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At a Shiprock Chapter meeting this week on the Navajo Nation, community members put forward a resolution that calls for independent oversight of cleanup efforts after an oil spill north of Shiprock, N.M.
Chris Clements with KSJD has more.
Residents held a meeting on Saturday to discuss the ramifications of the spill and the community-drafted resolution, which also requests an investigation into the cause of the incident by both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the New Mexico Environment Department.
Last month, a pipeline that transports crude oil from New Mexico to Aneth, Utah was breached by a grading truck on agricultural land. The pipeline is operated by a subsidiary of Navajo Nation Oil and Gas, which is a tribal enterprise. Beverly Maxwell and other Navajo residents who live near the spill are frustrated with what they describe as a lack of communication from local and national tribal authorities about details of the still-ongoing cleanup. “You know, as I look out the window now, there goes a dump truck full of contaminated soil, going to drop it off at the staging area of that big old contamination pile. And it’s (the cleanup process) not done.” A press release on December 20 from the office of the president of the Navajo Nation said that the spill was quickly contained, and that out of the 1,500 barrels of oil spilled, 800 have been recovered, while 700 have soaked into the soil along the flow path.Members of the Biden administration are urging Congress to fully fund the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) for 2024.
WIC is an important program for American Indians and Alaska Natives.
Jill Fratis from our flagship station KNBA reports.
WIC provides food, health care, and resources, assisting more than six million people across the country, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Officials are concerned a funding shortfall puts at risk nutrition security for women, infants, and children.
During a press conference Thursday, Neera Tanden, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, says there will be consequences if WIC is not funded this year.
“If Congressional Republicans pass it without fully funding WIC, states will have no choice but to cut a number of people they serve. States would be forced to implement waiting lists or take other devastating measures. Two million parents and young children could be turned away from WIC by September 2024 if Congress fails to provide full funding. That is simply unacceptable. Depriving eligible families of WIC would worsen hunger and hardships. No one deserves that, particularly our children”
Tom Vilsack is the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He says WIC participants are up 400,000 from a year ago.
He says if Congress doesn’t provide funding, participants would be put on a waitlist, and the repercussions of a funding shortfall would be catastrophic.
“Here’s how this waiting list scenario could work. Under program rules, waiting lists would first be implemented for non-breastfeeding postpartum women. And if that weren’t enough, next would be for children ages 1-5 years old, who don’t have higher risk medical issues. If that doesn’t satisfy the shortfall, then the next category are pregnant and breastfeeding women, and infants who do not have higher risk medical issues. Given the size of the funding shortfall, it’s likely that waiting lists would stretch across all, let me emphasize ‘all’ participating categories, effecting both new applicants, and mothers, babies and young children enrolled in the program who are up for renewal of benefits.”
The budget deadline is next week.
The Biden Administration and a group of lawmakers are calling for an additional $1.4 billion in federal funding for the program.
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