TRIBAL COUNCILS
I'm the Superintendent of Water
Development of the Navajo Tribe.
I started to prospect on the reservation
after the Second World War.
We worked out a program
where the Navajo
individual could go out and prospect
and take leases: a lot of the Navajo boys
worked in the mines.
For a long while, we
were one of the big
operators, until the ore
market started to go down, and then
the Atomic Energy Commission came
onto the reservation.
This was the only market that we had.
I think they should give it all back
to the Navajo tribe and let the Navajo
run this: not only the oil, but uranium.
There’s big, big potential.
I don't think we've even touched the surface
of all the uranium here.
I think that we
could do a better mining job,
do it faster. I think that we
learned lots of things from the Atomic
Energy Commission we could apply
ourselves if we went back in there.
I think we need to compete
with the outside world.
A lot of Navajos are very capable
with their hands. They are very good operators.
I think
we could help ourselves.