A truck carrying uranium ore across the Navajo Nation Tuesday was being ordered to stop, according to President Buu Nygren, who said “the lack of notification” about its trip was “a blatant disregard for our tribal sovereignty.”
The ore is mined on the south rim of the Grand Canyon and is trucked to Utah’s White Mesa Mill for processing. Nygren objected on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the route “exposes our Diné people to toxic uranium, a substance that has devastated our community for decades.”
Stephen Etsitty, who leads the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency, confirmed that the truck was carrying uranium, said a spokesperson for the Navajo Nation president.
I have deployed Navajo Police to stop the illegal transport of uranium across the reservation.
— Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren (@BuuVanNygren) July 30, 2024
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. - “I am very disappointed that uranium is being hauled across our Navajo Nation right now,” President Nygren said. “I was notified 30 minutes ago, and I have… pic.twitter.com/2HLKv2g7u8
As uranium production has ramped up at a mine near the Grand Canyon, the Navajo Nation has opposed transportation of the ore across reservation land.
Pinyon Plain Mine is owned by Energy Fuels Inc., a Canadian company with headquarters outside Denver. The company also owns the White Mesa Mill in Blanding, the last conventional uranium mill operating in the country.
Energy Fuels did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gabriel Pietrorazio, a correspondent at KJZZ, asked Energy Fuels CEO Mark Chalmers about transporting uranium ore earlier this summer. “To notify the public of every shipment that is being made in and out would take a lot of work,” Chalmers said, “and I think people would get bored.”
Nygren asked President Joe Biden in March to stop uranium transport across the reservation.
In April, Nygren approved legislation that banned the transportation of uranium ore across the Navajo Nation, which includes land in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
“Transportation of any uranium ore across Navajo Nation lands poses a significant threat to the health, well-being, and cultural integrity of the Navajo Nation and its tribal communities,” the legislation reads.
function onSignUp() { const token = grecaptcha.getResponse(); if (!token) { alert("Please verify the reCAPTCHA!"); } else { axios .post( "https://8c0ug47jei.execute-api.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/dev/newsletter/checkCaptcha", { token, env: "PROD", } ) .then(({ data: { message } }) => { console.log(message); if (message === "Human
