06-30). "Water Sampling Results in the Navajo Nation". www.epa.gov. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ US EPA, OW (2015-10-13). "Radionuclides Rule". www.epa.gov. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
- ^ "Uranium Health Effects". web.evs.anl.gov. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
- ^ Hochman, M. E.; Watt, J. P.; Reid, R.; O'Brien, K. L. (May 2007). "The prevalence and incidence of end-stage renal disease in Native American adults on the Navajo reservation". Kidney International. 71 (9): 931–937. doi:10.1038/sj.ki.5002100. ISSN 0085-2538. PMID 17332739.
- ^ "Navajo Nation Cleanup". epa.gov. 16 February 2016.
- ^ "A peril that dwelt among the Navajos". Los Angeles Times. 2006-11-19. Retrieved 2012-05-18.
- ^ Diep, Francie (December 30, 2010). "Abandoned Uranium Mines: An 'Overwhelming Problem' in the Navajo Nation". Scientific American.
- ^ Leslie Macmillan (March 31, 2012). "Uranium Mines Dot Navajo Land, Neglected and Still Perilous". New York Times.
- ^ "Human rights panel to hear Navajo uranium contamination case". AP NEWS. 2021-10-21. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
- ^ Nelson, Cody (October 27, 2021). "Ignored for 70 Years': Human Rights Group to Investigate Uranium Contamination on Navajo Nation". The Guardian.
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