Native America Calling: Navajo Nation clashes with new uranium mining push

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Monday, August 12, 2024

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Navajo Nation clashes with new uranium mining push

The Navajo Nation deployed its police department to hold back trucks hauling uranium ore across tribal land.

The action comes after the recent resumption of uranium mining at the Pinyon Plain (formerly Canyon) Mine in northwest Arizona. It is one of 600 uranium mines considered dormant because they aren’t financially viable. They are tied to numerous health conditions by citizens of Navajo and other nearby tribes.

But new interest in nuclear energy is improving prices for raw ore. Join Native America Calling to hear about tribes leveraging sovereignty to halt the mining and transport of uranium.

ALSO: Hear about an effort to shine the light on the fatal shooting by a New Mexico sheriff’s deputy of a Native American teenager. Family members and others are questioning the use of force that was caught on the deputy’s body camera.

‘They snuck through’: Tribes condemn shipment of uranium material through their lands

Tribal leaders are condemning the primary producer of uranium for transporting hazardous materials through their territories without their consent and without advance notice.

Indianz.Com

Guests on Native America Calling

Crystalyne Curley (Diné), Speaker of the Navajo Nation Council, legislative arm of Navajo Nation

Carletta Tilousi (Havasupai), former councilwoman for the Havasupai Tribe and member of the Uranium Mining Committee

Leona Morgan (Diné), co-founder of Haul No advocacy group

Donovan Quintero (Diné), freelance reporter

A sign in English and in Navajo warns of the dangers of uranium at an abandoned site on the New Mexico portion of the Navajo Nation. Photo: doctress neutopia