Jackpile-Paguate Mine: Paguate Village Residents

“‘They’re really worried about not only themselves, but their grandkids, their kids,’ [Kyle] Swimmer said. ‘In Laguna, you grew up with these mines being, like, this very terrible thing, and you could never go into it, they were blocked off, with signs that say “do not enter,” so it’s this shadowy place, kind of like a demon that’s always behind us, in the back of our heads. And especially the people living directly next to the mine, they have to look at it every day and wonder if that’s the reason why they’re dying, or that’s why they have these health problems.’”