MISSION: Southwest Research and Information Center is a multi-cultural organization working to promote the health of people and communities, protect natural resources, ensure citizen participation, and secure environmental and social justice now and for future generations

The Navajo People and Uranium Mining
Doug Brugge, Timothy Benally, and Esther Yazzie-Lewis, Editors
Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 2006
210pp., $29.95, hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-8263-3778-8

To fully understand the tragic experience of the Navajo People with uranium mining, you have to consider how the Navajos lived a half-century ago. As a result of humanitarian failures of the national government, that generation of Navajos did not have access to rudimentary education. They had not held industrial jobs previously, and had no knowledge of the existence of radiation or of the dangers that it held for them in the underground mines where they worked. Mining was an important source of income for many Navajos, so they went to work for mining companies producing ore for the U.S. government. It was only after an epidemic of lung cancer and other respiratory illnesses appeared years later that miners were told the truth by their government.

Forward by Stewart L. Udall
The Navajo People and Uranium Mining

When the U.S. government first placed Native Americans on reservations, they placed them on land they considered worthless and unusable to white settlers. It is ironic that today, much of these lands are extremely valuable, containing energy resources such as oil, gas, coal, and uranium. Unfortunately, the U.S. government is the entity that holds trust responsibility to negotiate with the companies on behalf of the tribes. The government negotiates the use of the land and the royalty amounts – often with no regard for the environmental, health, or social/economic impacts to the people who have lived on these lands for generations. The affects of the extraction of these resources can be seen on the Navajo Nation.

The Navajo Nation is one of the largest reservations in the United States, with a membership numbering approximately 250,000. It is also home to more than 1,200 abandoned mines – more than 1,000 of them uranium mines. Historically, prior to the first uranium “boom” in the 1950s, the level of cancer in the Navajo people was well below the national level. But with the onset of uranium development, this soon changed. Between the 1970s and 1990s, the level of cancer on the Navajo Nation has more than doubled, and it is not just the cancers typically associated with uranium mining. The levels of reproductive cancers in Navajo women have also more than doubled. Many feel this is the legacy of uranium wastes in their communities.

The Navajo People and Uranium Mining came out of the Navajo Uranium Miner Oral History and Photography Project. The project collected testimonies and photographs of Navajo uranium miners and their survivors. This book was not initially planned as part of the Project. Instead the goal was to produce a video, an exhibit, and a limited distribution book entitled: Memories Come To Us In the Rain and the Wind – Oral Histories and Photographs of Navajo Uranium Miners & Their Families. As part of the continuing work assisting Navajo miners and their families, The Navajo People and Uranium Mining was produced and edited by Doug Brugge, Timothy Benally, and Esther Yazzie-Lewis. It is an extension of the original work and includes, in addition to oral histories, perspectives on the historical, cultural, political, social, psychological, and health aspects of uranium mining on the Navajo people. There is also an update regarding new uranium mining, and the Diné Natural Resources Protection Act of 2005 banning uranium mining and milling on all Navajo lands.

This book is an excellent source of information for individuals, teachers, and students wanting to learn more about the history and culture of the Navajo people. For example, the Navajo word for monster (i.e. “evil”) is nayee – “that which gets in the way of a successful life.” In Navajo tradition, if you want to overcome or weaken the monster, you must name it. As such, they’ve named the word for uranium łeetso (“yellow dirt”) in order to defeat it and its affect on people’s health. Also included are background to some of their creation stories, and discussions about healing ceremonies as part of traditional Navajo spiritual beliefs.

Some of the more interesting stories come from the miners themselves in their oral statements. While many Navajos say that much of their health problems stem from their past mining and milling work, when it comes to future uranium mines on the Navajo Nation, they are split in their opinions. While some feel that there should be no new mining, others feel that it can be done.

There is also a chapter on the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. This Act was originally designed to compensate uranium miners (and later millers under the 2000 amendments) for health affects related to their uranium work. It’s become a regulatory nightmare for the workers and their survivors. The government requirements for documentary evidence like pay stubs (from 20-40 years ago), to birth certificates (most Navajos were born at home, not in hospitals), are impossible hurdles for some of the workers. Authors of this chapter also discuss the science used (or not used) in developing the legislative requirements for compensation.

In the interest of full disclosure, one of the editors, Esther Yazzie-Lewis, is President of the Board of Directors of Southwest Research and Information Center. She provided translation and co-authored two chapters – the Introduction and the discussion of the Navajo cultural interpretations of uranium mining. Also, one of the chapters on the Eastern Navajo Dine Against Uranium Mining was the result of work by the Katahdin Foundation for their documentary Homeland. This work was originally printed in Voices from the Earth (Spring 2005). This does not change the fact that this book is well-written, organized, and a necessary part of anyone’s research into the history of uranium mining on the Navajo Nation. It’s varied perspectives could be applied to almost any part of the world who has been struggling with the affects of uranium mining in their community.

– Annette Aguayo

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