Summary: The President of the Navajo Nation is furious after
an EPA crew accidentally unleashed 3 million gallons of “orange wastewater”
into the Animus River on August 5th. Orange wastewater is unhealthy
water with a high percentage of oxidized iron, or rust, deposits in the water.
It is usually caused by left-over sediment from mining operations. EPA was
willing to supply water to the Navajo President, but farmers couldn’t use it
because it was contaminated by oil from an earlier shipment. The Navajo
President, Russell Begaye, became more frustrated when FEMA declined his
request for help. He complains about the lack of efficiency by federal employees
and is now preparing a lawsuit against EPA. EPA and FEMA have now agreed to help,
but Russell Begaye is continuing with the lawsuit.
Analysis: The Navajo Nation should just be considered a
toxic waste site, so the U.S. government can easily address the problem. Then this problem can be solved quickly and
efficiently. FEMA needs to work on a more efficient way to help the Navajo
Nation and other Native American tribes in the future. The Navajo Nation should not file a lawsuit
now that they’re being offered help, but at the same time EPA shouldn’t have
caused this problem in the first place, especially because they’re the
environmental protection agency.
For more information click on the link below.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/5/russell-begaye-navajo-leader-blasts-feds-after-fem/ 
THe government really needs to change it's approach to Natives, these people have already been hurt by the government in the past multiple times. It's sad Obama has to leave because I don't think any other president will reach out and try to help the Americans like he has done in Alaska recently.
ReplyDeleteI hope they win the case and are able to be supplied with clean water. Our government's history with Natives is pretty bad and this just adds on to it. Issues like this one tend to be ignored and even more so when a tiny bit of progress has been made.
ReplyDelete