As spiking uranium prices drive a surge of proposals for new mines, the Navajo Nation joined the Ute Mountain Ute, Havasupai, Northern Arapaho and Oglala Sioux tribes in a commission hearing with federal officials to push back against mining on and near their lands.
A “Hail Mary” legal tactic by the pipeline company invokes a 1977 pipeline treaty between the U.S. and Canada. The Bad River Band says the treaty is superseded by 1854 tribal treaty rights.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission announced a new policy requiring that any energy project seeking to build on tribal land must get the tribe’s approval before it will permit the project.
The state where the U.S. nuclear weapons program was born has dozens of now-closed uranium mines and facilities where the radioactive mineral was handled. The new program will help everyone from community members to regulators see the hazards they pose.