{"id":22569,"date":"2025-04-22T10:48:59","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T16:48:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/navajo-advocates-say-prezs-approval-of-uranium-transport-trump-coal-order-feels-like-a-betrayal\/"},"modified":"2025-04-22T16:48:59","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T16:48:59","slug":"navajo-advocates-say-prezs-approval-of-uranium-transport-trump-coal-order-feels-like-a-betrayal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/navajo-advocates-say-prezs-approval-of-uranium-transport-trump-coal-order-feels-like-a-betrayal\/","title":{"rendered":"Navajo advocates say prez\u2019s approval of uranium transport, Trump coal order feels like a betrayal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"David
David Tsosie, with the Din\u00e9-Centered Research and Evaluation group, leads advocates in prayer on Monday in front of the Navajo Nation Council meeting hall. Patrick Lohmann\/Source NM<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Advocates from across the Navajo Nation gathered in front of the nation\u2019s council meeting hall in Window Rock, Arizona on Monday, hoping to tell Navajo President Buu Nygren how frustrated and disappointed they are by his abrupt endorsement of Donald Trump\u2019s executive order aiming to reinvigorate the nation\u2019s coal industry.<\/p>\n

But Nygren was in Washington, D.C. As part of his \u201cengagement with our federal partners,\u201d his office said on social media, so he couldn\u2019t address the Navajo Nation Council for its first meeting. That left advocates even more frustrated, they said, that they couldn\u2019t speak to Nygren about their concerns.<\/p>\n

Advocates in speeches Monday pointed to the Nygren administration\u2019s recent confidential agreement with uranium company Energy Fuels, which allows the company to transport uranium ore across the Navajo Nation for a price and in exchange for the company\u2019s promise to clean up abandoned uranium mines across the Navajo Nation.<\/p>\n

Because of the late January agreement, several trucks carrying uranium ore and other material traverse the western side of the Navajo Nation most days, carrying the material from a mine near the Grand Canyon to a mill in Utah.<\/p>\n

The agreement would also apply to the eastern side of the Navajo Nation, which falls in New Mexico, if a proposed massive uranium mine near Mount Taylor is ever approved for operation. That project, called the Roca Honda Mine, is now a \u201cpriority project\u201d at the Cibola National Forest, thanks to Trump\u2019s executive order seeking to boost domestic energy production.<\/p>\n

In addition to the uranium transport agreement, advocates on Monday also noted that Nygren last week endorsed Trump\u2019s \u201cReinvigorating America\u2019s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry\u201d executive order and took a selfie with him during the signing ceremony.<\/p>\n

Advocate Percy Deal spoke at the rally Monday in English and Navajo, saying Peabody Energy\u2019s coal mining operations beginning in the 1960s have drained an untold amount of water from aquifer vital to in his community on the Black Mesa plateau in northeast Arizona for generations, plus contributed to climate change.<\/p>\n

So he was surprised and alarmed that Nygren, whom he called \u201cHastiin Bich\u2019ah Lizhinigii\u201d in Navajo or \u201cthe man in the black hat\u201d in English, would endorse executive orders boosting coal production from Trump, \u201cMr. yellow hair,\u201d without consulting people like him who have been so harmed by coal extraction.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll these things probably are now in the hands of Mr. yellow hair. The sad thing is that Hastiin Bich\u2019ah Lizhinigii never spoke to any of us. Never did,\u201d Deal told attendees. \u201cHe\u2019s got a vehicle here furnished by the tribe. He could have gone out to, for example, the Black Mesa and talked to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nygren\u2019s spokesperson, Alistair Bitsoi, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the group\u2019s criticism Monday afternoon. But Nygren in a letter published Monday on social media defended his endorsement of Trump\u2019s energy executive orders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI accepted the invitation (to the White House) because the three executive orders that President Trump signed are intended to advance America\u2019s dominance in energy,\u201d Nygren wrote. \u201cThe Navajo Nation shares the goal of American energy dominance because the Navajo Nation has for 100 years been a part of the energy framework of the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur lands have natural resources and transmission lines, also known as the grid. We will forever be part of the American energy framework and therefore Navajo\u2019s voice and involvement in these discussions is required,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Advocates said that Nygren\u2019s latest endorsements are a stark contrast from language on his website listing his priorities for the environment, which begins by saying, \u201cMitigating the effects of climate change on Navajo land is our responsibility, and the Nygren Administration will ensure Navajo community voices are empowered in protecting our water, air and land.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Larry
Larry J. King stands in front of Window Rock in the Navajo Nation capital on Monday. He says President Buu Nygren has gone back on promises he made during the campaign in his recent endorsements of Trump executive orders. Patrick Lohmann\/Source NM<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Larry J. King, who grew up in Church Rock, said at the rally that he once worked in uranium mines in New Mexico and in 1979 he witnessed the United Nuclear spill there, which is the largest accidental release of radiation in United States history. He told Source New Mexico that Nygren, who took office in January 2023, repeatedly promised during his election to clean up uranium mine waste from his community at Red Water Pond but then ignored his calls.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one reason King said he does not believe Nygren\u2019s promises that the new transport agreement will result in the cleanup of legacy uranium mines in areas like Red Water Pond. For one thing, he\u2019s skeptical of \u201chigh-pressure slurry ablation,\u201d which Navajo Nation officials have touted as an emerging treatment method for the cleanup process.<\/p>\n

King noted that Nygren endorsed Kamala Harris and traveled with the Democratic delegation to the Democratic convention last year. He said he sees Nygren\u2019s latest endorsements as a betrayal of his promises and his constituents.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just making a turnaround, and in support of all this industry wanting to come and desecrate,\u201d he said. \u201cA repeat of what we\u2019ve been through trying to remedy the situation from the last 30 to 40 years. He\u2019s just, he\u2019s going back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source NM<\/a> is an independent, nonprofit news organization that shines a light on governments, policies and public officials.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Longtime advocate says \u2018Man in the black hat\u2019 and \u2018Mr. yellow hair\u2019 are getting too close<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,239,561,1655,138,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-22569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-mining","tag-native-american","tag-navajo-nation","tag-new-mexico","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22569"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=22569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}