Native American communities cope with toxic legacy of uranium mining

Use the link at the end to go to the site and listen to the audio. We know that not enough has changed with U mining to expect anything much different for the children of Virginia. Tragic.


Fri, 10/30/2009 - 13:58

• Length: 5:04 minutes (4.63 MB)
• Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 128Kbps (CBR)

In the 1940s, the U.S. government and private companies began mining uranium on tribal lands in the Southwest. The industry went on to develop atomic weapons for World War II and the cold war in the decades to come. In the 1980s, with the draw down of cold war tensions, the uranium industry abandoned thousands of mines in the region. It also left a deadly legacy of contamination.

This week the US Senate approved a resolution designating today, October 30th, as a national day of remembrance for the half-million uranium workers in the country. But the Navajo, Pueblo and other Native American people in the Southwest are still fighting to recover.

We’re joined by Anna Rondon. She’s Navajo and the coordinator of the Southwest Indigenous Uranium Forum. The group has been organizing around the issue for more than 20 years and just wrapped up a forum on uranium and the nuclear chain last weekend.

http://www.fsrn.org/audio/native-american-communities-cope-with-toxic-legacy-uranium-mining/5680