|
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs has negotiated a temporary pause of uranium transport across the Navajo Nation. Last week, uranium producer Energy Fuels began transporting radioactive uranium ore from its Pinyon Plain Mine in Arizona across the Navajo Nation to its White Mesa Mill in Utah. The move sparked an outcry among Tribal members and others, and Navajo Nation President Bu Nygren threatened that Tribal police would pull over any trucks hauling uranium ore across the Navajo Nation. Nygren and others say that Energy Fuels broke a verbal commitment to give the Navajo Nation more advance notice so it could coordinate emergency preparedness plans, but Energy Fuels denies making such a commitment.
After Governor Hobbs intervened, Energy Fuels agreed on Friday to pause uranium transport while negotiations resume to address the Navajo Nation's concerns. The Navajo Nation passed a law in 2012 banning transport of uranium across the reservation, but federal and state highways designated as hauling routes are exempt.
The Pinyon Plain Mine, the White Mesa Mill, and the legacy of uranium mining contamination on the Navajo Nation were featured in a Center for Western Priorities report, Backyard Problems, which examines several sites across the West where toxic contamination continues to impact communities and landscapes.
|
I have serious questions about whether that uranium mine ever should have been permitted in that location.”
