BIA to consider moratorium on uranium mining leases on Navajo trust land

By: Jerry Reynolds

WASHINGTON - Congressmen, Navajo leaders and federal agency leaders alike heard the grim legacy of past uranium mining on Navajo lands and learned of nuclear industry efforts to stockpile uranium mining permits for future use.

Midway through a roundtable on uranium mining, hosted by Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., Nov. 8, the solution seemed to become obvious to everyone at once: first clean up the abandoned uranium sites that threaten Navajo health and groundwater, then place a federal moratorium on new Navajo-based uranium mining until the cleanup is accomplished. The Navajo Nation already has a moratorium in place, but uranium mining interests are approaching off-reservation owners of individual allotted trust lands with lease offers, according to nation representatives at the roundtable. A federal moratorium would forbid uranium mining leases on any and all Navajo trust land.

''Congressman Udall,'' said Mitchell Capitan, founder of Eastern Navajo Dine' Against Uranium Mining, ''communities across New Mexico and the Four Corners [of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado - i.e., Navajo land] are saying the same thing we are. Clean up the uranium messes before creating new ones. We are in agreement with our brothers and sisters, the pueblos and Lagunas are here, our Anglo and Hispanic communities. New uranium mining threatens us all. We need a federal moratorium on new mining.''

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