Navajo EPA Proposes Advance-Notification Requirement for Uranium Shipments, Comments Due March 9

The Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency has released proposed implementing regulations that would require advance notification and formal agreements for any transport of uranium ore, yellowcake, radioactive waste or other radioactive products on or across Navajo Nation lands, and it is accepting public comment through March 9, 2026. The proposal follows a Jan. 29 announcement of a confidential agreement between the Navajo Nation Executive Branch and Energy Fuels Inc. to oversee shipments from the Pinyon Plain Mine in northern Arizona to the White Mesa Mill in southern Utah.

The draft rules explicitly require companies to provide advance notification before transporting radioactive materials across the Nation. Stephen Etsitty, director of the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency, described that change as central: “The most significant change to the act requires advance notification from any company that plans to transport radioactive materials across the Navajo Nation.” The regulations would also mandate that any person or entity seeking to move radioactive material first enter into an agreement with the Navajo Nation and obtain a transport license from NNEPA before shipments begin.

Officials laid out operational safeguards in public briefings and reports. Acting Attorney General Heather Clah and Acting Deputy Attorney General Kris Beecher said drivers must obtain Navajo Nation transportation licenses, trucks must use state-of-the-art waterproof covers, escort provisions will be required, and trucks can be inspected under the tribal law. Beecher summarized the enforcement role: “The Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency will have primary oversight of the transport. Before transport begins, Energy Fuels must apply for a transport license from the NNEPA.” The package also bars shipments during tribal fairs along the designated route.

The Jan. 29 agreement between the Executive Branch and Energy Fuels remains confidential, but officials say it includes protections and an extra cleanup component. Navajo officials say Energy Fuels agreed to transport and remove an extra 10,000 tons of uranium waste from abandoned uranium mines for processing at White Mesa Mill; Utahnewsdispatch reports the agreement contains a framework that would require removal of 30,000 more tons if the Roca Honda mine is approved. Energy Fuels spokesman Curtis Moore framed the company’s position: “At the end of the day, we want Navajo leadership and Navajo citizens to be comfortable with modern uranium ore transport and to understand that it poses no risk to human health or the environment. And, we are willing to go above-and-beyond applicable federal and state laws to make that happen.”

Legal limits shaped the Nation’s response. The Navajo Nation Council approved emergency legislation and President Buu Nygren signed the measure on April 29 titled “An Action Relating to an Emergency; Urgent Request to President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., The White House, Members of Congress and Relevant Federal Agencies to Halt the Transportation of Uranium Through Navajo Nation Lands,” quoting legislative language that warns “The adverse impacts of radiation and uranium toxicity on the Navajo people and the environment are well known.” Delegates including Casey Allen Johnson pressed for stronger protections and asked the Department of Justice to cite federal authority that could preempt tribal bans.

Truck volumes and community concern sharpen the stakes. Current shipments total about 2 to 3 truckloads a day across the western edge of the Nation into Utah; Etsitty has warned that number could rise to 10 truckloads a day and that estimates tied to a potential Roca Honda mine show “between 50 and 60 trucks a day is the maximum.” Etsitty also said the Nation is managing a difficult reality: “We are supportive of the overarching desire to not have these functioning and operating, but we can’t stop it. So now we’re trying to manage it.” Public outreach is ongoing — Acting Attorney General Clah recently updated the Mexican Water Chapter — and the Navajo EPA will accept comments on the proposed regulations through March 9, 2026.