Trucks will once again carry uranium ore from the Pinyon Plain Mine near Grand Canyon to the White Mesa Mill in southern Utah after the Navajo Nation announced a new agreement with Energy Fuels establishing conditions for hauling across the Navajo reservation.
Energy Fuels began mining operations at Pinyon Plain in January 2024 against the opposition of local tribes and conservation advocates. When the company began transporting ore across the reservation in late July 2024 without advance notice, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren issued an temporarily prohibiting any further ore shipments without an agreement between the tribe and the company. (Under the federal doctrine of preemption, the tribe cannot completely ban the transport of radioactive or hazardous materials over the highways.)
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