Navajo Nation, EPA remediating former uranium ore mining sites in Arizona

Navajo tribal officials announced the first steps in restoring some land previously used for uranium ore mining on the Navajo Nation.

Cove Arizona in the northeastern part of the state is one of the Navajo sites impacted by abandoned uranium mining. Navajo President Buu Nygren said a cleanup contractor received approval to repurpose sediment to backfill and regrade two areas that underwent uranium mine remediation recently.

“This permit helps us move closer to healing lands scarred by the legacy of uranium contamination,” Nygren said on social media. “We’re not only remediating but restoring — and using our natural resources to do it.”

Navajo officials said the contractor will rehabilitate the sites the material is excavated from through erosion control and revegetation.

The project is part of an EPA and tribal effort to restore lands of the tribe’s Cove Chapter.

"We’re happy at EPA that we’ve addressed the contamination within the community and look forward to continuing to protect that community with alleviating the issues associated with the mines," said Jacob Phipps who oversees an EPA field office in Flagstaff that opened in 2023 to address the abandoned mines.

"And so we’re just going to wait and protect those areas until the reseeding has taken place to allow community members to reaccess those areas," he said.

Nygren said the excavation will yield about 14,000 tons of sediment that will be used to help remediate two so-called transfer stations, sites where uranium was once stored before it was hauled away for processing.