Navajos receive award for banning uranium mining

[NVMojo]

SANTA FE, N.M. - The Karl Souder Water Protection Award of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center was awarded to three Navajos, including a youth and a tribal councilman, for their role in banning uranium mining on the Navajo Nation.

''We feel it is wrong to threaten either an individual or a society so that one may gain for one's self,'' said Navajo Councilman George Arthur, representing the Burnham, Nenahnezad and San Juan chapters in New Mexico.

Arthur sponsored the legislation - the Dine' Natural Resources Protection Act, passed by the Navajo Nation Council in April - which banned uranium mining and processing on the Navajo Nation.

''I believe in economic development and that there is a place for it. However, there is a choice to be made - whether we make a dollar or survive for generations to come. ''We decided it was more important to have generations and generations after us,'' said Arthur, chairman of the council's resource committee, as he accepted his award.

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