Joe Shirley Jr.In April, Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. signed legislation that banned uranium mining Uranium mining is the process of extraction of uranium ore from the ground. As uranium ore is mostly present at relatively low concentrations, most uranium mining is very volume-intensive, and thus tends to be undertaken as open-pit mining. and processing on any sites within Navajo Indian Country Indian country or Indian Country n. 1. Indian Territory. 2. Federal reservation lands under Native American tribal jurisdiction. . For forty years, companies mined for the radioactive element on Navajo lands, leaving behind contaminated contaminated, v 1. made radioactive by the addition of small quantities of radioactive material. 2. made contaminated by adding infective or radiographic materials. 3. an infective surface or object. sites and abandoned mines. Q: What led you to ban uranium mining on Navajo land? Joe Shirley Jr: It has killed so many of our people. We mined uranium for the U.S. government, but it didn't warn us about the dangers. Only after it created the atom bomb did officials tell us there were some dangers with mining uranium. My people started catching cancer and started dying off. There's no cure for the cancer that it causes, so I vowed when I was campaigning that if I were elected I would work on the banning of further mining of uranium on Navajo land. Q: Hydro Resources, Inc., has been working with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to get approval for mining near the Navajo communities of Crownpoint and Church Rock, New Mexico Church Rock (Navajo: Kinłitsosinil) is a census-designated place (CDP) in McKinley County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,077 at the 2000 census. . What are you planning on doing if Hydro Resources shows up in Crownpoint and starts drilling? Shirley: We have our law enforcement. We have about 350 strong. That's one way to address the matter. It is Navajo land, and we intend to defend it. Q: Are you afraid that you will scare away Verb 1. scare away - cause to lose courage; "dashed by the refusal" daunt, frighten away, frighten off, scare off, pall, scare, dash intimidate, restrain - to compel or deter by or as if by threats contractors from other industries that are interested in doing business with the Navajo people The Navajo people (or Diné) of the Southwestern United States are currently the largest Native American tribe in North America, with an estimated tribal population of 300,000. ? Shirley: The business world knows where the Navajo Nation is coming from when it says it doesn't want the mining of uranium anymore. That mining has killed too many of our people. It's not your regular profit-making venture. So I don't think it will make a difference how the Navajo Nation defends itself against Hydro Resources or Strathmore Minerals. I don't think it will scare anyone away. |
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