Monday, August 12, 2024 – Navajo Nation clashes with new uranium mining push

The Navajo Nation deployed its police department to hold back trucks hauling uranium ore across tribal land. The action comes after the recent resumption of uranium mining at the Pinyon Plain (formerly Canyon) Mine in northwest Arizona. It is one of 600 uranium mines considered dormant because they aren’t financially viable. They are tied to numerous health conditions by citizens of Navajo and other nearby tribes. But new interest in nuclear energy is improving prices for raw ore. We’ll hear about tribes leveraging sovereignty to halt the mining and transport of uranium.

We’ll also hear about an effort to shine the light on the fatal shooting by a New Mexico sheriff’s deputy of a Native American teenager. Family members and others are questioning the use of force that was caught on the deputy’s body camera.