Navajo Nation leaders will meet with federal officials Friday to discuss the cleanup of the Lukachukai Mountain Mining District in northeast Arizona, which was recently named a Superfund site.
This is the first Superfund site on the Navajo Nation. Uranium and vanadium mining in the area created more than a hundred piles of mine waste contaminated with radium, uranium, and heavy metals.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the contamination has spread along historic ore-hauling roads and downstream in washes and may have affected the groundwater.
Former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez requested the area be placed on the Superfund list and prioritized for cleanup in 2022. The EPA will now assess the site and analyze possible cleanup methods.
The area is used by Navajos for hunting, plant gathering and livestock grazing. It is home to the federally threatened Mexican spotted owl.