here are people living on the Eastern Navajo Agency, 140 miles northwest of Albuquerque, New Mexico, who will drive 50 miles to a spot where water from the Westwater Canyon Aquifer can be hand pumped from the ground. They make the three-hour trip because their land is pocked by some 90 abandoned uranium mines, and the aquifer is one of the last uncontaminated sources of water for some 15,000 people.

Nevertheless, Hydro Resources, Inc., wants to build four new uranium mines that many experts think will ruin Westwater, too. Mitchell Capitan, a 52-year-old Navajo, has spent the last nine years fighting the proposal. "The aquifer is more important than short-term jobs and short-term wages," he says. The company's plan is to mine sites using a technique called in situ leach mining (ISL). In ISL mining, a chemical solution is injected into the ore, where it loosens the uranium, which is then pumped to the surface for processing. But ISL mining has plenty of drawbacks; in particular, liberated uranium can seep into wells and aquifers.

Capitan founded Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining (ENDAUM) in 1994, right after Hydro Resources announced its plans. The group spends much of its time educating residents and pursuing legal action against the company in collaboration with the New Mexico Environmental Law Center and the Southwest Research and Information Center. They've met with considerable success. Although Hydro Resources received permission from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to drill one of the sites in 1998, an ENDAUM appeal kept the miners at bay.

"We're stopping this mine no matter what," Capitan says. "Beating Hydro Resources will be the best thing to happen to us."
-- Jason Daley