Reply #14: "A Modern American Tragedy" in Navajo land

[troubleinwinter]

Navajo gets commitment on uranium contamination

By Kathy Helms October 25, 2007
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — Representatives of the Navajo Nation received a bipartisan commitment Tuesday from members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to address “a modern American tragedy” resulting from decades of uranium mining activities foisted on an uninformed Navajo public by the U.S. government.

(Waxman) “Mr. Etsitty brought in some dirt that he showed was very radioactive, and as I understand, Mr. Etsitty, that is not the most radioactive part of the dirt that is on your property. Is that correct?”

“That is correct,” Etsitty said. “There are many other samples and places from where this sample came from that are much higher. But for the demonstration that we did here this morning, we had to abide by shipping constraints and also safety overall.

“What I demonstrated was exposure, and what we had here was very limited exposure and the levels that we picked up on the particular sample were high, but not putting us here in this room immediately at risk. But if members were to consider the level that people are being exposed to over decades, it does amass to a grave public health concern,” he said.

Exposure to yellowcake:

Waxman said the committee had to go through “extraordinary efforts” to allow Etsitty to bring the sample into the hearing. “The Capitol police were very concerned about it. We had a lot of people that were very concerned that we should even bring that small little sample into the room. And yet, we should realize that this is the kind of radioactive dirt that the Navajo people are being exposed to every day,” he said.

“The second point I want to make, Mr. Harrison, is that the idea that we would have blended water — water contaminated with uranium, that is radioactive, and then blended with noncontaminated water — I don’t think anybody in this Capitol would drink it. And yet we’re asking people in the Navajo Nation to drink this water. The federal government is giving its OK to this.”

Unbelievable:

Waxman: “If we’re not willing in this Congress to be exposed to the dirt and the water that you’re exposed to every single day, then I don’t think we ought to ask you to be exposed to it either. And I think that’s a telling point for how people here in Washington think it’s maybe different for you. Why they should think it’s different for you and they wouldn’t want it for themselves, underscores the neglect that we have given to this very serious problem,” he said.

“Let me say to all of you ... you’ve given us very powerful testimony and all of us here feel empathy with you and your families and people we haven’t even met that we know have suffered. I have to say that I feel enormous shame that the federal government has treated the Navajo Nation as poorly as it has.”

Waxman asked whether United Nuclear Corp. cleaned up the Northeast Churchrock Mine when it left, and was told by Larry King of Churchrock, “They never cleaned it up. Everything is still there.”

He asked Edith Hood of Churchrock about the 50- to 60-feet-high waste piles that stand about 1,000 feet from her door and near the homes of eight other families in the vicinity. “Do children sometimes play in that pile?” he asked. She responded, “Yes, they do.”

“Have you seen any impact on any of the livestock, the lambs, or any of the other animals?” he asked.

“Yes. We have lambs that did not have wool — hair — but they died within days. We have butchered sheep, the fat was yellow, which is not normal,” she said.

Shocking:

Rep. John A. Yarmuth, D-Ky., told the Navajo delegation, “I have sat through a lot of hearings that made me sad and angry. But I’m not sure that any hearing has shocked me as much as this one."

Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., remarked, “You have all suffered greatly, and in my opinion, needlessly, for corporate greed and for our nation’s weapons program, and I am personally embarrassed at the lack of concern for all of the Navajo people who lived, and continue to live. Those who are passed, I offer my condolences to your families for your loss. As you have pointed out, the Navajo have stood valiantly by the United States at their time of need, and as an American, I thank you for that.

“I can’t go back and change the past. I’m here today to do what I can to make a better future for our children and for our planet. So I’m going to ask you, and I would like for you to be specific as possible ... what you think the federal government needs to be doing. Flying overhead in helicopters and taking photographs and doing very cursory studies of where there may or may not be uranium waste is not my idea of doing a full-scale cleanup,” she said.

Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said he agreed with Yarmuth’s comments. “Certainly on this committee we’ve heard some pretty bad things — but nothing quite so bad, quite so arrogant, quite so thoughtless, quite so consequential as what has happened on your land” he said.

He questioned Etsitty about the status of abandoned mine cleanup. “The EPA admits to 520 mines and the Navajo Nation, depending on how, I guess, we define a mine, says it could be up to 1,200,” Welch said.

Cleanup:

“The first step in cleaning up the mines is doing an environmental site assessment. Mr. Etsitty, the U.S. EPA has done a site assessment at one mine — the Northeast Churchrock Mine, is that right?” Welch asked.

“That is correct,” Etsitty said.


After many decades, ONE of potentially 1,200 uraniun mines on Navajo land has been "assessed" for cleanup over a period of ten years. ONE.