PHOENIX (AP) — The Navajo tribe on Tuesday sought to test a tribal law prohibiting the transport of uranium on its land by ordering tribal police to stop trucks carrying the mineral and return them to the northern Arizona mine where it was mined.
But before tribal police could catch up with the two semi-trailers on federal highways, they learned that the vehicles, which were under contract with Energy Fuels Inc., were no longer on the reservation.
Navajo President Buu Nygren vowed to implement the plan to erect roadblocks while the tribe works out arrangements for the first major uranium ore shipments through the reservation in years.
“Of course, the higher courts have to tell us who is right and who is wrong,” he told the Associated Press. “But in the meantime, we are within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation.”
The tribe passed a law in 2012 banning the transportation of uranium on the extensive reservation, which stretches into Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. However, the law exempts state and federal highways that Energy Fuels has designated as transportation routes between its Pinyon Plain Mine south of Grand Canyon National Park and processing in Blanding, Utah.
Still, Nygren and Navajo Attorney General Ethel Branch believe the tribe has solid legal ground in its plan to police federal highways, stop drivers and prevent them from moving further into the reservation.
Energy Fuels said it began hauling the ore as planned on Tuesday and that federal, state, county and tribal authorities were notified of legal requirements and safety and emergency procedures earlier this month.
“Since the 1980s, tens of thousands of trucks have safely transported uranium ore across northern Arizona without any adverse health or environmental impacts,” said Mark Chalmers, the company’s president and CEO, in a statement. “Materials that are far more dangerous are transported on all county roads every day. Ore is simply natural rock. It does not explode, ignite, burn or glow, contrary to what opponents claim.”
The Arizona Department of Transportation and the Arizona Department of Public Safety, which oversee the state and federal highways that run through the reservation, as well as the Kaibab National Forest Superintendency, did not immediately respond to messages.
Coconino County and Navajo Tribe officials said Energy Fuels has agreed – but is not required – to notify communities along the route at least a week before a truck carrying uranium travels through them. Nygren said the tribe received notification Tuesday that the trucks had left the mine site and were heading north through Flagstaff.
Energy Fuels, the largest uranium producer in the United States, recently restarted mining at its Pinyon Plain Mine for the first time since the 1980s, citing higher uranium prices and global instability. The industry says uranium production is different today than it was decades ago, when the country was still racing to build its nuclear weapons arsenal.
Nowhere else in Arizona is uranium actively mined.
Chalmers said the uranium ore mined at Pinyon Plain is transported in sealed vehicles with signs warning that the contents are radioactive. The shipments, driven by licensed and trained drivers, comply with regulations and laws, he said. Mining during World War II and the Cold War left a trail of death, disease and contamination among the Navajo Nation and other communities across the country, making any novel ore extraction a bitter pill to swallow. Other tribes and environmentalists have raised concerns about potential water contamination.
Republicans praised the economic benefits the jobs would bring to the region known for its high-quality uranium ore.
In 2013, the Navajo Nation notified another uranium producer that they would deny access to a ranch that surrounded a piece of Arizona state trust land that the company wanted to mine. At the time, the tribe cited a 2005 law that banned uranium mining on its land and another 2006 law that regulated transportation. Mining never took place, even though it also required other things like a mineral lease and environmental permits.
Stephen Etsitty, executive director of the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency, said the tribe has been meeting with Energy Fuels since March to coordinate emergency plans and issue courtesy notices.
Based on those meetings, Etsitty said the tribe does not expect Energy Fuels to transport uranium across the Navajo reservation in the next few months or until the fall.
On Tuesday, he said the tribe had learned indirectly about the trucks, which frustrated officials on the day of the Arizona primary.
According to Etsitty, accidents involving trucks carrying hazardous or radioactive materials occur on average every three to five years on the reservation. However, the tribe must notify emergency responders along the route to take advantage of this opportunity. Because the material being transported from the mine is uranium ore and not processed ore, the risk of radiation exposure is lower, Etsitty said.
“There is a danger, but it would take longer for someone to be acutely exposed to the gas at an accident scene,” he said. “Precautions still need to be taken.”
