# Diné CARE

Diné CARE is a Diné (Navajo) activist organization that works on environmental, cultural and social justice campaigns, primarily within the Navajo Nation and the immediately surrounding areas, its main office being in Dilkon, AZ. Diné CARE stands for Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment and helped build the early environmental justice movement in the United States. Their work has included opposing the creation of toxic waste infrastructure, polluting energy infrastructure, industrial-scale logging, advocating for compensation for people impacted by uranium mining and weapons development as well as against business practices that facilitate abuse of alcohol in nearby Gallup. The organization held a campaign to facilitate Native voter turnout during the presidential election of 2020.

## History

Originally called CARE, the group was founded in 1988 to prevent the construction of a hazardous waste incinerator in the community of Dilkon on the Navajo Nation. CARE's activism also led to the creation of the annual Protecting Mother Earth conferences. The first was held in Dilkon in 1990, funded by Greenpeace and Seventh Generation Fund. The creation of Indigenous Environmental Network came out of the Protecting Mother Earth gatherings in Dilkon, and in 1991, in South Dakota.
CARE became Diné CARE at a 1991 meeting in Gallup that brought together activists from the Dilkon anti-incinerator activism with other activism taking place across the Navajo nation including alcohol use in Gallup, oil and gas exploration, uranium mining, logging, and asbestos dumping. Co-founders included Lori Goodman, Leroy Jackson, Adella Begaye, Earl Tulley and others. Leroy Jackson, who received death threats in response to his work to reform the logging industry's operations on the Chuska Mountains, died in 1994. Press coverage suggests he may have been murdered for his activism.

## Projects
### Nuclear Waste & Uranium

Diné CARE has put increased efforts into mitigation and reparations for damage caused by radiation poisoning since 1998, their goals centering around extending relief to victims of uranium mining and Cold War bomb testing, to instigate further clean up efforts on mines that have been abandoned, and prevent any further attempts to mine uranium in the Navajo region.

#### Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) Reform

As part of the Navajo Radiation Victims Project, Diné CARE organized members of the community to push for reformation of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to improve the reach of reparations for victims of radiation poisoning throughout the region. Two organizations, Utah Navajo Downwinders Association and the Arizona Downwinders Association, were formed with Diné CARE's assistance, and along with the Eastern Agency RECA reform coalition, the Post 71 Navajo Uranium Miners Association, and the Kayenta Chapter RECA reform effort, the RECA reform group of the Navajo Nation was assembled.
Ten points of resolution were formed to adjust the RECA bill that would be enacted by The Radiation Workers Justice Act of 1998, which was introduced March 24, 1998.

### Forestry

Diné CARE has led anti-logging campaigns, protected the forests of Black Mesa and the Chuska Mountains, and aims to restore the forests of the Chuska Mountains to repair the damages caused by excessive logging in the Navajo Region.

#### Navajo Forest Project Industries Anti-Logging Campaign

Diné CARE led a successful anti-logging campaign against Navajo Forest Project Industries (NFPI), largely organized by Leroy Jackson. In May of 1992, an administrative appeal with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was filed to prevent further timber sales of the NFPI, which was eventually rejected but succeeded in stalling logging in the area. Further legal and environmental concerns led to the NFPI to reduce their logging area to half its original size, 36 million to 18 million board-feet, and assured Diné CARE they would avoid logging in the regions more sensitive areas. As a result, 82 workers were laid off from their jobs at NFPI. Jackson discovered that the NFPI was around $8 million in debt, as opposed to their claim that it was only $2.6 million, and the mill was issued a full audit. It is suspected that Jackson's murder may be linked to anti-logging activism.

#### Black Mesa Hydropower Storage Project Rejections

In February of 2024, three proposed hydropower storage projects to be located southeast of Kayenta were rejected by federal officials, saving around 40 miles of the Black Mesa from destruction. Along with the rejection, a new policy was implemented that demanded no projects could be issued on Tribal lands without explicit Tribal support. Diné CARE had urged the commission to reject the construction of the projects the year prior.