Protesters, led by Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren, marched along Highway 89 in Cameron on August 2, 2024, to protest the transportation of uranium through the reservation. The highway was part of the route that trucks took from the Pinyon Plain Mine near the South Rim of the Grand Canyon three days earlier when they began transporting uranium ore across a large swath of the country.
Ryan Heinsius/KNAU
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FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Uranium mining in the United States is picking up after nuclear fuel prices hit a 16-year high earlier this year. But now that a mine near the Grand Canyon is producing ore, Native American tribes, local officials and Arizona’s attorney general are questioning its safety.
Last year, in a remote forested area of northern Arizona, President Biden designated Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni — the Grand Canyon Ancestral Footprints — a National Monument.
“Since ancient times, more than a dozen tribes have lived, gathered and prayed on these lands,” Biden said as he addressed an enthusiastic crowd of tribal leaders, members of Congress, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs and supporters.
This monument designation permanently prohibits new uranium mining activities on nearly one million acres adjacent to Grand Canyon National Park and prevents hundreds of new activities from taking place in an area of significant cultural significance to the Havasupai, Hopi, Navajo and other peoples.
“Our nation’s history is written in our people and our land. Today’s action will protect and preserve that history,” Biden said, as Red Butte, one of the Havasupai Tribe’s most sacred sites, loomed in the background.
The announcement is also an acknowledgement of a much darker history, with more than 500 abandoned uranium mines on and near the Navajo Nation left over from the Cold War era that are believed to have caused deaths, cancer and other serious health problems in many Native communities in the area.
“When it comes to uranium in particular, I think there is almost a moral obligation to say no and to get that message out in a strong way,” he said. Navajo Nation First Lady and former Arizona legislator Jasmine Blackwater-Nygren.
She said radiation exposure killed two of her grandparents, one of whom was a uranium miner. It’s an all-too-common story among Navajo people, and a hardship that affects nearly every family there. But an established mine that has been idle for decades and is located in a national monument can still operate legally because of preexisting rights. And it began producing uranium ore earlier this year.
Inside the Pinyon Plain Mine near the Grand Canyon in Arizona
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“It’s just you and the miners working together to achieve the goal,” said Pinyon Plain Mine Assistant Manager Matt Germansen.
He had just stepped out of a cage-like elevator after a five-minute ride nearly 1,500 feet down into the bottom of the mine shaft. A ventilation system whirred above a diesel-powered backhoe and a small crew of miners, electricians and welders. They were focused on excavating a geological formation called a breccia pipe that contained some of the highest-grade uranium ore in the United States.
“We have basically everything we need to operate here, from heavy equipment to first aid and electrical systems,” said Germansen as he walked through the tunnels of the underground operation.
He and Mine owner, Energy FuelsThe company said the mine is safe and will not impact the Grand Canyon’s groundwater or environment — something conservationists have challenged for years. The company said Biden’s designation has hampered the area’s significant uranium development potential.
“It’s definitely disappointing to declare a national monument because it feels like it’s being done without any scientific evidence to back it up,” said Germansen.
But that science is still inconclusive. Hydrologists with the U.S. Geological Survey have been studying the area for more than a decade and have sampled thousands of water sources throughout the Grand Canyon. They say there is no definitive evidence of water contamination from Pinyon Plain or other uranium deposits. But they caution that they still don’t have a complete picture of its complex geology, and there are still many uncertainties.
Tribes in the area remain staunchly opposed and have fought against uranium mining near the Grand Canyon for decades. The Havasupai, whose reservation sits at the bottom of the canyon, are concerned that Pinyon Plain could contaminate their only water source. They, along with environmental groups, challenged a 1986 environmental analysis by the U.S. Forest Service that found little risk of contamination. But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled it valid and re-affirmed the company’s right to mine in 2022. Earlier this month, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes questioned the nearly 40-year-old science in the original study and asked the agency, which manages the land where the mine is located, to conduct a new study.
Carbon-free energy
Energy Fuels claims that Pinyon Plain, Arizona’s only operating uranium mine, is a critical part of the global transition away from fossil fuels. The mine is expected to produce about 2.5 million pounds of processed uranium over its life of three years or more.
“If we want to solve climate change, nuclear has to be a part of that,” said Curtis Moore, senior vice president of marketing and corporate development at Energy Fuels. “There’s no way to do that without nuclear. Uranium powers nuclear.”
While US interest in carbon-free nuclear energy is growing, significant supplies of uranium have been constrained for geopolitical reasons.
“A big issue is Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the atrocities that are taking place in Ukraine,” Moore said.
Earlier this year, Biden signed a bill banning the United States from importing uranium from Russia. The bill took effect in August. Before that, the United States imported about $1 billion a year.
Last year, President Biden created Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni—the Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. This year, he signed a bill banning the import of Russian uranium.
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Amid these changes in the global market, Energy Fuels sent the first trucks of ore from the Pinyon Plain Mine to the White Mesa Mill in southern Utah for processing in late July. The route passes through a large portion of the Navajo Nation, and the company’s surprise move sparked protests in the region.
“Our people are still dying today. They are suffering. There is so much generational trauma that uranium has caused our people,” said Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren.
He spoke to dozens of community members, activists and others in early August in the town of Cameron, which lies along the U.S. Highway 89 shipping route, just days after the ore shipments passed through. Nygren then led a protest march along the highway, snarling traffic as leaders sang traditional Diné songs and held a large yellow and red banner calling for the mine to be closed and tribal sovereignty to be respected.
The tribe banned the shipment of uranium ore in 2012, and Nygren has said he will stop all future shipments. However, Energy Fuels says it has the right to use federal and state highways through the reservation to make deliveries. And it insists the ore is low in radiation and safe to transport.
But shortly after the first trucks passed through the Navajo Nation, the company halted shipments at the request of Governor Hobbs, who is mediating negotiations between Energy Fuels and tribal officials. There is no timeline for when shipments might restart, but the pause has done little to quell the Pinyon Plain protests as activists, tribal members and leaders continue to fight uranium mining near the Grand Canyon.
“This is a humanitarian issue that we face in Navajo because it has killed thousands of our people,” Nygren said.
