Uranium

 by Tim Peterson, Cultural Landscapes Director

Radioactive materials from two nuclear energy program research facilities in Japan run by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency have arrived in the United States, bound for processing and disposal at the controversial White Mesa uranium mill near Bears Ears National Monument. The uranium mill sits just up the road from the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe's White Mesa Reservation, where tribal members worry about the long-term effects of the mill's radioactive waste business on air quality, water quality, and public health.

According to shipping manifests, more than 275,000 pounds of radioactive materials arrived in the port of Everett, Washington on January 16, 2024. Bills of lading show the materials were shipped by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency and imported by Energy Fuels Resources, which owns and operates the White Mesa uranium mill, as well as Canyon Mine (aka Pinyon Plain Mine), a contested uranium mine near the Grand Canyon, and other uranium mines across the Southwest.

The ore pad at the White Mesa Mill on May 16, 2024. The suspected Japan Atomic Energy Agency containers can be seen at the bottom center of the photo, in a vertical white column beside the bright yellow area. Photo by Tim Peterson, flown by EcoFlight.. TIM PETERSON, FLOWN BY ECOFLIGHT 

The radioactive materials include uranium ores, ore samples, cores, test-hole samples, spilled ore material, soil, rock, uranium-loaded resins and associated filter-bed sands that were used to treat water contaminated with uranium at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency research sites. 

Ultimately, more than 99.5% of the imported Japan Atomic Energy Agency materials are expected to be dumped in massive open-air waste pits at the White Mesa Mill. 

No notice to the public

There was no public notice of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency materials being trucked to the mill and tribal members in White Mesa were not informed, either by the company or by Utah regulators, despite community concerns about increased truck traffic and potential accidents involving trucks transporting the Japanese waste on Highway 191, which runs through the heart of White Mesa.

And this isn't the first time the Japan Atomic Energy Agency has shipped radioactive materials to the White Mesa Mill.

Shifting the radioactive burden to White Mesa

The annual spiritual walk to protest the mill, organized by the White Mesa Concerned Community. The walk travels along Highway 191 from White Mesa to the mill turnoff. TIM PETERSON

In 2005, the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency shipped a first batch of radioactive materials to White Mesa. Japanese regulators were eager to get the uranium waste off their hands, arguing that cleaning up uranium mining and milling facilities in Japan reduced the burden of waste management on future generations of Japanese citizens. But what about the citizens of White Mesa?

For decades, the White Mesa uranium mill has supplemented its uranium ore-processing business by accepting radioactive waste from around the world for processing and disposal, a practice the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and tribal members in White Mesa, the mill's closest neighboring community, strongly oppose.

In February, leaders of the White Mesa Concerned Community group shared their concerns in a hearing before the Organization of American States’ Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. But for the most part the tribe and the community's concerns have fallen on deaf ears in Utah.

Why send waste from Japan all the way to Utah?

Why would the Japan Atomic Energy Agency ship its waste halfway around the world to rural Utah? More than likely, it comes down to money.

The White Mesa Mill was designed and built to process uranium ore from rock mined across the American Southwest. It's licensed as a uranium mill, not as a radioactive-waste-disposal facility. But extracting small amounts of uranium from radioactive waste and then disposing of the remaining waste for a fee has proved profitable for the mill. And because the mill didn't have to go through the arduous and expensive process of being licensed as a radioactive waste disposal facility, it can offer cheaper prices than facilities that were designed for this purpose.

Normally, at a uranium mill, the mill’s operators pay for uranium ore. But in 2005, when the Japan Atomic Energy Agency shipped radioactive materials to the White Mesa Mill, it paid the mill's operators $5.8 million to process uranium from and permanently dispose of 1 million pounds of contaminated soils. If the mill’s operators are again getting paid to accept this latest shipment of waste from Japan, it’s not for processing uranium, but for disposing of radioactive materials the Japanese government doesn’t want in its communities.  

How is this legal?

Utah is what's called an agreement state, which means it's the state rather than the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that regulates the White Mesa uranium mill. 

On May 19, 2020, the White Mesa Mill's owner, Energy Fuels Resources, informed the Utah Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control that it intended to accept and process the Japan Atomic Energy Agency waste.

About two months later, the Utah Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control decided the White Mesa Mill did not need to amend its license (again, it's licensed as a uranium mill, not a radioactive-waste disposal facility) to accept the waste.

Legally, the path was clear, and that means over 270,000 pounds of radioactive materials from Japan will ultimately join the more than 700 million pounds of radioactive wastes already buried in the White Mesa Mill's waste pits.

 by Amber Reimondo, Energy Director

The ongoing flooding problem at Canyon uranium mine, near the Grand Canyon, continues, with over 9 million gallons pumped out of the mine shaft in 2023, bringing the grand total to over 66 million gallons — enough water to supply each resident of the nearby town of Tusayan for two years. That's according to data submitted by the mine's owner, Energy Fuels Resources, to Arizona regulators and recently published on the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality's website. 

Canyon Mine, renamed Pinyon Plain Mine, sits fewer than 10 miles from Grand Canyon National Park — well within the range that groundwater has been found to travel in the region — and inside the boundaries of Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument.

The mine, which is exempt from the monument's mining ban thanks to the outdated 1872 General Mining Law and despite strong opposition from the Havasupai Tribe and many others, began extracting uranium ore in December 2023. The Havasupai Tribe has opposed the mine since before it opened in 1986 and considers the mine a threat to its drinking water and to its sacred mountain, Red Butte.

Radioactive uranium ore from Canyon Mine is expected to be trucked across the Navajo Nation to the White Mesa uranium mill, near the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe's White Mesa community and a mile from Bears Ears National Monument, for processing later this year. 

The Navajo Nation has banned all uranium mining and uranium transport on its land and recently reaffirmed its strong opposition to uranium hauling across Navajo lands, but the state of Arizona has not done the same for state highways that run through the Navajo Nation.

