According to scientific researcher Dalway Swaine (Trace Elements in Coal, Butterworths: 1990), Cadmium is a toxic trace element in coal. Coal combustion contributes one tenth of the Cd to the atmosphere, the same as volcanoes and is considered to be a minor source of atmospheric cadmium. The problem might not be uranium at all, but other chemicals. However, fund raisers to reduce cadmium emissions, let alone anti-coal mining fund raisers, might not lead to sell-out celebrity dinners in Santa Fe.

It appears to be little surprise that SRIC seems to be less concerned with the public health than with their anti-nuclear agenda. Generally, the public reaction to an environmentalist is a warm and fuzzy feeling, “Wow, here is someone who truly cares about our future.” SRIC has closely worked with the third-world-like Navajo Nation, which instantly brings out the sympathy from any liberal-minded individual. Indeed, when StockInterview.com interviewed Shuey, he was on the reservation in a meeting. His publicly displayed concern for the Navajo is commendable. At the same time, one must also ponder that if the most frequent cause of death among Navajo adults is alcohol abuse (often accompanied by driving), then why hasn’t SRIC worked more closely to reduce that public health issue?

Visit the outskirts of any reservation and you will find piles of beer, liquor and wine bottles. One littered stop near Crownpoint, New Mexico took on the personality of a landfill. Where are SRIC’s mercy cries for the abused Navajo? More Navajos have died as a result of automobile accidents while intoxicated than from fifty years of uranium mining. But then again, that may be of little concern to an environmentalist group. Navajo Nation president Joe Shirley, Jr. might make better use of Mr. Shuey by asking him, “Can you help us out with the alcohol problem, instead?”