Testimony of Dr. Joe Shirley, Jr., President

The Navajo Nation

before the

United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

March 12, 2008

Good afternoon Chairman Bingaman, ranking member Domenici, and members
of the Committee. Thank you for inviting me to testify before you today.
As you begin to make changes to the laws that govern mineral extraction,
you will hear from many interests that will encourage you to expand
uranium mining throughout the country; particularly in the southwest. I
am here to ask you to respect the Navajo Nation's tragic experience with
uranium mining, and allow the Navajo People and Navajo Indian Country to
remain free of renewed contamination.

The Navajo People do not want renewed uranium mining on or near the
Navajo Nation. I ask you to respect the Diné Natural Resources
Protection Act (DNRPA) that places a moratorium on Navajo Land and
within Navajo Indian Country. Uranium mining that takes place on land
just off the reservation boundary will not and cannot hold its
contaminants within a narrow area. The contamination will travel; it
does not stay in one place. It moves as it has for decades spreading
contamination as it moves. The federal government should clean up these
existing contaminated sites before it promotes renewed uranium mining.
Decades after mining has ceased on the Navajo Nation, my people continue
to get sick and die from the contamination left behind.

Over a half century ago, the United States government faced by the
threats of the Cold War began a massive effort to mine and process
uranium ore for use in the country's nuclear weapons programs. Much of
that uranium was mined on, or near, Navajo lands, and much of it
extracted and processed with Navajo hands. Now more than 50 later, the
legacy of uranium mining has devastated both the people and the land.
The workers, their families, and their neighbors suffer increased
incidences of cancers and other medical disorders caused by their
exposure to uranium. Fathers and sons who went to work in the mines and
the processing facilities brought the remnants of uranium in to their
homes at the end of the each day infecting their families. The mines, so
many of which have been abandoned, have left open scars in the ground
leaking radioactive waste. The companies that processed the uranium ore
dumped their waste in open, and in some cases unauthorized, pits
infecting both the soil and the water. The tragedy of uranium's legacy
extends not only to those who worked in the mines, but to those who
worked and lived *near* the mines that have also experienced devastating
illnesses. An even greater tragedy is that decades later, the families
who live in those same areas continue to experience health problems
today. The remnants of uranium activity continue to pollute our land,
our water, and our lives. It would be unforgivable to allow this cycle
to continue for another generation.

Many companies have approached the Navajo Nation over the years with
promises of vast riches if we were to allow them to mine our uranium
deposits. They have promised us newer and cleaner methods of mining that
do not harm the land, the water, or the People. Recently some companies
have promoted the use of a process called *in situ* leach mining that
mines uranium ore by injecting a solution in the earth that pulls the
ore from the surrounding rock. These companies claim the process is
harmless. The science on this process is at best inconclusive, and at
worst points to increased background radiation than existed before the
mining operation. I have a hard time believing the claims of those who
wish to profit from uranium mining that their "new" process is so much
safer when history and science establish a different record. The Navajo
People have been consistently lied to over the last 50 plus years by
companies and government officials concerning the effects of various
mining activities. Unfortunately, the true cost of these activities is
only understood later when the companies have stolen away with their
profits leaving the Navajo People to bear the health burdens. Why should
we believe these companies now when this industry failed to clean up the
toxic mess they left behind the first time? Why should we believe these
companies now, when years after the last pound of uranium was removed
from Navajo Land, my people still get sick and die from contamination?

I would like to take a moment to discuss the community of Crownpoint,
New Mexico. For years a company has attempted to mine uranium using the
*in situ* process here. The majority of the population of Crownpoint has
consistently opposed any attempted mining. In response to the wishes of
the community, the company has used Navajos who hold title to their land
to bypass the objections of the community. By luring these Navajos with
promises of riches they have managed to divide the community against
itself, and are now pressing hard to begin mining operations. Are these
the business practices that the Navajo People will have to look forward
to in the Great 21^st^ Century Uranium Rush? Are we to be cast aside
again so others may profit?

