Navajo council imposes tighter rules on shipping uranium, including more advance notice

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren has signed a resolution approved by the Navajo Nation Council Monday that amends and strengthens the Radioactive Materials Transportation Act of 2012, beginning with a demand for more advance notice before any trucks roll.

The amendment comes a month after Nygren deployed Navajo police to intercept Energy Fuels Inc. trucks moving uranium ore from the Pinyon Plain Mine south of the Grand Canyon to a mill near Blanding, Utah, without properly notifying the tribe.

“Respect tribal sovereignty and work with us,” said Nygren. “We are able to speak in English in this day and time. We've got our own attorneys, our own lawyers, and they are more than capable of coming up with deals and solutions.”

A livid Nygren issued an executive order a day after Energy Fuels, owner of the Pinyon Plain Mine, sent its trucks on U.S. Highway 89 and U.S. Highway 160 through Coconino County and the Navajo Nation to get to its mill near Blanding, Utah. The order requires the company to sign an agreement with the tribe before hauling radioactive material through the Navajo Nation and will be in effect for the next six months.

Following the shipment, Navajo EPA Director Stephen Etsitty said there has been one meeting with the company, which has temporarily halted further transportation. The company has also agreed to collaborate with the Navajo Nation on a transport agreement moving forward. The company told Navajo officials the Pinyon Plain Mine will be in operation for 28 months.

“We will have another meeting with the company to lay out the framework for how we are going to have an agreement,” said Etsitty. “They do intend to resume this hauling activity, and we hope they do it with the openness to abide by the things we would like to see in the eventual agreement.”

A proposed alternative route was suggested to the company, said Etsitty. He said Navajo EPA is looking into how the routes were initially approved in 1986, and the agency will review data about how the roads are being used today and what might be the best alternative to avoid U.S. 89, U.S. Highway 160 and U.S. Highway 191.

"There are other routes that have more protective aspects to it in their design and how they're used," said Etsitty. "And other routes that traverse the Navajo Nation where we have divided highways and much wider right-of-ways, and where the transport of heavy commercial trucks is more suited."

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Amending Radioactive Materials Transportation Act of 2012

The Radioactive Materials Transportation Act of 2012 opposes transportation of radioactive and related substances, equipment, vehicles, persons and materials over and across Navajo Nation or otherwise over and across Navajo Indian Country, except for purposes of transporting uranium ore or product currently left within the Navajo Nation from past uranium mining or milling operations for disposal at an appropriate facility.

The amendment authorizes the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency to establish regulations for implementing the law after proper consultation with the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety and with the approval of the Resources and Development Committee.

Regulations may include setting and adjusting reasonable license fees, bonding requirements, route restrictions, curfews and other terms and conditions for conducting activities on or across Navajo Nation or within Navajo Indian Country.

Until the Navajo EPA establishes formal regulations, the Navajo Nation will authorize the Navajo EPA to issue interim regulations, which can be found posted on the Navajo EPA website. The regulations take effect immediately and remain in force for one year.

“My agency would be the primary agency to implement this act and the regulations that will be created and reviewed as we continue to address the issue it speaks to,” said Etsitty.

He said the most significant change calls for advance notification from a company if it plans to transport any radioactive materials across the Navajo Nation.

“It was originally four days, but it's now seven days,” said Etsitty. “It doesn't seem like it's a big change, but it's an important thing. We didn't get advanced notification for the first hauling action that occurred.”

When the original 2012 law was enacted, Etcitty was the director of the Navajo EPA. The law was intended to complement the broader Diné Natural Resources Protection Act of 2005, which bans uranium mining and processing on the Navajo Nation.

Etsitty said the 2005 law was partly developed to prevent proposed recovery mining activity on private land near Churchrock, New Mexico, which is also surrounded by Navajo Nation lands.

"As long as there are no answers to cancer, we shouldn't have uranium mining on the Navajo Nation," said former Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley as he signed this pivotal piece of legislation into law in April 2005. "I believe the powers that be committed genocide on Navajoland by allowing uranium mining."

The 2012 law was intended to regulate mining, processing and recovery activities, while providing an exemption for the type of transport associated with the remedial cleanup of abandoned uranium mines across the Navajo Nation, as authorized under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.

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Renewed mining interest

“As it stands today, it's been an effective tool, however, we are now dealing with renewed mining interest and companies who have long-standing rights under the United States Mining Act of 1872,” said Etsitty. “This 2012 act really targets the network of highways, both improved and unapproved roads that are clearly within the Navajo Nation’s jurisdiction to manage and oversee. It also helps a lot to protect our Navajo Nation communities and our people and our resources from the impacts of this type of transport.”

With Pinyon Plain Mine now in operation, it has become necessary to strengthen and clarify the processes and procedures under the 2012 law. He noted that the rising price of uranium, which has jumped from $50 to $105 per pound this year, has reignited interest in uranium mining.

“We know because of the price of uranium, we know there are several other proposed mines that are in development in particular in New Mexico,” said Etsitty.  “So there is a growing interest, there are investors who are looking to support renewed uranium mining.”

Navajo Nation Council Delegate Curtis Yanito, who represents the communities of Mexican Water, To’likan, Teesnospos, Aneth and Red Mesa, expressed concern for his constituents in Mexican Water, as the trucks transporting uranium ore will be passing through their community.

“A lot of people are still concerned, and they don't want this material because they have experienced what this uranium does to their bodies,” said Yanito. “It’s a serious issue. As a sovereign nation, we have rights to our sovereign nation to set policies and procedures and laws here.”

Yanito said that since he is from the area, he knows there are a lot of concerns over the processing mill that Energy Fuels owns near Blanding.

“This is a long-term issue we are talking about,” said Yanito. “It’s not just today. Even today, a lot of the compensation hasn’t been brought down to the Navajo people, and the uranium cleanup is still out there; we haven’t even addressed that.”

Arlyssa D. Becenti covers Indigenous affairs for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. Send ideas and tips to arlyssa.becenti@arizonarepublic.com .

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Navajo council imposes tighter rules on shipping uranium, including more advance notice