Mine punctures groundwater, flooding ensues

Canyon Mine pumped about 800,000 gallons of water out of its mine shaft between 2013 and 2015, but the mine's water problems began in earnest in late 2016, when miners hit groundwater, puncturing a perched aquifer, and water began flooding into the mine shaft.

According to the mining company's own data, that first year, in 2016, the company pumped over 1.4 million gallons of water out of the mine shaft. The next year, it was more than 8.7 million. And the problem has only continued. In 2018, the number was 9.6 million gallons, followed by another 10.6 million gallons in 2019. In 2023, more than 9.3 million gallons were pumped out of the mine shaft.

2016: 1.4 million gallons
2017: 8.7 million gallons
2018: 9.6 million gallons
2019: 10.6 million gallons
2020: 9.4 million gallons
2021: 8.2 million gallons
2022: 8.4 million gallons
2023: 9.3 million gallons

All told, more than 66 million gallons of precious Grand Canyon region groundwater have been pumped out of the mine shaft as of December 31, 2023. And water loss isn't the only concern.

High levels of arsenic, uranium, and lead

Water pumped out of the mine shaft has shown high levels of heavy metals that could spell disaster if they ever leached into surrounding groundwater aquifers, including uranium, lead, and arsenic. In the last quarter of 2023 (remember, the mine began extracting ore in December 2023), levels increased dramatically. Uranium levels reached six times the Environmental Protection Agency's maximum contaminant level for safe drinking water, lead reached 243 times the maximum contaminant level, and arsenic reached a whopping 812 times the maximum contaminant level.

At times, the mine's owner has struggled to get rid of all this water. It pumps the floodwater into a large open-air pond inside the mine fence, where birds often alight to drink and bathe. Visitors to the mine site have spotted burrows and tufts of fur caught in the chain-link where thirsty animals appear to have tunneled under the fence to reach the pond. On windy days, the misted water blows through the chain-link into the surrounding national monument lands.

Complex hydrogeology and water contamination fears

The mine sits above the Redwall-Muav Aquifer, which provides drinking water to Supai Village on the Havasupai Reservation at the bottom of Havasu Canyon, a side canyon off the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon region is known for its fractured rock and complicated hydrogeology. Water flows downward, horizontally, and in multiple directions at once. To date, scientific research has not been able to determine how fast, how far, and by precisely what pathways water travels underground here. Many, and especially the Havasupai themselves, fear that the mine will contaminate water that the Havasupai Tribe depends on.

A Grand Canyon groundwater study pre-published in May 2024 found that data show the potential for contamination from the mine to reach springs on the south rim of Grand Canyon National Park and Havasu Springs near Supai Village, and advised that further tracer studies are needed to see how water flows. The study also called for additional monitoring wells at the mine to test for contaminant changes.

On February 20, 2024, Coconino County, where the mine is located, passed a resolution calling for the mine to close, and, at a minimum, for Arizona regulators to conduct robust and frequent air and water quality monitoring and release the results to the public monthly.

We likely won't learn what the current 2024 flooding numbers at the mine look like until next year, but 66 million gallons are enough. And the more mineralized rock is exposed during mining operations, the greater long-term risk emerges that contaminated groundwater could find its way into surrounding aquifers, especially when the mine closes and the company is no longer present to manage the inflow of water. The mine is depleting precious groundwater and the risks to vital water sources, especially for the Havasupai Tribe, are poorly understood.

This is the wrong place for a uranium mine. It's time to close and clean up Canyon Mine for good before the problem grows further.

 by Tim Peterson, Cultural Landscapes Director

Anferny and Yolanda Badback live just a few miles down the road from the aging White Mesa uranium mill, which supplements its uranium ore-processing business by accepting radioactive waste from around the world for processing and disposal. 

In February 2024, Yolanda and her son, Anferny, leaders of the White Mesa Concerned Community group, which works to protect the Ute Mountain Ute community of White Mesa from the nearby uranium mill, traveled to Washington, D.C. to share their concerns in a hearing before the Organization of American States’ Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Testifying about the White Mesa Mill

The hearing, titled "Impacts of Uranium Exploitation on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights," had been requested by the New Mexico Environmental Law Center to address how Indigenous peoples across the Western United States feel unheard by state and national leaders when it comes to uranium pollution. 

Anferny Badback delivered powerful testimony at the hearing, saying:

"Sometimes when the mill is running, it smells like chemicals at my house. Our young ones are starting to get asthma, and nobody knows why. They never had asthma before. We are concerned about the pollution of our well water. Most of us don’t drink our tap water — we purchase bottles of water.  

The water under the mill is becoming more and more polluted and is moving toward our community. The acidity of the water is increasing, and heavy metals are rising.  We used to drink the spring water for ceremonial purposes. We don’t do that anymore. We used to hunt for animals near our homes; we used to gather plants for baskets, and to eat. We don’t do that anymore as well. 

Radioactive waste and contamination from the lands of the Cherokee, Spokane, Muscogee, and many other nations, including international waste from Estonia and Japan, has been shipped to the mill. More waste left behind from the U.S. government is coming in soon. They pit tribes against tribes, and we don’t support that."

Yolanda Badback told the commission, "I want our community to be free of radiation. I want our kids to be growing up in a safe environment."

Uranium mining affects many tribes

Native American advocates and activists from across the region, including Carletta Tilousi from the Havasupai Tribe and Edith Hood and Teracita Keyanna from the Navajo Nation, testified about how uranium mining affects their communities. 

Former Havasupai Trial Council Member Carletta Tilousi told the commission, "We have been against uranium mining for decades because of the known risks to air and water, land and people." Tilousi continued, "Uranium mining in the Southwest has scarred and left a horrifying legacy of death in our communities. Thousands of abandoned uranium mines on federal and tribal lands have not been cleaned up."

