The first transports of uranium mined from the Pinyon Plain Mine near the Grand Canyon are set to begin soon in northern Arizona.
Mining company Energy Fuels plans to start transporting extracted uranium from the Pinyon Plain Mine across the Navajo Nation and to its processing mill in Utah.
There are questions from tribal stakeholders about the health risks of hauling the radioactive element through tribal lands.
KJZZ Tribal Natural Resources reporter Gabriel Pietrorazio hosted a conversation about uranium and the Grand Canyon on June 26, 2024.
Former miner Leslie Begay gave emotional testimony about his double lung transplant and the incurable diseases linked to previous eras in the industry.
Leona Morgan of the advocacy group Haul No said Begay’s story underscores the potential life-and-death stakes.
"There may be no cure, but it’s all preventable. And this is why we are all here, to help to prevent many of these things that we’ve already lived through from happening again," Morgan said.
Carletta Tilousi is a former Havasupai council member. She says the tribe’s concerns about impacts to water resources have not been addressed by the mine’s owner, Energy Fuels, which declined to participate in the discussion.
"We’re not getting the answers. You know, they should be here answering these questions and sharing the panel with us, so that we all understand what’s happening over there," Tilousi said.
Panelists
Leslie Begay (Navajo), former uranium miner and Vietnam Marine veteran; Leona Morgan (Navajo), co-founder of HaulNo!, a nonprofit working to stop what it calls "nuclear colonialism in the Southwest"; Carletta Tilousi (Havasupai), former tribal council member and member of White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council; and Monica Yellowhair, Ph.D. (Navajo), outreach program director at the University of Arizona Cancer Center.
Additionally, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren sent the following message:
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The White Mesa Mill, which resembles an industrial warehouse, is where Energy Fuels crushes gray-like uranium ore into a yellow powdery substance, then an olive green solid called U308. -
The Pinyon Plain Mine, near the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, is the epicenter of Arizona’s uranium mining debate, especially since it became operational in January. KJZZ News had an opportunity to see the mine for itself from two points of view. -
The Havasupai Tribe has opposed the Pinyon Plain Mine since its approval in 1986. Now, it’s been operational since January. -
Mutton is a staple in Diné society, but in the Navajo town of Cameron, fear over uranium contamination has raised questions of whether it’s even safe to consume this local meat. -
The Navajo Nation has been disproportionately affected by uranium mining and the testing of nuclear weapons. In 1990, Congress enacted RECA to provide screening services and compensation. The program ended earlier this month.
