Navajo President, Erin Brockovich Discuss Mine Waste Spill

SHIPROCK, N.M. (AP) — Environmental activist Erin Brockovich is touring the Navajo Nation to get a firsthand look at the damage caused by the spill of wastewater from a Colorado mine.

She met with Navajo President Russell Begaye on Tuesday morning and listened to his account of what he saw when he visited the mine in August just days after a crew working for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency caused the breach.

The agency has said some 3 million gallons were spilled. Begaye says it was much more.

Brockovich and Begaye will be meeting with farmers throughout the Navajo Nation to discuss the effects of the spill on irrigation throughout the area.

Brockovich says she was honored to be invited to work with the Navajos. She called the spill a preventable environmental disaster.

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