Uranium trucking to Utah across the Navajo Nation halts, under deal brokered by Arizona governor

Energy Fuels Inc. will stop trucking uranium ore across the Navajo Nation to Utah, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs announced, until the company and the tribe discuss safety concerns.

Hobbs said that her administration began working with Energy Fuels Tuesday night. She called Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren on Thursday night to report that the company had voluntarily agreed to stop its shipments to Utah through the Navajo reservation, “to give both sides an opportunity to engage in good faith negotiations.”

She added that the Arizona Division of Emergency Management will work with tribal law enforcement “in developing an emergency response plan in the event of a road incident.”

Energy Fuels did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Hobbs’ remarks.

Nygren on Tuesday had sent tribal police to stop two Energy Fuels trucks carrying uranium ore from the Pinyon Plain mine on the south rim of the Grand Canyon to the White Mesa Mill in Blanding for processing. The trucks crossed the border into Utah before police reached them, Nygren said, loaded with an estimated 50 tons of uranium ore.

On Wednesday, Nygren had issued an executive order banning the transportation of radioactive material across Navajo land without the consent of the tribe. The executive order will be in effect for the next six months.

The company said Thursday that it was “greatly encouraged” that Nygren’s executive order “appears to invite a constructive dialogue.” But the statement did not indicate then whether the company would wait to transport any additional ore until after an agreement with the tribe is reached, as the order requires..

Energy Fuels Inc. owns the mine and the mill. The Canadian company has headquarters outside Denver.

Nygren had argued Energy Fuels was “smuggling [an] illegal substance and illegal material through the Navajo Nation that is completely banned by the Navajo Nation government.”

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes on Wednesday also had condemned Tuesday’s uranium trucking.

“Hauling radioactive materials through rural Arizona, including across the Navajo Nation, without providing notice or transparency,” Mayes said, “and without providing an emergency plan is unacceptable.”

The Navajo Nation banned uranium transport across the reservation in 2012, but a legal loophole exempted state and federal highways U.S. 89 and U.S. 160. Nygren asked President Joe Biden in March to stop uranium transport on those roads and approved a resolution in April repeating the request.

Even without action from Biden, Energy Fuels’ failure to seek approval from the Navajo Nation for the transportation of radioactive materials across its land disregards the Nation’s governmental authority and sovereignty, Nygren asserts. The tribe still suffers from the harmful impacts of historical uranium mining, noted Navajo Nation Attorney General Ethel Branch, adding that anyone bringing the ore onto the reservation “should undertake that activity with respect and sensitivity to the psychological impact to our people.”

Energy Fuels said it had shared its safety plan at a July 19 briefing attended by federal, state, county and tribal officials, and it maintains that the transportation of uranium ore is safe.

“Tens of thousands of trucks have safely transported uranium ore across northern Arizona since the 1980s with no adverse health or environmental effects,” said Energy Fuels CEO Mark Chalmers on Tuesday. “Materials with far greater danger are transported every day on every road in the county. Ore is simply natural rock. It won’t explode, ignite, burn or glow, contrary to what opponents claim.”

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Uranium trucking to Utah across the Navajo Nation halts, under deal brokered by Arizona governor

Uranium trucking to Utah across the Navajo Nation halts, under deal brokered by Arizona governor

Uranium trucking to Utah across the Navajo Nation halts, under deal brokered by Arizona governor

Uranium trucking to Utah across the Navajo Nation halts, under deal brokered by Arizona governor

Uranium trucking to Utah across the Navajo Nation halts, under deal brokered by Arizona governor