Human rights panel weighs Navajo uranium contamination case

A group representing Navajo communities is presenting its case to an international human rights body, saying U.S. regulators violated the rights of tribal members when they cleared the way for uranium mining in western New Mexico years ago.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights based in Washington, D.C., decided earlier this year that the petition filed by Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining was admissible. The group is filing additional testimony and exhibits Thursday. The commission is expected to hold a hearing in the spring. On the Navajo Nation, uranium mining has left a legacy of death, disease and environmental contamination.