{"id":41146,"date":"2024-09-23T13:27:42","date_gmt":"2024-09-23T17:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=41146"},"modified":"2024-09-23T13:35:43","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T17:35:43","slug":"cronkite-news-navajo-nation-asserts-authority-over-uranium-shipments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/09\/23\/cronkite-news-navajo-nation-asserts-authority-over-uranium-shipments\/","title":{"rendered":"Cronkite News: Navajo Nation asserts authority over uranium shipments"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Navajo<\/a>
Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren, center at table, signs legislation requiring seven day\u2019s notice for uranium ore transportation through tribal land, amending a 12-year-old law that set a four-day requirement. Nygren signed the bill in Window Rock, Arizona, on August 29, 2024. Photo courtesy Navajo Nation Office of President and Vice President<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n
Navajo Nation strengthens rules on uranium transportation as negotiations continue with Energy Fuels Inc.<\/div>\r\n
Monday, September 23, 2024<\/div>\r\n
By Gabrielle Wallace<\/div>\r\n
Cronkite News<\/DIV>\r\n
cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A><\/DIV>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nWASHINGTON — The first shipment of uranium ore from the new Pinyon Plain Mine near the Grand Canyon began rumbling through Navajo land on July 30 — outraging tribal leaders<\/a>.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThey knew the shipments were coming, but had expected a heads-up from Energy Fuels Inc., especially given the tribe\u2019s painful history of radiation exposure from uranium mining and nuclear bomb tests.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nIn late August, the Navajo Nation Council<\/a> adopted legislation requiring a week\u2019s notice<\/a> before any future shipment from the mine to a mill in southern Utah.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe company is taking steps to appease the tribe. It has promised notice before future shipments, and is negotiating voluntary transit fees, even though tribal officials concede they can\u2019t enforce the demands.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\u2018They\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\u2018They snuck through\u2019: Tribes condemn shipment of uranium material through their lands\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
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Tribal leaders are condemning the primary producer of uranium for transporting hazardous materials through their territories without their consent and without advance notice.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

\n\t\t\"Indianz.Com\"\t\tIndianz.Com\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe route goes through about 120 miles of Navajo lands, passing Cameron and Tuba City. But the tribe has no enforcement authority to prevent or regulate the shipments on U.S. 89 and U.S. 160, federal highways maintained by Arizona.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe Din\u00e9\u2019s experience with uranium has left them wary, said Justin Ahasteen, executive director of the Navajo Nation Washington Office<\/a>.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cThe Navajo Nation has taken a firm stance that we will never be exploited like this again. We never want to have anything to do with this dangerous radioactive element ever again,\u201d he said.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nFrom 1944 to 1986, over 30 million tons of uranium were mined on Navajo land. Thousands of Din\u00e9 worked in the mines, and almost 600 died of lung cancer by 1990, according to federal records.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThere are 523 abandoned uranium mines on or near Navajo land, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Plans are underway to address contaminated water and other hazards, the EPA says. Before the new mine opened, U.S. uranium mining had been halted for eight years amid a global demand slump.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s understandable why they\u2019re particularly sensitive about this issue,\u201d said Steve Nesbit, a former president of the American Nuclear Society, though he emphasized that truckloads of ore pose no risk.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n \"Pinyon<\/a>

Uranium ore from the Pinyon Plain Mine travels from the Kaibab National Forest through Flagstaff, Arizona, before entering the Navajo Nation. Map by Stephanie Smith \/ Grand Canyon Trust<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nCurtis Moore, senior vice president of marketing and corporate development for Energy Fuels Inc., said the company has volunteered to help with the overdue mine clean-up, even though it had nothing to do with those sites.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cEvery level of what we do we go above and beyond what\u2019s required by the laws and regulations,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re having some good, productive discussions with the Navajo Nation right now to see if there\u2019s anything more we can do to allay their concerns.\u201d\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThat includes negotiating fees for ore shipments through the reservation.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cThey don\u2019t have the right to require it, but we\u2019re open to doing it voluntarily,\u201d Moore said, who added that the ore poses no risk to people along the route. \u201cWe\u2019re already following the very stringent, protective U.S. Department of Transportation regulations.\u201d\r\n

<\/P>\r\nNavajo officials agree that talks with the company have been going well.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nAnd they concede a lack of jurisdiction, stemming from a 1997 ruling in a case known as Strate v. A-1 Contractors.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n

2012 Radiation Materials Transportation Act is strengthened in a new legislation signed into law\r\n\r\nWINDOW ROCK, Ariz. \u2013…<\/p>Posted by Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren<\/a> on Thursday, August 29, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><\/div>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe case involved a collision in North Dakota on a section of state highway passing through tribal land. A tribal court denied a request to dismiss the case by a trucking company whose driver was involved in the crash. A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled the tribal court had no jurisdiction.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cThey essentially indicated that state right-of-ways are not subject to tribal jurisdiction,\u201d Ahasteen said, adding that the tribe disagrees with the ruling. \u201cThis case really just impacted a tribe\u2019s ability to self-govern and self-regulate.\u201d\r\n

<\/P>\r\nAhasteen called it \u201ca gesture of goodwill and good faith\u201d for the company to cooperate with the Navajo Nation \u201cdespite what that Supreme Court ruling says.\u201d\r\n

<\/P>\r\nMoore attributed some of the uproar to misconceptions about uranium ore.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of these minerals and materials that when you dig them up out of the ground are naturally radioactive,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re not highly radioactive.\u201d\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe element occurs naturally in the Earth\u2019s crust at 2.8 parts per million.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nNesbit described uranium ore as dirt and rocks with an above average concentration \u2013 around 0.1%, which means that a ton of ore yields 2 pounds of uranium.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n \"'Radioactive'<\/a>

An image shared on social media by Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren shows a truck with a “Radioactive” warning on it traveling through tribal lands on July 30, 2024. Courtesy photo<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nLess than 1% of that is uranium-235 \u2013 the isotope used in nuclear reactors and bombs. The rest is uranium-238. On average, that ton of ore contains just 0.32 ounces of fissile material, a tiny fraction of the 11 to 22 pounds needed for a bomb. Getting that much would require at least 550 tons of ore.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cUranium is radioactive but it\u2019s very mildly radioactive. It doesn\u2019t have a lot of what we call penetrating radiation associated with it,\u201d Nesbit said. \u201cJust standing next to a bunch of uranium ore isn\u2019t hazardous at all.\u201d\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe biggest hazard with mining is actually the radon gas emitted by the ore, he said.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe gas can build up without proper ventilation. Radon is odorless and radioactive and causes lung cancer with prolonged exposure. It\u2019s found in soil in all 50 states, according to the EPA, and one in 15 homes nationwide has elevated levels.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nModern mining practices and protective gear effectively eliminate the risk to miners, Nesbit said, and any radon emitted from a truckload of ore is no danger to anyone.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s such a small amount and the atmosphere is so huge that it just \u2026 doesn\u2019t pose a health hazard,\u201d he said.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nFor more stories from Cronkite News, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A>.<\/STRONG>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

Note: This story originally appeared on Cronkite News<\/a>. It is published via a Creative Commons license<\/A>. Cronkite News is produced by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication<\/A> at Arizona State University<\/A>.<\/EM>
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