Nuclear Holocaust in Indian Country: Natives Testify Before Inter-American Commission

Havasupai, Ute, Dine', Arapaho, and Lakota Testify on Uranium Exploitation before Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News
Translation into French by Christine Prat
https://chrisp.lautre.net/wpblog/?p=8369

WASHINGTON -- "There was no respect for the people living on these lands, and certainly no respect for Mother Earth," Edith Hood, Dine' (Navajo) from Red Water Pond Road community, told the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

"The government was aware of the risks and the dangers but failed and neglected to inform our people," testified Hood, who lives down the road from Church Rock, New Mexico, the site of the worst radioactive spill in U.S. history.

Dine', Havasupai, Northern Arapaho, Oglala Lakota and White Mesa Ute testified on uranium exploitation by the United States on Feb. 28, during the session, "Impacts of Uranium Exploitation on Indigenous Peoples' Rights."

The BIA, EPA and Nuclear Regulatory Commission praised themselves, and attempted to cover-up the legacy of death from uranium mining, strewn radioactive waste, and deadly uranium mills in Indian country.

Eric Jantz, legal director of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, disagreed with the United States assertions.

Jantz pointed out that the U.S. appears to want Native people to sacrifice more for "national security" -- rather than to deal with the devastation. As for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, it has not honored public comments. And as for the EPA, it's too late. There are 524 uranium mine sites waiting to be cleaned up on the Navajo Nation. Zero have been fully cleaned up, Jantz told the Commission.

"Our ancestors remains were desecrated to build the mill," Anferny Badback, Ute Mountain Ute at White Mesa, told the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights today in Washington. Badback testified that Energy Fuels uranium mill has contaminated the groundwater, plants, birds, wildlife, and air in his community in southeastern Utah.

Carletta Tilousi, Havasupai, testified that uranium mining contamination at Pinyon Plain mine is now threatening the water supply of Havasupai in their homeland. The uranium mine owned by Energy Fuels Resources is located above the aquifer, at the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

"This is a serious urgent case," Tilousi told the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington.

The Havasupai Tribe asked the Commission to present their case to the Inter-American Court to seek an order requiring the adoption of provisional measures.

Tilousi said Pinyon Plain mine is operating on an old environmental impact statement from 1986.

Further, Tilousi said the Forest Service has not properly consulted the Havasupai Tribe. And there is the question of who has jurisdiction at the mine site, whether it is the EPA or the State of Arizona.

"There is no enforcement, and no oversight."

"They have re-branded nuclear as green," Big Wind Carpenter, Northern Arapaho, told the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington. "The damage that is done to our homeland is far from green. Our communities and land have endured enough."

"People come from all over the world to share the connection we have with the water, the land, and the silent relatives," Tonia Stands, Oglala Lakota from Pine Ridge, South Dakota, told the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington.

Stands said that while the piped-in water from the Missouri River is supposed to save Lakota from their own contaminated water from uranium mining -- it is actually bringing in contaminated uranium water from Wyoming because of the lack of filters.

"Why is the government feeling like we are disposable?" Teracita Keyanna, Dine' from Redwater Pond Road Community in New Mexico, told the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington. Keyanna said her family members have suffered from the exposure to uranium, and have endured cancer and other illnesses.

The EPA, BIA and Nuclear Regulatory Commission claimed to be honoring the Treaties, engaged in consultation with tribes, and respecting tribal sovereignty. Those statements were countered by Native people testifying.

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https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/02/navajo-ute-lakota-to-testify-on-uranium.html