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FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — In testimony before Congress, letters to the federal government and press releases, Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye and his vice president have brought up recent tragedies that have shaken some reservation towns to their core.

They said eight people killed themselves in communities impacted by the unleashing of toxic waste from a Colorado gold mine into the San Juan River on the Navajo Nation, burdened by the stress of seeing a sacred waterway polluted.

“When you’re being abandoned in your great time of need, what do you do? It causes a great amount of distress,” Begaye said at a recent Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing, in which he pleaded for more resources from the federal government.

Some residents in affected communities were skeptical, wondering whether there’s a direct correlation between the mine spill and suicides. Some saw the suggested link as an effort for tribal leaders to score political points on a national stage.

“I’m not really sure how this could be related to the contamination of the river,” said Bill Todachennie, vice president of the Navajo Nation’s Aneth Chapter in Utah. “Personally, I don’t know how you could hook (them) together.”

Harsh response to EPA

Residents in the region learned something was wrong with the river — a vital source of water for livestock, drinking and crops — through social media, radio reports and the arrival of new people in their towns. The Aug. 5 spill took days to reach the reservation.

Farmers wept at the sight of their crops wilting, livestock owners started hauling water from elsewhere to sustain their animals and the tribal utility stopped pulling drinking water from the river.

Begaye responded harshly to the Environmental Protection Agency and hosted prominent environment advocate Erin Brockovich on a tour of the reservation.

He invoked suicides in a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Oct. 2, asking for a preliminary damage assessment from the mine spill. The agency denied the request.

Begaye referenced “three suicides in communities that were affected by the Gold King Mine spill” in a mid-September plea to the federal government for mental health and cancer treatment facilities on the reservation.

He told the Senate committee of the suicides a day later during a hearing on the impacts of the mine spill.

A spokesman for the president at the time said Begaye was referring to suicides in the Utah portion of the Navajo Nation.

Begaye and Vice President Jonathan Nez have said the tribe’s Department of Health is investigating connections between the suicides and the mine spill. Neither one responded to repeated requests for comment from The Associated Press.

Messages left at the health department were not returned.

Various deep hardships

Between July 1 and Oct. 15, at least 10 people committed suicide in the two police districts that cover communities along the San Juan River, according to Navajo police statistics. Six of those happened after the mine spill.

The statistics show more than three times as many suicide attempts in those districts.

The communities also suffer deep hardships like rampant unemployment, poverty, alcoholism and domestic violence that are major contributors to high suicide rates — an issue on American Indian reservations nationwide.

The suicide rate for American Indians ages 15 to 24 is more than twice the national rate.

A colleague of Rick Hendy, head of behavioral health at the Utah Navajo Health System, committed suicide in mid-August. While the mine spill no doubt compounded stress in the community, Hendy said, he doubts it was the primary factor in the suicides.

“A contributor? Yes,” he said. “It’s a contributor just like a myriad other things — family problems, etc.”