Navajo Nation leaders continue to oppose a now-active uranium mine near the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
In a recent meeting with Kaibab National Forest officials, President Buu Nygren and Coconino County Supervisor Lena Fowler expressed their concerns about the Pinyon Plain Mine and the likelihood that uranium ore will eventually be hauled through the reservation to a mill in southern Utah.
The mine’s owner announced late last year that it had begun production.
In 2012, the Navajo Nation banned transporting uranium through the reservation, but Nygren says tribal law doesn’t apply to state highways like U.S. 89 and U.S. 160.
Uranium hauling from the mine has not yet begun, but the president says he’s looking at options to stop transport through the Navajo Nation.