Ore from the controversial Canyon uranium mine (renamed the Pinyon Plain Mine), which threatens the Havasupai Tribe’s sacred mountain, Red Butte, not far from the Grand Canyon, is expected to be trucked across Navajo Nation lands to the White Mesa Mill for processing.

The federal government responds

Given a chance to address the witnesses and the commission, government representative John Lubinski, director of the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, claimed, "We’ve found that our approach to environmental justice in our programs, policies, and activities has worked well, and the [recent] assessment identified opportunities for programmatic and policy enhancements as we move forward." Lubinsky did not elaborate. 

The Organization of American States’ Rapporteur on Indigenous Rights Commissioner Arif Bulkan delivered a more satisfying response, saying, "It’s been held by this Commission that protecting the particular relationship between Indigenous peoples and their lands and resources is linked to their very existence, and thus warrants special measures of protection. These are basic standards that acknowledge the primacy of Indigenous peoples in this region, and they’re a measure of redressing historic injustices, injustices that involve removal from the land, and continuing inequalities as a result..." Bulkan continued, "…part of that protection and respect would include observing the FPIC principle — free, prior, and informed consent — as distinct from consultation."

Free, prior, and informed consent from tribes

Though steps taken by the Biden administration regarding Native American affairs in recent years have brought about some improvements, the U.S. still has a long way to go to honor Indigenous peoples’ sovereignty under international law. Bulkan’s statement served as an important reminder for U.S. government officials of the importance of free, prior, and informed consent for activities which affect tribes, as outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The United States recognized the declaration in 2011. 

Waiting and wanting justice for White Mesa

Anferny Badback closed his testimony by saying, "We’re concerned about the health of our young ones and our elderly in our Ute community. We want the mill shut down and [to] properly be cleaned up. We want the mill and its contamination to be moved where it can’t hurt any living things. … Please help us. We’re waiting and wanting justice."

The full hearing, including the U.S. government’s and commissioners’ responses, can be heard here ›

 by Amber Reimondo, Energy Director

In 1986, the federal government analyzed the "Impacts on Indian Religious Concerns" related to the proposed Canyon Mine, a uranium mine near the Grand Canyon.

A history of overlooking Indigenous concerns

It found that: "Construction and operation of the Canyon Mine will have no impact on Indian lands in northern Arizona." It went on to claim that, "After communications and consultation with Hopi and Havasupai Tribal leaders and experts on Indian religious sites and practices as well as an archeological (sic) investigation of the mine site, no specific Indian sacred or religious sites have been identified near the mine site. The Tribes maintain that Indian religious interests will be adversely affected but have not identified specific sites which are threatened."

The U.S. government has long overlooked and oversimplified Indigenous concerns, viewing impacts to the environment through a narrow and non-inclusive lens.

A new report expands how to study risks

A new report published earlier this month by the United States Geological Survey, co-authored by former Havasupai Tribal Councilwoman Carletta Tilousi and scientist Jo Ellen Hinck, expands how the U.S. government agency looks at risks posed by uranium mining in the Grand Canyon region to include perspectives from the Havasupai Tribe.

This is such an important step because, in general, government analyses of impacts from operations like mines have long been Eurocentric and have not reflected the risks faced by the Havasupai or other Native American tribes who use and think of the land differently. This report starts to change that.

The Havasupai Tribe and other Native peoples of the Grand Canyon region have long opposed uranium mining in the area, citing, among other things, risks to water, health, animals, plants, and cultural sites, as well as to Indigenous beliefs and lifeways.

This is especially true for Canyon Mine (renamed Pinyon Plain Mine in 2020), on ancestral lands near the Havasupai Tribe's sacred mountain, Red Butte, south of Grand Canyon National Park and inside the newly designated Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. The mine began extracting uranium in December 2023 for the first time in its 38-year history.

"We have a belief system that they don’t understand," says Tilousi in the report. "In our stories...where the mine is located is Mother Earth’s lungs. So when they dug the mine shaft, they punctured her lungs."

In 2016, the mine also punctured a perched aquifer and millions of gallons of water containing high levels of contaminants like uranium and arsenic have been pumped out of the mine shaft every year since.

But the way the U.S. Geological Survey and other government agencies study or consider exposure risks from uranium mining has largely ignored Indigenous knowledge and realities, including ways that tribal communities are exposed, until now.

The 18-page report is packed with important information and I'd highly recommend reading it in full. Here are a few highlights, to get you started.

A new framework for studying exposure pathways

Contaminant exposure framework for uranium mining in the Grand Canyon region from the Havasupai perspective. UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

The report rolls out an updated framework, in both English and Havasupai, for understanding ways that tribal communities may be exposed to contaminants from uranium mining in addition to the types of exposure pathways typically recognized by western science.

Cultural practices and risks of uranium mining contaminant exposure

For example, the new framework considers not only what humans and animals are eating, breathing, and drinking near Canyon Mine, but also includes Havasupai traditional uses like harvesting elk, mule deer, porcupine, and black-tailed jackrabbits, as well as pinyon nuts and yucca for food, and gathering medicinal and ceremonial plants like sage, and body and face-painting materials like red ochre and charcoal.

Whereas before the U.S. Geological Survey might have simply studied exposure that might happen from eating hunted game, now it will look at ways Havasupai people might be exposed due to cultural practices, like preparing deer hides.

According to the report, "the Havasupai have long been known for the quality of their tanned deer-hides...Traditional hide processing includes hand and mouth contact with deer organs and fluids, which could expose hunters to contaminants in the animal."

No acceptable level of contamination

Importantly, the paper also explains that things like toxicity thresholds often used in western science may have no relevance to the Havasupai who feel an impact at the introduction of any level of toxicity. For the Havasupai, there is no acceptable level of contamination.

