WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren has received the support of Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and San Juan Southern Paiute President Robbin Preston, Jr., for his position to oppose the transportation of uranium ore over Navajo land.
On Thursday evening, the President and Gov. Hobbs discussed the issue by phone. She told him she persuaded Energy Fuels Resources, Inc., to halt shipments to the White Mesa Mill in Blanding, Utah, until the Navajo Nation and EFRI holds discussions about safety concerns.
“As of Tuesday night, my administration worked with EFRI to voluntarily agree to pause shipments through Navajo lands to give both sides an opportunity to engage in good faith negotiations,” the Governor said in a statement issued Tuesday night. “I have also instructed DEMA (Arizona Division of Emergency Management and Assistance) to partner with tribal law enforcement and assist the Navajo Nation’s emergency management team in developing an emergency response plan in the event of a road incident.”
She said she hopes good faith negotiations will bring an acceptable solution.
“I recognize the fraught history of uranium mining and the devastating impacts it has historically had on tribal nations,” she stated. “That’s why I have called on the federal government to remediate sites and invest in the cleanup of contaminated state and tribal lands.”
The Governor said she will continue to advocate for every Arizonan and to protect the safety and wellbeing of their communities.
“I also strongly support extending and expanding the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to provide assistance to those affected by uranium mining and nuclear testing,” she said.
On Wednesday, Attorney General Kris Mayes also issued a statement to say she is deeply committed to doing everything in her power to protect the health and safety of all Arizonans.
“Hauling radioactive materials through rural Arizona, including across the Navajo Nation, without providing notice or transparency and without providing an emergency plan is unacceptable,” she said.
She was notified by the President, Navajo Nation Attorney General Ethel Branch and Coconino County Supervisor Patrice Horstman on Tuesday that the U.S. Forest Service informed them that EFRI was transporting uranium ore through “the ancestral lands of the Havasupai Tribe onto the Navajo Nation and through a portion of Hopi lands, as well.”
The Forest Service was notified hours after the trucks departed the mine site, she said.
“I was informed that EFRI and the mine owners had vowed to give all of the stakeholders at least a two week notice prior to hauling of the uranium ore from the mine to a processing facility in Blanding, Utah,” she said. “I was also informed by Supervisor Horstman that the County and other stakeholders had asked for EFRI’s emergency plan on several occasions, yet they had still not received it from the company as of (Tuesday).
The attorney general said she was concerned about potential risks to groundwater associated with the mine, “including the risks posed to the only source of drinking water for the Havasupai Tribe.”
“The Havasupai are the guardians of the Grand Canyon – our Arizona and National treasure, and they deserve to know that their groundwater will be protected,” she said. “It is important to highlight that the Environmental Impact Statement for Pinyon Plain Mine was conducted decades ago (1986). And it is also important to remember that the Navajo, Hopi and Havasupai Nations are sovereign nations and have the right to protect the health and safety of their people.”
On Wednesday, San Juan Southern Paiute President Robbin Preston, Jr., also wrote to President Nygren to offer his tribe’s support of the Navajo Nation’s position.
“Uranium is a toxic substance that has devastated the Navajo Nation as well as our communities on the reservation for decades,” President Preston said. “ln 2012, the Navajo Nation banned the transportation of uranium across the Navajo Reservation. Energy Fuels blatantly disregarded the sovereignty of the Navajo Nation when it chose to transport this illegal substance across the Navajo Reservation, and without notice.”
President Preston said his tribe supports the Navajo Nation’s attempts to enforce its laws and have the Navajo Police Department locate, stop and turn back EFRI’s truck to where they came from.
“The actions of Energy Fuels are entirely unacceptable and a threat to tribal governance across the country,” President Preston said. “The San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe stands in solidarity with the Navajo Nation as it exercises its sovereign powers to stop this illegal activity.”
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