Leaders of Navajo Nation condemn transportation of uranium ore through lands, energy company responds

SALT LAKE CITY ( ABC4 ) — Navajo officials are speaking out after they said an energy company “smuggled uranium” across the Navajo Nation from Arizona into Utah on Tuesday.

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren learned Tuesday morning that trucks carrying uranium ore from the Pinyon Plain Mine in Arizona were heading to the White Mesa Mill in southeastern Utah.

The Navajo Nation said Energy Fuels Resources — the company that owns the Arizona mine, as well as the trucks that were transporting the ore — did not notify Nygren or other leaders.

President Nygren said the Navajo Nation not being notified of the transportation was “a blatant disregard for our tribal sovereignty.”

By the end of the day on Tuesday, Nygren said he learned that the trucks had made it to Utah, despite his deploying Navajo police to stop the trucks earlier in the day.

“They snuck through the Navajo Nation and they made it onto the Utah side, outside of the reservation,” Nygren said. “To me, they operated covertly to travel the Navajo Nation illegally. It’s very disappointing that they did that, that they smuggled uranium across our Nation which is very inappropriate.”

Nygren said Navajo Nation officials were initially informed that the transportation of the ore was not scheduled until October or November. He also said they were “under the assumption” that they would receive a heads-up about the transportation of uranium up to two weeks in advance.

Energy Fuels Resources responds

The energy company that transported the uranium said the “safe and legal transport” of the ore was “in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.”

The company said it held a multi-stakeholder briefing on July 19 — and it said Federal, State, County, and Tribal officials were in attendance.

“It was at these meetings where we provided extensive information on legal requirements, safety, and emergency response,” Energy Fuels President and CEO Mark Chalmers said. “We have gone far above-and-beyond the legal requirements, and we look forward to future dialog on these important issues.”

The company said the uranium that was transported would eventually become fuel for carbon-free nuclear energy, and said the ore that was mined from the Pinyon Plain Mine has about one percent uranium.

“Tens of thousands of trucks have safely transported uranium ore across northern Arizona since the 1980s with no adverse health or environmental effects,” Chalmers said.

While Energy Fuels said the mining of uranium is “one of the most highly regulated industries in the country,” Navajo Nation Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley said the nation’s people have suffered for years because of the mining of uranium on their homelands.

“The Navajo Nation Council strongly condemn today’s action by Energy Fuels Resources,” Curley said. “The Navajo Nation will continue to oppose and fight against the transportation of uranium ore through our lands for the health and safety of our people.”

The Navajo Nation sent a letter to President Joe Biden in March to ask him to stop the transportation of uranium through their lands.

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