According to the report, "Common risk assessment approaches attempt to quantify the risk by applying hazard quotients or setting protective toxicity thresholds, indicating that some degree of change or loss is acceptable. Such an approach may be deemed irrelevant by Tribal communities; for example, the Havasupai have changed certain traditional behaviors to mitigate exposure based on their risk perspective to mining near Red Butte."

Other concerns about ways Havasupai people could be exposed to contaminants from uranium mining include inhaling steam from water vapor and exposure to particulates from burning sage in traditional sweat lodges for blessings, healing, and prayer, and absorbing contaminants through their skin after applying body and face paints.

While the report is careful to point out that the updated framework simply identifies ways people are concerned about being exposed to contamination, but does not confirm or quantify actual exposure, simply including Havasupai perspectives represents an important step forward. It recognizes some of the ways that Native people have lived since time immemorial and continue to practice their traditional lifeways in the region.

Seeking meaningful input from Havasupai elders and getting permission to share

The expanded risk framework represents eight years of knowledge-sharing by the Havasupai Tribe. From 2015 until 2022, Havasupai elders, members of the Havasupai Tribal Council, and tribal members selected by the tribe shared knowledge during formal meetings, site visits, and virtual teleconferences.

The final report was reviewed and approved by the Havasupai Tribal Council, which granted permission for Havasupai names, culture, language, and history to be publicly shared.

As a result, how the U.S. Geological Survey thinks about and studies possible risks posed by uranium mining contamination in the Grand Canyon region can finally begin to consider how mining impacts the environment, food, belief systems, and ceremony from a Havasupai perspective. And hopefully it signals a broader shift toward incorporating Indigenous knowledge into other environmental analyses as well, better reflecting the true risks and impacts of development on Indigenous communities. 

READ THE FULL REPORT: Expanded Conceptual Risk Framework for Uranium Mining in Grand Canyon Watershed—Inclusion of the Havasupai Tribe Perspective ›

 by Amber Reimondo, Energy Director

Mere months after the long-awaited and widely celebrated designation of Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument, a controversial uranium mine within the monument boundaries is starting operations, according to the mine's owner.

Although the monument bans new uranium mines, Canyon Mine (renamed Pinyon Plain Mine) was exempted from this ban after years of attempts by the Havasupai Tribe, the Grand Canyon Trust, and many others to stop it in the courts.

The White House Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni National Monument fact sheet mentions two mining operations within the monument that would be able to operate. The second one is likely Arizona One uranium mine, on the north rim of the Grand Canyon, but that mine has been mined out since 2014.

Stockpiling uranium ore near the Grand Canyon

In November, Energy Fuels Resources, which owns and operates Pinyon Plain Mine, sent a required notice to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency indicating that ventilation of the mine would begin within 30 to 60 days. Ventilation is required for miners to work underground.

The company also indicated to the Kaibab National Forest, which manages the monument lands where the mine sits, that it expected to begin extracting radioactive uranium ore and piling it up at the mine site sometime in December or early January. Ore is typically left uncovered and high winds can blow radioactive dust into the national forest.

On December 21, 2023, Energy Fuels put out a press release announcing it had "commenced uranium production" at Pinyon Plain Mine alongside two other mines on the Colorado Plateau.

The mine has occupied national forest lands within the Havasupai Tribe’s Red Butte Traditional Cultural Property for nearly four decades, yet this is the first time the mine has operated as spot prices for uranium soared to over $90, their highest point in over a decade.

Uranium mine moves ahead despite national monument protections

Canyon Mine aka Pinyon Plain Mine with the Havasupai Tribe's sacred mountain, Red Butte in the background. ECOFLIGHT

The Havasupai Tribe, the Grand Canyon Trust, and partners spent years in court attempting to stop Canyon Mine (Pinyon Plain Mine). Unfortunately, in February 2022, a federal court cleared the path for the mine to move forward.

This means that although Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni National Monument bans all new uranium mines on monument lands around the Grand Canyon, the ban doesn’t apply to Canyon Mine (Pinyon Plain Mine); it is considered exempt.

Why can a mine be exempted from a ban on mining?

When mining bans are put in place, the government has to leave space for existing mines to continue if they have what are called "valid existing rights" under the 1872 Mining Law. So if a mine has demonstrated that it can profitably mine a valuable mineral deposit before a mining ban takes effect, it can move ahead regardless of later bans.

In the case of Canyon Mine (Pinyon Plain Mine), the February 2022 court ruling upheld the Forest Service’s determination that the mine has valid existing rights, exempting it from the mining ban. Unfortunately, the permissive nature of the 1872 Mining Law means that the mine is allowed to move ahead, despite its location near the south rim of Grand Canyon National Park, inside the newly designated Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni National Monument

Groundwater quality and cultural sites at risk

With Canyon Mine (Pinyon Plain Mine), a lot is at risk. First, the mine sits overtop the Redwall-Muav Aquifer, the sole water source for the Havasupai Tribe, and the source of many seeps and springs inside Grand Canyon National Park.

Since 2016, tens of millions of gallons of precious groundwater contaminated with high levels of dangerous minerals like uranium and arsenic have been pumped out of the mine, left to evaporate in an open-air pond, misted into the air, and even trucked over state lines to the White Mesa uranium mill for disposal. This groundwater inflow will continue to pose a threat to the greater groundwater system long after the mine closes down.

The mine is also not only within the Red Butte Traditional Cultural Property fewer than 10 miles from Grand Canyon National Park, it’s also now within the south parcel of the new Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni National Monument, on lands that remain deeply significant to the Havasupai, Hopi, and other regional tribes.

What can be done to protect the Grand Canyon region from uranium mining?

The biggest lever for protection was the designation of the new Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni National Monument; that lever has thankfully already been pulled and it will prevent new mines from ever coming online inside the monument boundaries. Which means the threat of hundreds of new uranium mines is lifted.

When it comes to Canyon Mine (Pinyon Plain Mine) specifically, the options have narrowed. Here are a few things that can be done:

First, we can continue to monitor the mine and its operations for any missteps that violate legal safeguards and continue to report those to the proper authorities.

