Health problems from mining 473
Mining and sickness among the Dineh
The Dineh tribe and other Native people from the deserts of the western United
States tell of 2 kinds of yellow powder the Creator put in the ground. One kind
is the yellow pollen of maize. For the Dineh, maize is a sacred food, and its
pollen is used in religious rituals. The other yellow powder is known as “yellow
cake,” or uranium. The Dineh believe that uranium was supposed to stay under
the ground and never be dug up or used.
In the 1940s, when the US government discovered how uranium could be
used to make nuclear weapons and nuclear energy, mining companies began
to dig for uranium on Dineh land. Young Dineh men, who had formerly earned
their living raising sheep, eagerly took jobs in the new mines. Uranium mining
quickly became one of the most important ways Dineh people earned money.
But over the years, uranium mining made many Dineh people very ill.
The government and the mining companies knew the dangers of uranium
mining, but the miners and their families had to find out about the dangers on
their own. Dineh miners died young from the harmful effects of radiation. Many
women had miscarriages or had children with birth defects and other health
problems. Men who worked in the mines developed lung cancer and breathing
problems. Some lost the ability to walk. Even cattle and sheep near the mines
grew sick and died before they could give milk or wool.
These problems continued for over 50 years. In 2005, the Dineh finally
banned uranium mining on their land. But Dineh land still has hundreds of
abandoned uranium mines and piles of toxic waste. The US government is
paying some families of people who died from uranium poisoning, but not very
much. And there is great pressure from the nuclear industry for the Dineh to
open more mines.
Dineh land also has some of the largest deposits of coal in the United States.
With the loss of jobs from closing the uranium mines, coal mining has become
one of the only sources of well-paying jobs for Dineh men. But coal mining is
also dangerous to health as well as the environment, both when it is dug out of
the ground and when it is burned to make electricity in power plants.
Like many people, the Dineh are being asked to choose between poor health
and poverty. Many things must change for the Dineh to have better choices,
especially an end to the racism that denies Native people the right to control
their own communities, resources, and futures. And the whole world, but
especially the United States, must use less harmful ways of producing energy
than coal and uranium.
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012