Navajo Nation officials this week addressed ongoing concerns about the recent restart of uranium ore hauling through the reservation. It follows months of negotiations with the owners of a mine near the Grand Canyon.
In a live video on social media Tuesday, acting Navajo Attorney General Heather Clah said the tribe was unable to prevent the transport despite opposition from many residents, lawmakers and Navajo President Buu Nygren.
The tribe doesn’t have jurisdiction over the haul route, which is made up of state and federal highways including U.S. 89, U.S. 160 and U.S. 191.
“So, the next best thing that we needed to go ahead and do is to make sure that we protected our Navajo Nation people,” said Clah. “So that’s why we took the approach of negotiating terms in order to make sure that this agreement provides those protections.”
Navajo officials can now inspect the truckloads before they enter the reservation in the town of Cameron. The shipments are limited to weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. and are prohibited during some holidays and cultural events.
The agreement also includes emergency response procedures, additional driver qualifications and training, improved covering of the ore loads, and several other provisions.
Stephen Etsitty, executive director of the tribe’s Environmental Protection Agency, pointed out that the mine is fully permitted with state and federal agencies.
“We took that and trying to develop as many mechanisms as we can to push the limits of regulation and oversight on this transport activity for the benefit of our communities. And that's where we remain focused,” Etsitty said.
On Feb. 12, two 25-ton trucks of uranium ore left the Pinyon Plain Mine near the South Rim of the Grand Canyon bound for the White Mesa mill in southern Utah.
The shipments passed through several northern Arizona communities, including Williams and Flagstaff, as well as a large swath of the Navajo Nation.
The tribe expects 10 trucks per day for the next two to four years.
The Pinyon Plain Mine is the only active uranium mine within the nearly million-acre Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni–Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. President Joe Biden designated it in 2023, but the mine was allowed to continue operating because of preexisting rights.
