Last month, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes sent a letter to the U.S. Forest Service, asking it to conduct a new environmental impact study, or EIS, for a uranium mine near the Grand Canyon.
But now Gov. Katie Hobbs is urging the same after her recent trip to the village of Supai, following severe flash flooding in August.
In a Friday letter, Hobbs argued the Kaibab National Forest, where the Pinyon Plain Mine sits, “never sufficiently examined and considered” its impacts on Red Butte. That’s a sacred site to the Havasupai Tribe about four miles away.
She’s also worried about the Coconino Sandstone Aquifer. Hobbs stated that the mine breached a perched zone of the C-aquifer in 2016. The tribe relies on this precious water source that flows to the village of Supai.
While the governor and attorney general staffs have communicated between each other on the uranium dispute, Mayes shared that Hobbs hasn’t personally spoken with her about the issue.
“I haven’t had a chance to to directly talk to her about it,” Mayes told KJZZ News. “We may be a little bit more forward-leaning on this, and I believe this is maybe a more urgent situation than she does, but I do think she’s concerned about it.”
“I am committed to being a partner with Tribal nations and to ensuring that their concerns are respected and heard,” Hobbs wrote in her letter, “and I hope and trust that the U.S. Forest Service shares the same commitment.”
In a previous statement, the mine’s operator, Energy Fuels, opposed calls for more scientific research to be done by “redoing the EIS.” Meanwhile, the Forest Service hasn’t responded to either state official yet.
