EPA gives first approval for moving uranium mine waste off Navajo Nation land

Uranium mine waste northeast of Gallup is a step closer to being safely stored after the Environmental Protection Agency and Navajo Nation finalized a plan Monday to transport 1 million cubic yards of waste from the Quivira Mines site to a disposal cell near Thoreau.

The plan, an action memo, is an early step in a long process and will move uranium mine waste off of Navajo Nation land, which is home to hundreds of former uranium mines, for permanent storage. Uranium mining was widespread on the Navajo Nation from the 1960s through the 1980s to supply uranium for nuclear weapons and energy development. The Quivira Mines are one of the largest and most high-risk uranium mine sites on the Navajo Nation, according to an EPA news release.

“This solution is a compromise that will get radioactive waste in this area off of the Navajo Nation as soon as possible,” Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren said in a statement. “It’s not everything the three affected communities would wish for but it’s action in the right direction now rather than in the future. Most importantly, this will protect our people from harmful exposure.”

Exposure to uranium mine waste can have significant long-term health effects. Inhaling or ingesting uranium compounds can cause kidney damage, uranium likely contributes to lung cancer and inhaling uranium compounds can damage the respiratory tract, according to the action memo.

“I feel as though our community finally has something of a win,” Teracita Keyanna, a member of the executive committee for Red Water Pond Road Community Association, said in a statement. “Removing the mine waste from our community will protect our health and finally put us back on a positive track to hózhǫ (balance).”

The Red Water Pond Road and Pipeline Road communities are in the vicinity of the mine waste, as are the Coyote Canyon and Standing Rock chapters.

The Quivira Mines site is considered one of the most high-risk because it has such a large volume of waste, is so close to Navajo communities and has relatively high concentrations of radium-226 and uranium, according to EPA spokesman Michael Brogan. The nearest residences are approximately 700 feet south of the largest waste pile, according to Brogan.

The EPA expects getting all the needed permits, building the waste depository and sealing the mine waste in the depository will take six to eight years, according to an EPA news release. The removal action process should start early this year.

The new depository will be on land owned by the Northwest New Mexico Regional Solid Waste Authority, the company that operates the Red Rock Landfill. The New Mexico Environment Department will oversee long-term monitoring of the waste repository.

The EPA could spend up to $183 million to complete the removal, according to the action memo. The money will come from the Tronox settlement fund. The EPA has close to $1 billion from a 2015 legal settlement with the Kerr McGee Corp. and its successor, Tronox, to clean up 49 former uranium mines in the Southwest, including the Quivira Mines.

The Quivira Mines operated from the late 1960s to 1986 and left behind mine waste: rocks, dirt and sand that contain radioactive and non-radioactive metals, according to the EPA. The mine waste did not have enough uranium to be worth transporting to a uranium mill. The mine waste has no mill tailings, which include a higher concentration of uranium and are more radioactive.

“New Mexico’s in a position to lead on this right now,” said Susan Gordon, coordinator for the advocacy group Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment. “Other states also need this kind of help: Utah, Colorado, Arizona. There’s a lot of abandoned uranium mine sites around that are going to need to be addressed.”