PHOENIX — The Navajo Nation on Tuesday wanted to test a tribal law that bans the transportation of uranium on its land, by requiring tribal police to stop trucks carrying the mineral and return it to the mine in northern Arizona where it was extracted.
But before tribal police could catch up with two trucks on federal highways, they learned that the vehicles under contract to Energy Fuels Inc. were no longer on the reservation.
Navajo President Buu Nygren vowed to carry out the plan to erect roadblocks while the tribe develops rules for the first major shipments of uranium ore through the reservation in years.
“Of course, the higher courts will have to tell us who’s right and who’s wrong,” he told The Associated Press. “But in the meantime, you’re within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation.”
The tribe passed a law in 2012 to ban the transportation of uranium on the sprawling reservation that stretches into Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. But 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 for processing in Blanding, Utah.
Still, Nygren and Navajo Attorney General Ethel Branch believe the tribe is on solid legal footing, with a plan to have police block federal highways, stop drivers and prevent them from traveling further onto the reservation.
Energy Fuels said it began transporting the ore as planned Tuesday and that it had informed federal, state, county and tribal officials more than 10 days ago about regulatory requirements, safety, emergency response and the upcoming shipment of uranium ore, although it did not provide a specific date. Spokesman Curtis Moore said no one said that was not enough.
“Tens of thousands of trucks have safely transported uranium ore across Northern Arizona since the 1980s with no adverse health or environmental impacts,” the company’s president and CEO, Mark Chalmers, said in a statement. “Materials of far greater danger are transported every day on every road in the county. Ore is simply natural rock. It will not explode, ignite, burn or glow, contrary to what opponents claim.”
The Arizona Department of Transportation and the Arizona Department of Public Safety, which are responsible for state and federal highways through the reservation, did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
The Kaibab National Forest, where the mine is permitted, said it was notified after the hauling began Tuesday morning and then contacted tribes, local officials and others, spokeswoman Brienne Pettit said. The forest also asked for advance notice, she said.
Officials with Coconino County and the Navajo Nation said Energy Fuels verbally agreed — but is not required — to give communities along the route at least a week’s notice before a truck transports uranium through it. Nygren said the tribe received notification Tuesday that trucks had left the mine site and were traveling north through Flagstaff.
Energy Fuels, the largest uranium producer in the United States, recently began mining at the Pinyon Plain Mine for the first time since the 1980s, driven by higher uranium prices and global instability. Industry officials say uranium production is different now than it was decades ago, when the country was rushing to expand its nuclear arsenal.
There are no other locations in Arizona where uranium is actively mined.
Chalmers said uranium ore mined from Pinyon Plain is transported in well-covered vehicles with placards indicating that the contents are radioactive. The shipments, driven by licensed and trained operators, comply with regulations and the law, he said. Mining during World War II and the Cold War left a legacy of death, disease and contagion on the Navajo Nation and in other communities across the country, making any new development of the ore a bitter pill to swallow. The Havasupai Tribe is one of the tribes and environmental activists which raised concerns about possible water contamination.
Republicans have praised the economic benefits the jobs would bring to the region, known for mining high-grade uranium ore.
In 2013, the Navajo Nation told another uranium producer that it would deny access to a ranch that surrounded Arizona land the company planned to mine. At the time, the tribe cited a 2005 law that prohibited uranium mining on its land and another 2006 law that related to transportation. The mining never took place, although other things were needed, such as a ground lease and environmental permits.
Stephen Etsitty, director of the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency, said the tribe has been in discussions with Energy Fuels since March to coordinate emergency plans and submit courtesy notifications.
Etsitty said that based on those meetings, the tribe did not expect Energy Fuels to transport uranium through the Navajo reservation in the next month or even until the fall.
On Tuesday, he said the tribe learned about the trucks indirectly, frustrating officials on what is the day of the Arizona primary. Moore, the company spokesman, said Energy Fuels is required to notify the tribe of any spills or accidents.
Etsitty said accidents involving trucks transporting hazardous or radioactive material occur on the reservation on average once every three to five years. But the possibility requires the tribe to notify emergency responders along the route. Because the material being transported from the mine is uranium ore, rather than processed ore, the risk of radiation exposure is lower, Etsitty said.
“It’s a hazard, but it would take longer for someone to get acute exposure at a spill site,” he said. “Precautions still need to be taken.”