Friends,
Please be advised that the following actions are currently taking place and we need your help to tell the Navajo Nation Council Delegates to vote NO on NN Legislation 0373-13.
Navajo Nation Council Delegate Leonard Tsosie of the Resources and Development Committee (RDC) is sponsoring
Resolution 0373-13 which allows URI the Right-Of-Way over Tribal Trust land to start ISL URANIUM MINING at Churchrock, “Section 8”. Uranium Resources, Inc or “URI” is a Texas-based company, formerly known as: Hydro Resources Inc. or “HRI” which has contaminated ground water at its other ISL projects and will surely contaminate the groundwater of Eastern Navajo if this project commences. Many communities around Church Rock will be in danger if operations begin and so we need to get the word out.
The RDC is accepting Publc Comments and has scheduled a
Special Meeting with this as the main agenda item on Monday December 23, 2013 at 9 A.M. at Chilchinbeto Chapter, Chilchinbeto, AZ (south of Kayenta).
This action by a few elected officials is UNACCEPTABLE!! This will no doubt endanger our community, our children, and the area we call home. Uranium is a poison and mining it is an improper and dangerous use of our water and natural resources!! Uranium should be left in the ground! We cannot regulate it and to think that we have power over nature is arrogant and dangerous. I am asking you to please Send Comments and join many other Dine’ people in saying NO AND TO STOP NEW URANIUM CONTAMINATION at the Special RDC meeting next Monday morning at Chilchinbeto Chapter.
There are drafted Comments for you to use for reference. You can personalize the comments or just cut & paste and email ASAP! Your Chapter can also use these points to draft NEW Chapter Resolutions to Opposing Uranium Mining and Resolution 0373-13 too.
Comments should be emailed to
comments@navajo-nsn.gov by tomorrow, Saturday December 21 by 5 P.M. Mountain Time. Letters and written comments should be mailed to: Executive Director, Office of Legislative Services, PO Box 3390, Window Rock, AZ. 86515 postmarked by December 21, 2013.
I ask that you all forward this to all your contacts so that they can also get the word out to STOP Delegate Tsosie’s resolution. Please stand with us in defending our homes and our health. Human life is priceless and we should speak up for our next generation who don’t have a voice now. The young children and generations to come will have to live with our choices today.
Thank you.
Jonathan Perry
TELL THE RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE TO SAY NO TO NEW URANIUM MINING
The Resources Development Committee of the Navajo Nation Council is considering a resolution that would allow a Texas uranium mining company, Uranium Resources, Inc. (“URI”), formerly known as “HRI”, access to tribal lands for uranium mining. The resolution, Resolution 0373-13, is sponsored by Council Delegates Leonard Tsosie and Katherine Benally. The RDC is inviting public comments until December 21, 2013, 5 P.M. Please ask RDC members to say NO to new uranium mining. The RDC should reject the resolution because:
- The resolution violates the Diné Natural Resources Protection Act of 2005. In that law, the entire Navajo Nation Council prohibited uranium mining and processing on tribal land. The resolution would allow URI to mine uranium on reservation land in Churchrock. A single committee of the Council cannot overturn legislation passed by the entire Council.
- The resolution violates the Radioactive Substances Transportation Act of 2012, which was passed by the entire Navajo Nation Council. That law prohibits transportation of radioactive materials across tribal land, except in limited circumstances that must be approved by the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency.
- The resolution violates the Navajo Nation Energy Policy of 2013, passed by the entire Navajo Nation Council.
- The resolution conflicts with the access agreement that the Navajo Nation has already negotiated with URI and that does not allow any new uranium mining.
- The people of the Navajo Nation have rejected uranium mining because it has never resulted in any meaningful economic development for the Diné – it has only resulted in radioactive air, polluted water, sickness and death.
Comments on Resolution 0373-13 should be emailed to comments@navajo-nsn.gov. Letters and written comments should be mailed to: Executive Director, Office of Legislative Services, PO Box 3390, Window Rock, AZ. 86515
