"The Navajo Nation dishonored the memory and legacy of Klee Benally by agreeing to allow radioactive uranium trucks to travel through the Navajo Nation. It was what Klee spent the last years of his life fighting against.
"Klee is being honored with a #NuclearFreeFutures Award in New York in March.
"Nuclear Free Futures said, in announcing the award, 'Klee Benally was a Navajo activist and musician and member of the Navajo #Tódichiinii Clan and the #Nakai#Diné Clan. In addition to a
musical career with his siblings in the band #Blackfire,
"'Klee was a passionate campaigner and filmmaker exposing the #colonialist legacy of uranium mines and working for the cleanup of the more than 500 abandoned uranium mines that continue to contaminate the Navajo Nation. A month before his death on December 30, 2023, Klee published his book, '#NoSpiritualSurrender: #IndigenousAnarchy in Defense of the Sacred.'
"The award will be accepted by his mother Berta Benally.
"Klee, co-founder of #HaulNo!, warned of the danger to the water and rivers from the uranium mining in the Grand Canyon, and the planned deadly transport of radioactive ore, before he passed in
December 2023: 'There is possible radioactive contamination to land, water, and air from the #CanyonMine, White
Mesa Mill, and transport of uranium would impact northern Arizona, southeast Utah, the #ColoradoRiver, #MoenkopiWash, the #SanJuanRiver, and the lands and cultural resources of the #Havasupai, Hopi, Navajo, Ute, and Paiute peoples.'"
TUBA CITY -- "#LeonaMorgan, Dine' co-founder of #HaulNo!, said the Navajo Nation is now "back peddling" by allowing radioactive uranium waste to be transported through Dine' communities. This radioactive transport from the #GrandCanyon means even more deadly waste for another Native community -- the #WhiteMesaUte community in #Utah.
"Now, with little or no information along the haul route, the Navajo government expects the Dine' Chapters on the route to each have an emergency preparedness plan. Leona asked if the Dine' communities are aware of this and whether the Navajo Chapters are certified to deal with radioactive emergencies.
"'Who are their First Responders?' Ultimately, Dine' will have to confront the Navajo President and the Navajo Department of Justice, she said.
'We were not included in that agreement,' Leona said of the agreement between the Navajo Nation and #Energy Fuels.
"'There was no free, prior and informed consent,' Leona said, quoting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [#UNDRIP]. 'The people in the communities were not consulted.'
"'How can they start transporting on February 12th, when there aren't even any checkpoints? We don't even have an #AirMonitoring system,' Leona said of the lack of preparation for radioactive
transport on the Navajo Nation.
Energy Fuels plans to pass through Navajo communities with six to ten trucks of radioactive waste,
beginning on Feb. 12, 2025.
"Leona urged communities to organize, and pointed out that Navajo Chapters can have their own checkpoints. With the new push for '#DrillBabyDrill,' by the U.S. President, the Navajo Nation faces an uncertain future, she said. The U.S. is investing money into the development of #CriticalEarthMinerals and investing in Energy Fuels mill at White Mesa Ute.
"'We need to push our government to do what we want -- not what the federal government wants.'
"'It's going to get worse because they think nuclear is clean energy,' Leona said of the push for alternative energy.
"The Navajo Nation's agreement with Energy Fuels means more dangerous radioactive dumping in the #WhiteMesaUte community. In the agreement, Energy Fuels states it will transport 10,000 tons of uranium-bearing cleanup materials from abandoned #UraniumMines within the Navajo Nation.
"Leona was recently voted by the Navajo Nation Council to serve on the Diné #UraniumRemediation Advisory Commission, in an advisory position to the Navajo President and Council.
"Speaking in #TubaCity on Saturday, Leona said Haul No! began in 2016 when it became known that the Pinyon Plain uranium mine would begin mining in the Grand Canyon. Now, there is the new battle as the Navajo Nation government has approved uranium transport through Navajo communities to the White Mesa Ute community.
"Energy Fuels #PinyonPlain Mine, and the mill in southern Utah, threaten Native communities throughout the region."
"Join residents who will be impacted by #EnergyFuels#uranium transport for a COMMUNITY WALK and gathering on February 22, 2025 in #TubaCityArizona. The event is organized and hosted by local Tuba City group #BiddyRoots with support from friends and family, #DinéCARE, #HaulNo!, #AntiUraniumMapping Project, and others. This walk is to provide information and discuss #UraniumTransport across #NavajoNation. We will walk together from the Junction of US-160 & Main Street to the Chapter House."
[Thread] So grateful to the
@internetarchive ! They have a web capture of my #HopiProphecy article that I wrote in 1999 (but without the graphics). In the article, the blame is firmly aimed at #PeabodyCoal, #UraniumMining, #BigOilAndGas and #TwoHeartedPeople (selfish people) for destruction of #MotherEarth and the bringing about of #PurificationDay. I will be posting excerpts from the article (with the missing graphics), along with commentary, in this thread.