Second, we can make sure that when the mine finishes operating — expected to take only two to three years once the company starts extracting uranium — that the mine’s closure plan is followed.

And third, we can work to ensure that no other existing mines in the region are able to secure an exception like Canyon Mine (Pinyon Plain Mine) has.

 by Amber Reimondo, Energy Director

On August 8, 2023, Native American tribes and long-time advocates for permanent protection of the Grand Canyon region saw a dream come true. With Air Force One parked on the tarmac at Grand Canyon Airport, President Biden’s motorcade rolled down Forest Service Road 305 toward a meadow near Red Butte where, within the hour, he signed a proclamation designating the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument.

This day marked a historic achievement, not only because it established a new national monument on nearly 1 million acres of federally managed lands north and south of the Grand Canyon — only the third monument to be managed by regional tribes alongside the federal government. But this designation comes with another particularly important and long sought-after protection for the region: a permanent mining ban. Let’s look at what that really means.

A mining ban with some exceptions

When mining bans — or mineral withdrawals, as they’re technically called — are created, they have to allow for certain exceptions. Namely, under the antiquated 1872 Mining Law, a ban cannot revoke preexisting rights to mine. Doing so is considered akin to taking private property, even though these mines are on public land. Accordingly, the Grand Canyon region mining ban, just like any other, prevents any new mining claim from being staked and will prevent any existing claim from moving forward if the company hasn’t done enough work to show that the mineral deposit the claim sits atop is economically feasible to mine. But a mine that has established “valid existing rights” will be exempt.

In the Grand Canyon region, only one mine of the nearly 600 preexisting mining claims has been given this exempt status by the federal government — that’s Canyon Mine (renamed Pinyon Plain Mine by the operator, Energy Fuels Resources). The Havasupai Tribe, the Grand Canyon Trust, and others worked for years to prevent this uranium mine from gaining exempt status but lost the most recent court case in February 2022.

The Biden administration’s fact sheet on the monument states there are two mines within the monument boundaries that will be allowed to go forward. It’s unclear which mine the administration views as the second — the only other uranium mine in the monument that’s still standing is the Arizona One Mine in the northwest parcel, but it stopped mining in 2014 when, according to the World Nuclear Association, “known resources were depleted.” The other possibility is Energy Fuels Resources’ EZ Complex in the northwest parcel, but it hasn’t been constructed. The Trust will continue to track the company's activities and will take action if it moves forward, despite the permanent mining ban.

What can we expect from Canyon Mine?

As of October 2023, Canyon uranium mine, renamed Pinyon Plain Mine, has never commercially produced uranium. BLAKE MCCORD

Canyon Mine has been permitted since the 1980s, and the mine owner finished constructing the main shaft in 2018, but the mine has yet to start commercial production of uranium ore. Why? Because the price uranium has fetched on the market over the past four decades hasn’t been high enough for this type of mine to reel in a profit. The high energy, high-cost mining method (underground mining, which entails trucking tens of millions of pounds of rock that is over 99 percent waste to the White Mesa Mill in Utah) required to mine this particular deposit means it costs more to produce a pound of uranium from this mine than from a mine somewhere else with a different ore quality or a different mining method.

Back in 2018, a mine executive said that the mine would be viable if uranium prices climbed to $40-$50 per pound by 2019. As of October 2023, the price of uranium has climbed to $70 per pound, but so has the price of just about everything else, which likely means the mine’s break-even point is much higher than it was back in 2018. That said, activity has increased at the mine over the course of the last year, and it’s possible we’ll still see the mine kick-start production.

Do we need uranium from Canyon Mine or other Grand Canyon mines?

Nope. Very simply, the Grand Canyon region as a whole contains less than 2 percent of all unmined uranium reserves in the U.S. and the U.S.holds just 1 percent of global uranium reserves according to the World Nuclear Association. U.S. reserves are ranked 15th out of 16 countries on a list of global reserves that is led by Australia, Kazakhstan, and Canada.

Canyon Mine contains just a tiny fraction of the country’s uranium. To put it another way, Canyon Mine is expected to operate for three years and, in that time, the company expects the mine to produce up to 2.3 million pounds of uranium. For context, nuclear power plants in the U.S. use around 40 million pounds of uranium each year. That means Canyon Mine would produce less than 2 percent of the uranium the U.S. will use over the life of the mine. That’s hardly worth the risk it will create for the water of the Grand Canyon region and the new national monument itself.

What’s the fuss?

Mining companies often claim that there's “no evidence” of contamination from past mining. There's more to that story. Research on the topic has been extremely limited due to the vast and remote geography of the region and severely underwhelming funding. This research costs tens of millions of dollars and requires frequent expeditions to remote, difficult to access locations inside the canyon where instruments are frequently blown out by flash floods or ruined by over-exposure to sunlight.

Groundwater beneath Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument feeds many springs and creeks in the Grand Canyon. BLAKE MCCORD

These challenges are compounded by the fact that we don't understand groundwater systems in the region enough to know for certain where groundwater flows from mines or how fast it travels, and therefore exactly where to look for mine-caused contamination. Groundwater flow can take decades to thousands of years to emerge as surface water, much of it flowing into the Colorado River. Don't be fooled. A lack of data does not equate to evidence that mining is safe. And in a region like the Grand Canyon where the risks of contamination are high and the possible benefit to society is miniscule, President Biden made a wise and long-needed decision when he permanently protected these lands from new mining.

The bottom line

With the exception of Canyon Mine and possibly one other unspecified mine in the northwest parcel of the monument, both of which the Grand Canyon Trust will continue to monitor, the region is safe from the threat of thousands of new uranium claims that once crowded its front door. And that, my friends, is something to celebrate. 

 by Tim Peterson, Cultural Landscapes Director

The day before the second anniversary of Bears Ears National Monument’s restoration and two days before Indigenous Peoples’ Day, on a warm and clear Saturday, tribal members from many Indigenous communities and their allies and supporters gathered for the annual White Mesa spiritual walk and protest on October 7, 2023.

