Indianz.Com > News > Kaiser Health News: Navajo Nation deals with consequences of uranium mining
‘American Diagnosis’ Episode 3: Uranium Mining Left Navajo Land and People in Need of Healing
‘Rezilience,’ Season 4 of the ‘American Diagnosis’ podcast, traces the resilience of Indigenous peoples in the U.S. taking action to protect the health and well-being of their communities.
Thursday, February 17, 2022
Kaiser Health News
Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen.Click here for a transcript of the episode.
Episode 3: Abandoned Mines, Abandoned Health
On the morning of July 16, 1979, a dam broke at a uranium mine near Church Rock, New Mexico, releasing 1,100 tons of radioactive waste and pouring 94 million gallons of contaminated water into the Rio Puerco. Toxic substances flowed downstream for nearly 100 miles, according to a report to a congressional committee that year.In the 1970s, uranium mining was a good source of income, leading many Indigenous people and other locals to seek out jobs in the mines and the mills where uranium ore was processed in preparation for making fuel. The work was often grueling, but many young people didn’t have other options to support their families.Episode 3 is an exploration of the forces that brought uranium mining to the Navajo Nation, the harmful consequences, and the fight for compensation that continues today. It is the first in a two-episode arc of reporting about uranium mining.

- Amber Crotty, Navajo Nation Council delegate, Window Rock, Arizona — @Kanazbah
- Linda Evers, president of Post 71 Uranium Workers Committee and former uranium mine worker
- Phil Harrison, activist and former uranium mine worker
- Larry King, activist and former uranium mine worker
- Judy Pasternak, journalist and author of “Yellow Dirt: An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed”
- Edith Hood, activist and former probe technician for Kerr-McGee Corp.
- Cipriano Lucero, former uranium mine worker
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