EPA to Test for Uranium Contamination on Navajo Reservation

By Alison Gonzalez

Published on December 10, 2007

Over the next few months, the EPA will test hundreds of homes and other structures, as well as nearby untreated water sources, for toxic contamination. The plan comes on the heels of a House Committee hearing held in October which questioned the government's failure to protect the tribe from toxic exposure.

At the hearing, which was prompted by a series published in the Los Angeles Times last year, the Navajo government asked for money and manpower to begin testing and cleanup efforts at some 520 Cold War-era uranium mines spread over parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.

Thousands of entrances to the mines have been sealed, and the mines themselves have been abandoned for many years, but they were never examined for contamination. In the meantime, waste piles accumulated, radiation surfaced, and groundwater became contaminated, which the EPA concluded could lead to lung and other cancers in those exposed to them.

Although testing is set to begin, there is still no clean-up plan in the works. However, the Navajo tribe views the coming efforts as a huge step in the right direction, even if the tribe's goals are far from being realized, said Navajo environmental director Steven Etsitty.

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