The walk, sponsored by the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and the White Mesa Concerned Community group, travels from the community to the gates of the White Mesa uranium mill in southeast Utah. 

"This mill isn't just our problem. It's everybody's problem…it's going to affect us, all of us, in the long run. We should have thousands of people upset about this," said Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Councilman Conrad Jacket.

Health concerns loom in shadow of uranium mill near Bears Ears

Located just one mile east of Bears Ears National Monument and a few miles from the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe’s White Mesa community, the White Mesa Mill is the United States’ last operating conventional uranium mill. It was licensed in 1980 to process uranium ore from around the Four Corners region. Back then, it was projected to operate for around 15 years, then close and clean up. Now, more than 40 years later, the mill is still operating, and community members are concerned for the fate of their land, air, and especially their water. 

"This is a big thing for us and we don't want them to expand, because we can smell … that sulfur smell…when we go by, you can smell it. It's not a good smell. And a lot of our people got sick and we don't know if it's due to that," said White Mesa Concerned Community member Michael Badback.

How has the mill stayed open so long? According to an executive at Energy Fuels Resources, the company that owns the mill, the "White Mesa [Mill] barely makes money. It's always at risk of permanent closure." Instead of closing when milling local uranium ore was no longer profitable, past and present owners of the mill have continuously reinvented their business model to keep operating. 

The mill turns to radioactive waste

First, the White Mesa Mill began accepting radioactive waste from around the country and the world, often to pocket hefty disposal fees on the order of $5 to $15 million per year, according to Energy Fuels’ CEO.

Since the late 1980s, more than 700 million pounds of radioactive waste have been processed and dumped at the mill. The mill’s owners call this waste "alternate feed."

"The state of Utah does not give a care. This is the place where they want to dump their waste. And not only the waste in America… waste…from Japan, from Europe," explained Councilman Jacket.

The mill retools again

Now, the mill’s owner is making a play to enter the rare earth elements processing market. Since 2021, the mill has been producing a mixed rare earth carbonate that has to be shipped all the way to Estonia to be further refined. But they’re making plans, buying equipment, and retooling the mill. 

So far, Utah regulators have done nothing to involve the public in another transformation that could keep an old uranium mill open even longer.

Lives are more important than money

At the community center, White Mesa Concerned Community leader Yolanda Badback welcomed those who came to walk. Councilman Jacket and Chairman Heart offered remarks, and Ute Mountain Ute Councilman and White Mesa Representative Malcolm Lehi spoke to the crowd in the Ute language. 

"…the Ute Mountain Ute tribal government is in full support of protecting the community of White Mesa," Chairman Heart told the crowd. "We're facing health disparities in Indian Country, huge health disparities, not only diabetes, but cancer. And if this water is affecting this community of White Mesa, then it is a big concern. [Mill owner] Energy Fuels is looking at it from a profit margin, and so is Utah. I do not think money should be put before the lives of tribal members," Heart continued. "Even if this community is a small community, it has to have [the] same equity of healthcare and healthcare services and take care of and protect the Utah citizens, as White Mesa community [members] are Utah citizens."

After the five-mile spiritual walk, near the gates of the mill, Chairman Heart addressed the crowd again. 

"Yes, things take time," Heart acknowledged. "It doesn't happen overnight, doesn't happen over a month, a year, it takes time…It takes time to educate people, people from the … Environmental Protection Agency, from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, to hold this mill accountable. It's not just about money, it's about the lives, each one of the lives that crossed this road and traveled this road. And this mill here is not in the best interest of this community, and they need to move it, close it, put it someplace else where it has no effect to life, water, or the environment. That's what we ask."

As uranium prices climb and a long-dormant domestic uranium industry threatens to start up again, the White Mesa Mill and the White Mesa Ute community are at the center of an epic struggle for environmental justice. 

In the words of Chairman Heart: "We want to have healthy lives. We want to have access to clean water. We want to have resources for the future of our children and grandchildren that are not here yet."

 by Tim Peterson, Cultural Landscapes Director

The snow piled up around Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument this winter. With near record rain and snowfall, we got a quick break in the weather on March 31, 2023, long enough to fly over the Bears Ears region with our friends at EcoFlight. We were in the air to get a look at the radioactive waste pits at the White Mesa uranium mill, and to check out an important piece of private property next to Bears Ears National Monument that needs protection from development.

Checking up on radioactive waste pits near Bears Ears 

Our first destination was the White Mesa Mill, on the doorstep of Bears Ears National Monument and just a handful of miles up the road from the White Mesa community of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. Radioactive waste from across the United States and as far away as Canada, Estonia, and Japan has been sent to the mill for processing and disposal in enormous waste pits.

Flying over the mill, we were looking for something specific: Was the 40-acre waste pit known as “Cell 4B” covered in liquid? A liquid barrier over the radioactive waste is required by law to reduce emissions of cancer-causing radon gas.

The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe has long been concerned that contamination from the mill will harm the environment and human health. After tribal staff noted, during an August 2021 flight with EcoFlight, that the waste pit known as Cell 4B appeared partially dried out, they reported it to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

In December 2021, the EPA found that the mill was violating the Clean Air Act by not keeping the waste pit covered with a liquid barrier and prohibited the mill from accepting radioactive waste shipments from highly contaminated Superfund sites.

By April 2022, it appeared that the violation had gotten even worse.

The EPA later walked back its position, allowing the mill to accept Superfund waste, including waste from the Midnite Mine on the Spokane Indian Tribe’s reservation in Washington state, but not to dump the leftovers in Cell 4B. 

The mill’s owner told state regulators it would take until the end of March 2023 to fill the pit. Now, almost a year later, was the problem fixed? 

