In April, 2005, Diné Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr. signed a tribal law banning uranium mining and milling while dozens of community members and dignitaries looked on. The act finds that based on those fundamental laws, "certain substances in the Earth that are harmful to the people should not be disturbed, and that the people now know that uranium is one such substance, and therefore, that its extraction should be avoided as traditional practice and prohibited by Navajo law." President Shirley commented, "As long as there are no answers to cancer, we shouldn't have uranium mining on the Navajo Nation. I believe the-powers-that-be committed genocide on Navajo land by allowing uranium mining. I don't want to subject any more of my people to exposure to uranium and the cancers that it causes. I believe we reinforced our sovereignty today." The Los Angeles Times has published an admirable investigative report on the past history and current situation: The New York Times articles: Other important press reports: Navajos file petition against uranium mining Enron prosecuter takes on Navajo cleanup Please support Navajo Nation on this issue. Contact the NRC (
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
), Governor Bill Richardson, your congressional Representative and Senators and tell them: |