National Town Hall Calls Attention to Uranium Mill Near Bears Ears

 by Tim Peterson, Cultural Landscapes Director

In December 2020, Indigenous advocates and allies from around the world joined a virtual town hall on the last operating conventional uranium mill in the United States. The White Mesa uranium mill sits on the doorstep of Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument, just a few miles up the road from the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe’s White Mesa community, and has been flying under the radar as a de facto dumping ground for low-level radioactive waste for decades.  

The town hall, called “Indigenous People and Environmental Justice at White Mesa: Confronting the Last Uranium Mill in the U.S.,” gave attendees a chance to learn about the White Mesa Ute community’s and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe's struggle against uranium pollution, as well as more about the nuclear fuel cycle’s impacts to Indigenous communities.

Speakers included Michael Badback and Thelma Whiskers of the White Mesa Concerned Community group; Scott Clow, environmental programs director for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe; David Harper, board member of Greenaction; Tom Goldtooth, executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network; and Leona Morgan, co-founder of the Nuclear Issues Study Group.

Locals worry about health effects from uranium mill

White Mesa community members are concerned about public health impacts and contamination of land, air, and water, as well as the mill’s ongoing desecration of cultural and sacred sites. 

“The whole community is concerned about their kids going to school when the trucks [carrying radioactive waste to the mill] are going by,” explained Michael Badback of the White Mesa Concerned Community. “If there were an accident or anything, how would San Juan [County] handle it? Or the state?” 

Ute Mountain Ute elder Thelma Whiskers, also of the White Mesa Concerned Community, added: “I’m kind of worrying about these young kids. And I do talk to them, to their parents… And they say: ‘We don’t want it to be close to the reservation.’ Because of the smoke...they could smell that and they don’t like it to be close to our reservation. So they keep telling me and the family to keep fighting… So they can shut it down.”

Making millions in the radioactive-waste business near Bears Ears

Built in 1979, the White Mesa uranium mill was originally designed to process uranium ore mined around the region into yellowcake for further refinement as fuel for nuclear reactors. It was supposed to run for 15 to 20 years before being closed and cleaned up, but the mill is still in operation more than 40 years later. That’s thanks to what the mill’s owner, Energy Fuels Resources, calls its “recycling” business.

The mill accepts uranium-laden waste it dubs “alternate feed” from around the nation (including Superfund sites and former defense and weapons facilities), runs the waste through the milling process to extract traces of uranium, and the rest is dumped into giant waste pits on-site. On a recent investor call, the CEO of Energy Fuels Resources disclosed that this line of business earns the company $5-15 million a year. This means the mill essentially functions as a low-cost radioactive waste dump, something that was never envisioned when the mill was built and licensed. 

According to Scott Clow, environmental programs director for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe: “…what we’ve observed in the work that we do is that things are changing. The groundwater under the facility is becoming more and more polluted. That is the most profound thing. And then the issues that Michael and Thelma discussed…the airborne emissions, and impacts to water, vegetation, and wildlife…we’re well aware of that and it’s not maintaining a steady pace. Things are getting worse faster now, especially groundwater pollution.”

Uranium industry pushes for handouts

Now, the mill is chasing more revenue by trying to enter the rare earth element processing business to produce metals used in technology, but an expert says that’s unlikely to be a moneymaker unless China limits exports or the U.S. introduces new government subsidies. 

“White Mesa barely makes money. It’s always at risk of permanent closure,” the CEO of Energy Fuels Resources recently told a reporter.

A corporate bailout for the struggling domestic uranium industry was also passed as a part of the year-end budget deal. Though it’s half of what a Trump review panel asked for ($75 instead of $150 million), a new national uranium reserve could end up sending more waste to White Mesa from operations in Wyoming, Texas, and elsewhere.   

Long legacy of harming Indigenous communities

Because it’s the last conventional uranium mill left, White Mesa is the toxic lynchpin for America’s uranium industry. What happens at the mill impacts communities all across the United States, including Indigenous communities. “White Mesa received waste from facilities on the Cherokee Nation and facilities on the Spokane Reservation,” said Scott Clow. “And EPA is pitting tribes against tribes here. They’re saying ‘oh, we’ll clean up your mess, but oh, we’ll move it over to White Mesa.’ And we don't support that.” 

Now, the mill is seeking to import radioactive waste from Estonia, Japan, and elsewhere, as well as to accept radioactive leftovers from planned cleanup of Cold War-era mines on the Navajo Nation, further pitting tribe against tribe. “There’s a proposal right now to build two more tailings cells [waste pits],” Clow continued. “So two more 40-acre tailings cells — 5A and 5B — and the purpose for that is to receive Navajo waste and all the other waste from Estonia and Japan and all over.” 

Stop radioactive waste from Japan from being shipped to the mill

What can you do? Right now, you can let Utah regulators know that you oppose radioactive waste being shipped from Japan to the White Mesa Mill.

Take Action. Tell Utah regulators you oppose processing radioactive waste from Japan at the mill near Bears Ears ›

In the words of Thelma Whiskers: “Let’s just keep it going, let’s just keep fighting for… for them not to have [the mill] close to our reservation, because I care for the community members and the children and the grandchildren.”