From our vantage point in the air, Cell 4B appeared to be nearly full of liquid, but some solid materials remained uncovered at the corner.

TIM PETERSON, ECOFLIGHT

Lots of radioactive material was being stored outside the mill, though it may not be processed until uranium prices rise. 

The ore pad at the White Mesa Mill, where radioactive materials are stored before being processed. Midnite Mine waste comes in giant plastic bags called SuperSaks (lower center left). Between June and July 2022, the mill accepted nearly 2,000 drums of radioactive waste from Estonia (lower center). The red and grey piles are natural uranium ores from New Mexico and Utah, presumably also waiting for processing when uranium prices go up. TIM PETERSON, ECOFLIGHT

Protecting 320 acres in Cottonwood Wash

After observing the mill, we flew south to Bluff, catching a view of a 320-acre parcel nearly surrounded by Bears Ears National Monument that’s currently in private hands, but could become a Wildlands Conservancy preserve if funds can be raised to secure its purchase. 

The preserve would protect the entrance to a culturally important canyon while offering a place for education, ceremonial use by Indigenous people, and pilot restoration projects that could then be replicated elsewhere on the monument. If the land isn’t purchased by the Wildlands Conservancy, it could be developed, and the public would lose access to it forever.

The effort has the support of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and Bears Ears Partnership (formerly Friends of Cedar Mesa), and we hope you might consider a donation to help make this project a reality. 

TIM PETERSON, ECOFLIGHT

After that, we flew a long loop around Bears Ears, taking in the historic snowfall that has blessed the landscape this year. It was spectacular. Humans can’t fly, but with a small aircraft, the bird’s-eye view is within reach. 

TIM PETERSON, ECOFLIGHT

In the air with us was Aldean Ketchum, a Ute Mountain Ute tribal member from the White Mesa Ute community. The day before, as I’d browsed a gift shop in Bluff, I’d come across “Aldean and the Hawk,” a book he wrote and illustrated.

Based in part on his experience raising a hawk, in the book Aldean finds a fledgling hawk with a broken wing, nurses it back to health, and teaches it to hunt. He sets it free, but the hawk returns to visit Aldean and thanks him in bird language. Later, the hawk circles above Aldean as he hikes in the wilderness. Like Aldean’s hawk, tribal leaders and community members, with help from EcoFlight, are watching over the land from above.

 by Amber Reimondo, Energy Director

On August 8, 2023, the president designated Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument, protecting 917,618 acres of public land north and south of Grand Canyon National Park at the request of Native American tribes.

While the national monument preserves access for hunting, livestock grazing, and other traditional uses, it bars new mining claims from being staked inside the monument. However, any mine that has established valid existing rights — like Canyon Mine (aka Pinyon Plain Mine) in the south parcel of the new monument — can still move forward.

It’s unlikely there are many of these, however. The Biden administration estimated that only two mines within the monument are in any position to move forward.

The monument designation, popular with Arizona voters, nonetheless sparked outrage among some domestic uranium boosters, who claimed the new monument would make the U.S. dependent on Russia for uranium imports. 

Setting aside the fact that this argument displays a fundamental misunderstanding of uranium resources across the newly designated monument lands — the amount of uranium found within the monument boundaries is miniscule compared to reserves elsewhere in the country and in the world — let's take a look at where, in reality, the U.S. got its uranium in 2022.

The U.S. imports better quality, cheaper uranium

Whether you think the U.S. should be using uranium or not, let’s just look at the numbers. U.S. power plants purchased the bulk of their uranium from foreign suppliers in 2022, which makes sense, since the U.S. only has about 1 percent of world uranium reserves. The truth is uranium is plentiful and cheaper elsewhere.

In 2022, more than a quarter of U.S. uranium imports came from just one country: Canada. Just over 60 percent came from nine other countries, including Australia and Germany. Twelve percent came from Russia.

When it comes to replacing that 12 percent, it's worth remembering that two U.S. allies — Canada and Australia — combined possess nearly 40 percent of world uranium reserves. Uranium is plentiful throughout the world, and, by comparison, the U.S. doesn't have much of it. And, importantly, very little of what we do have is located in the Grand Canyon region. 

How much uranium was the U.S. getting from the Grand Canyon region before the monument?

Of course, historically, uranium mines did operate in the broader region, including on the Navajo Nation, as well as inside what is now Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni, as well as inside Grand Canyon National Park. These mines have left behind a costly legacy that plagues the region to this day, and has devastated the Navajo Nation, so much so that in 2005 the Navajo Nation passed a law prohibiting all uranium mining on its lands.

Mining speculators certainly have had big hopes for mining around the Grand Canyon, staking hundreds of mining claims in what is now the monument. But these claims are just markers in the dirt at this point.

However, the White House fact sheet about the monument makes clear that: "Existing mining claims...will remain in place, and the two approved mining operations within the boundaries of the monument would be able to operate."

According to John Leshy, who served as the U.S. Department of the Interior’s solicitor during the Clinton administration, "It’s frankly very unlikely that any existing claims would be valid,” although each claim would have to be evaluated individually.

The open question of Canyon (aka Pinyon Plain) Mine

There's only one active uranium mine in the monument footprint — the infamous Canyon Mine (renamed Pinyon Plain Mine). Even though it broke ground in the 1980s, nearly 40 years later it has yet to commercially produce a single pound of uranium. Why? Because Canyon Mine's uranium is expensive to mine and the mine's owner appears to be waiting for prices to rise further to start mining. And they've been waiting for decades.

In 2018, a mine executive claimed Canyon Mine could be viable if uranium prices increased to $40-$50 per pound by 2019. That didn’t happen. As of September 2023, though, spot prices had hit $70 per pound, but while activity at the mine has increased, mining has yet to commence. In December 2022, a mine spokesperson said mining was likely "at least a year away."

