Navajo lawmakers ask Congress to hold uranium cleanup agencies to account

Navajo Nation lawmakers want Congress to hold a joint oversight hearing on the federal cleanup of abandoned uranium mines, the Office of the Speaker said.

The Resources and Development Committee spent three days on Capitol Hill, meeting federal officials and members of Congress, according to a release dated July 16. Among them was White House Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Billy Kirkland.

“The five federal agencies responsible for implementing the 10-year plan for Navajo abandoned uranium mine remediation continue to work in silos, delaying progress on cleaning up these hazardous sites,” committee Chairwoman Brenda Jesus said in the release.

One of the proposals the committee took to Washington would put a remediation waste disposal site near Ambrosia Lake. Jesus said the Nation has worked closely with the state and consulted Pueblo communities near the proposed site, and that both are open to the project.

The Nation has also proposed high pressure slurry ablation as a treatment and resource recovery model. Jesus said the cleanup proposals could reduce remediation costs by as much as 75 percent, but that the Environmental Protection Agency has not been willing to consider them.

Council Delegate Danny Simpson said the agency has chosen to cap waste in place at certain mine sites, despite repeated requests from community members to remove the radioactive waste.

Simpson said the Nation has spent “more than 50 years” trying to address abandoned uranium mine remediation.

Vice Chair Casey Allen Johnson said affected communities oppose capping waste in place, pointing to a proposal near the Colorado River in his own community of Cameron.

The committee said more than 500 abandoned uranium mines await remediation in the Cove Mining District, including 223 sites that remain unfunded.

The release said Sen. Mark Kelly was among those who expressed support for a joint oversight hearing.