The area where this mining would take place is located next to a school
and is only several hundred feet from the sole drinking water source for
more than 3000 Navajos. While we have been promised that *in situ* leach
mining is a harmless process, one need only watch a stream flow to
understand that a liquid will follow its own path. No one here can
guarantee me that once this toxic solution is in the ground that it
won't move of its own accord and contaminate our drinking water. I will
not risk the health and safety of my people on the promises of those who
advance as a fact something for which there is little evidence. I will
not allow my Navajo People to be the guinea pigs of those seeking only
profit. I will not sit idly by and watch as another generation of
Navajos face a litany of cancers and other illnesses.

We are asked to believe blindly what the companies tell us, that the
process is clean and nonintrusive. The very nature of this clean and
nonintrusive process involves the injection of fluid that cannot be
controlled, and will most assuredly contaminate anywhere it flows
including into our ground water. The absolutes of clean and nonintrusive
do not equate in my mind to uncontrolled and unproven. Why should we
believe any of these companies when they threaten our water and try to
pit the Navajo People against one another? I will not allow dividing and
conquering the Navajo People to remain a profitable strategy.

In response to these attempts to renew uranium mining, the Navajo Nation
Council passed, and I signed into law, the DNRPA. This Act places a ban
on all uranium mining both within the Navajo Nation boundary, and within
"Navajo Indian Country." This means that the Navajo Nation asserts its
rights and jurisdiction as a sovereign government as recognized by
federal law, and more recently by the courts and the EPA to place a ban
on the mining of uranium on both the Navajo Nation and surrounding
lands. The Navajo Nation Code and the US Code define the extension of
Navajo jurisdiction to include reservation lands, trust lands, allotted
lands, and dependent Indian communities. Under this definition the areas
currently under mining permit review fall within Navajo jurisdiction.
Alternatively, regardless of whether or not Navajo jurisdiction under
the DNRP is found to be controlling, the Navajo Nation Environmental
Protection Agency maintains jurisdiction under the grant of primacy by
the US EPA to control ground water injection. The Navajo Nation will use
any and all measures at its disposal as a sovereign power to ensure that
our law is carried out.

As time has gone on and the land has been eroded by wind and rain, we
continue to discover new contamination sites where uranium was mined and
processed. We have also discovered both illegal dump sites, and legal
dump sites that were properly closed, that have been eroded and are now
open to the elements spreading their contaminants with every gust of
wind. It is unconscionable to me that the federal government would
consider allowing uranium mining to be restarted anywhere near the
Navajo Nation when we are still suffering from previous mining
activities. As an example, my people and their livestock still drink
from contaminated wells. There are only two options for rectifying this
type of problem, finding a new source of water, or removing the
contaminants from the existing sources. A new source would require large
scale water development projects such as the proposed Navajo Gallup
Water Supply Project. While such projects are expensive they pale in
comparison to the cost of removing the contaminants from drinking water
sources. Cleaning the contaminated water sources would cost many
billions of dollars. This is just a fraction of the ongoing costs
associated with uranium contamination.

## If the committee insists on promoting renewed uranium mining outside of Navajo Indian Country, then the federal government should at minimum take this opportunity to use the profits from such mining activity to clean up historic mining and processing sites. This is in no way an endorsement of uranium mining, but an argument that any future revenues from uranium mining should at a very minimum go to alleviating the sins of historic uranium activities. 

In sum, the Navajo Nation asks you to respect our wishes to live free of
uranium mining. If the government and corporations insist on uranium
mining we insist it not be on Navajo Indian Country; do it elsewhere. We
have lived through that once, and continue to live with its effects
today. The Navajo People have earned the right through illness and death
to choose to not live through it again. I pray that the committee will
learn from the experiences of the Navajo People and protect their own
constituents and land from generations of contamination.