Even if the mine does start to extract uranium, the mine’s technical report shows it’s expected to produce about 2.3 million pounds of uranium (processed uranium, not uranium ore — ore is what’s taken from the mine to be processed, but it includes over 99 percent waste rock) over its lifetime. For context, U.S. nuclear reactors consume around 40 million pounds of uranium each year. So even if Canyon Mine does ever get moving, the company’s operations won’t impact U.S. uranium supplies much.

Meanwhile, the mine sits, fenced off in a meadow on Kaibab National Forest land, now inside Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument, just a few miles from the sacred site of Red Butte. 

While mining companies lock up public lands — the ancestral lands of Indigenous peoples — national monument protections keep public lands public, for all to enjoy. The new Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni National Monument has never been and could never be key to the U.S. uranium supply. The land is now as it should be: permanently protected from additional unnecessary and harmful uranium mining.

 by Amber Reimondo, Energy Director

Update: President Biden designated Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument on August 8, 2023. Learn more ›

A coalition of Native American tribes with strong cultural connections to lands now found within and around Grand Canyon National Park is calling on President Biden to permanently protect their homelands near the canyon by designating a new national monument.

"The creator gave us a gift, and that gift is in the form of the Grand Canyon," said Hopi Tribe Chair Timothy Nuvangyaoma. "That gift is not only to the tribal nations that have that intimate connection with it, but it’s a gift to the state of Arizona, it's a gift to the United States, it's a gift to the entire world."

Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument

The Grand Canyon Tribal Coalition is calling on Biden to permanently protect about 1 million acres of their homelands surrounding Grand Canyon National Park as Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument. Baaj nwaavjo means "where Indigenous peoples roam" for the Havasupai Tribe and i’tah kukveni means "our ancestral footprints" for the Hopi Tribe.

Watch the Grand Canyon Tribal Coalition's press conference announcing the proposed monument ›

View in full screen (suggested for mobile)

"The designation of this national monument with the name based on tribal languages — this is a momentous day in the preservation of our history and the recognition of our tribal connections to this landscape," said Colorado River Indian Tribes Chair Amelia Flores.

The Grand Canyon Tribal Coalition includes members of the Havasupai Tribe, Hopi Tribe, Hualapai Tribe, Kaibab Paiute Tribe, Las Vegas Band of Paiute Tribe, Moapa Band of Paiutes, Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, Navajo Nation, San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe, Yavapai-Apache Nation, Pueblo of Zuni, and the Colorado River Indian Tribes. 

"The canyon is a part of each and every Havasupai person. It is our home, it is our land, and our water source, and our very being," said Havasupai Tribe Vice Chair Edmond Tilousi.

The tribes unveiled the proposal at a press conference with elected officials. Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, D-AZ, and Representative Raúl Grijalva, D-AZ, strongly support the intertribal proposal and spoke at the press conference where the Grand Canyon Tribal Coalition announced its call for a monument.

Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument would protect sites of profound cultural, historical, and spiritual importance to the tribes. All the lands included in the intertribal monument proposal are already federal public lands, including national forest lands; no state or private lands would be included in the monument.

"We’d like to see co-management as a part of the proposal…and we ask Biden to ensure that tribes are involved in the co-management of the monument," said Director of the Navajo Nation Heritage and Historic Preservation Department Richard Begay.

A vibrant cultural landscape

The Grand Canyon Tribal Coalition proposing the new monument includes tribes whose modern-day reservations stretch across four states — Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Nevada — and who maintain strong cultural connections to the Grand Canyon.

"To the millions of people who come to visit the Grand Canyon each year, the sites known as Havasupai Gardens, Bright Angel Trail...may be just names on a map, but to us they are constant reminders that our ancestors lived throughout this area," said Havasupai Tribe Vice Chair Edmond Tilousi.

The Havasupai still live in a side canyon at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Tilousi is the great grandson of Captain Burro, the last Havasupai person to be removed from Grand Canyon National Park in 1928. Just last year, the National Park Service renamed a popular destination in the park "Havasupai Gardens" in recognition of the Havasupai people forced out of the national park decades earlier. 

The lands proposed for national monument protections include sacred sites like Red Butte, cultural and archaeological sites, springs, and historical sites that figure prominently in Indigenous histories.

Cultural heritage under threat

Many of the tribes see Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument as a way to honor their cultural connections to this landscape and protect the lands and waters of the region from mining and other threats.

"I, as a Hualapai tribal leader stand strongly against any mining on tribal lands and ask that you support us in this fight to stop mining," said Hualapai Tribe Vice Chair Scott Crozier.

Many of the lands included in the intertribal national monument proposal drain into the Colorado River, which provides water for 40 million people. 

The Havasupai Tribe is particularly concerned about Canyon uranium mine (renamed Pinyon Plain Mine) which lies within the monument proposal and threatens waters inside the Grand Canyon as well as Red Butte. While Canyon Mine would be unaffected by a monument designation, the monument would prevent any new mining claims as well as the development of nearly 600 existing, but undeveloped, mining claims found within the proposed national monument.

A popular idea in the Grand Canyon state

The tribes' proposal is sure to be popular with Arizona voters. Polling consistently shows that voters in the Grand Canyon state strongly support permanent protection for the lands and waters around the Grand Canyon.

One recent poll found that 86 percent of Arizona voters support presidents protecting existing public lands as national monuments and 85 percent support greater input from Native American tribes about areas with sacred or culturally important sites. And, with groundwater, creeks, and storm runoff flowing into the Colorado River from these lands, protecting the area as a national monument would help protect the river, which 89 percent of Arizona voters consider critical to the state's economy. 

The intertribal proposal to permanently protect public lands surrounding the Grand Canyon as Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument would ensure that this cultural landscape is protected now and forever for future generations.

"It's not only for us here in the present, but for those that are coming behind us, that they too can enjoy this beautiful scenery, that they can learn from the land, from the culture, from our spiritual endeavors..." said Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians Chair Ona Segundo.