“Much of our lands have been exploited by mining companies for profit; they left it contaminated, doing minimal reclamation or none at all to this day,” Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining (ENDAUM) co-founder Mitchell Capitan said in an Oct. 21 Zoom meeting hosted by the New Mexico Environmental Law Center. “Water Is Life, and we will protect it for generations to come.”
Unprecedented reckoning is occurring for the U.S. government and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for past and future uranium mining and milling activities on Indigenous lands. The Navajo Diné people believe the NRC violated their human rights guaranteed in the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, including the rights to life, health, benefits of culture, fair trial and property. After years of trying, their united voices are being heard.
Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining alleges multiple violations of the American Declaration have occurred because of a license granted by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission to Hydro Resources, Inc. to conduct uranium mining in the Northwestern New Mexico Navajo communities of Crownpoint and Church Rock. Both communities, located within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation, are mainly composed of Diné people…
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