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The Navajo Nation continues to suffer from the Animas River mine spill. First their main water supply was contaminated and now EPA contracted companies have deliver tainted water to Navajo farmers. Click here to donate so the Navajo can get the clean water they need.

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) failed in its mission "to protect human health and the environment" this summer when it allowed three million gallons of toxic mine waste to spill into the Animas River. Worse yet, recent reports indicate that EPA was aware that such a spill was imminent and still did little to warn area residents.1 And for the Navajo Nation, who depend on the Animas for irrigation and drinking water, the EPA's failures didn't stop at the river's edge.

Since the spill, the EPA was supposed to take care of downstream communities, including Navajo farmers, by delivering clean water. But when the EPA's contractor showed up, the water for nine Navajo farms in Colorado and New Mexico was tainted with oil.2 In one video, Navajo President Russel Begaye's hand comes up brown and oily just after running it through a water delivery container.3 He responded, "This is totally unacceptable. How can anybody give water from a tank that was clearly an oil tank and expect us to drink it, our animals to drink it and to contaminate our soil with it?"

The Navajo farmers urgently need a delivery of clean water for their citizens and farmers, and want to have independent contractors and testing verify it's safe before they give the water to their crops, animals or families. But with many Navajo citizens living at or below the poverty line, they're asking for our help to raise $10,000 for clean water this fall. Will you click here to here to donate and help assist our first citizens?

In some cases, many Navajo farmers have had no choice but to use tainted water to irrigate their crops. But once they started using water delivered by the EPA's contractor, they complained that it was, "rust colored, smelled of petroleum and slick with oil."4 But without the water delivered by the EPA they have no choice but to "pray for rain," and with historic droughts punishing the Southwest, that option may not have high success.

You can't blame the Navajo for losing confidence in the people who delivered fresh water in the same trucks they'd just used to deliver oil to fracking wells. As the old saying goes, "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me." The Navajo don't have the time to be fooled again. It's critical that they have access to clean water now. Their crops are dying, their livestock are suffering and they're fighting to sustain their entire way of life. Without your help, this toxic situation could get even worse.

Donate here to help the Navajo get access to clean water -- the most important resource to sustain life.

Thanks for standing with the Navajo,

Anthony for Environmental Action

1. Associated Press. Animas River Spill: EPA Knew Mine 'Blowout' Was Possible, Say Documents. August 22, 2015.

2. Richardson, Valerie. EPA Draws Ire of Navajo Nation After Water Arrives In Dirty Oil Tanks. The Washington Post. August 20, 2015.

3. Video: Navajo Nation President Russel Begaye Inspects Contaminated Water Delivered By EPA.

4. Haussamen, Heath. Navajo Refuse 'Tainted" Water From EPA; 'Crops Are Getting Thirsty.' NMPolitics.net. August 18, 2015.

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