Navajos seek funds to clear uranium contamination – Los Angeles Times

Tribal officials ask Congress for $500 million to deal with wastes left by mining for bombs, nuclear power plants.
By Judy Pasternak, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 24, 2007
WASHINGTON — Navajo tribal officials asked Congress on Tuesday for at least $500 million to finish cleaning up lingering contamination on the Navajo reservation in the American Southwest from Cold War-era uranium mining, an industry nurtured by its only customer until 1971: the United States government.

The tribe also sought a moratorium on new mining in Navajo country, which extends beyond the formal reservation borders into New Mexico, until environmental damage from the last round is repaired.