Navajo Nation President Bars Employees From Talkin

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Navajo Nation President Bars Employees From Talking to Uranium Mining Companies

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov. 7, 2005


NAVAJO NATION PRESIDENT JOE SHIRLEY, JR., ISSUES EXECUTIVE
ORDER
PROHIBITING DISCUSSIONS WITH URANIUM MINING COMPANIES


WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. ? Citing the seven-month-old Diné Natural Resources
Protection Act, Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr., has issued an
executive order directing tribal employees to cease providing
information to companies that continue to seek to mine uranium within
the Navajo Nation.

On Nov. 4, the President signed Executive Order 02-2005 which became
effective today with the concurrence of Navajo Nation Attorney General
Louis Denetsosie.

The President said the executive order is necessary because it has come
to his attention that some uranium mining companies are willfully
disrespecting Navajo law and making inquiries of tribal divisions.

?It is the law of the Navajo Nation to prohibit any such uranium mining
or processing on any sites within Navajo Indian Country,? he states in
the order.

The order directs the executive directors of the Division of Natural
Resources, the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency and the
Office of the Navajo Tax Commission to take several actions. Among them
are to:

1. Provide the Navajo Attorney General with a written statement that
indicates whether any staff members have communicated with
representatives of a uranium mining or processing company within the
last year in the course of their jobs.

2. Provide a summary of any communication that occurred.

3. Notify the division?s employees that all communications with uranium
company representatives must cease until the employee communicating
with
the company has received guidance from Navajo Nation Department of
Justice.

The Diné Natural Resources Protection Act was passed by the Navajo
Nation Council on April 19, 2005. Part of its purpose is to ?ensure
that
no further damage to the culture, society and economy of the Navajo
Nation occurs because of uranium mining within the Navajo Nation and
Navajo Indian Country and that no further damage to the culture,
society
and economy of the Navajo Nation occurs because of uranium processing.?

As part of the findings of the law, the executive order notes, the
Navajo Nation Council found that ?the Fundamental Laws of the Diné ?
Diné Bi Beenaha¼ annii ? support preserving and protecting the Navajo
Nation?s natural resources, especially the four sacred elements of life
? air, light/fire, water and earth/pollen.?

These resources are the foundation of the Navajo people?s spiritual
ceremonies and the Diné way of life. It is the duty and responsibility
of the Diné to protect and preserve the natural world for future
generations.

The Navajo Nation Council found that the mining and processing of
uranium ore on the Navajo Nation and in Navajo Indian Country since the
mid-1940s has created substantial and irreparable economic detriments
to
the Nation and its people, the law states.

The Resources Protection Act states that ?no person shall engage in
uranium mining and uranium processing on any sites within Navajo Indian
Country.?

# # #
SIGNED COPY OF EXECUTIVE ORDER AVAILABLE

CONTACT
George Hardeen, Communications Director
Office of the President and Vice President
The Navajo Nation
Ofc: 928-871-7917
Cell: 928-309-8532
[e-mail]