Two major corporations have agreed to spend $63 million cleaning up uranium mine waste that has contaminated Navajo Nation land in New Mexico for more than four decades.
United Nuclear Corporation and General Electric reached a settlement Tuesday with federal and state authorities requiring them to remove about one million cubic yards of radioactive waste from the Northeast Church Rock mine site over the next decade.
The waste will be moved to an adjacent licensed disposal facility at the UNC Mill Site, improving environmental protections for both locations, officials said.
“This extraordinary cleanup agreement will improve the lives of the Navajo people, benefiting their children, grandchildren, and future generations,” Josh F.W. Cook, administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Pacific Southwest region, said in a press release.
The Northeast Church Rock mine operated from 1967 to 1982, serving as the primary uranium source for the UNC Mill. The mining operations left behind contaminated waste piles, former ponds and tailings storage areas that continue to pose risks to air, soil and water quality.
Under the consent decree filed in federal court in New Mexico, the companies will excavate the contaminated materials and place them in an engineered repository at the mill site. The U.S. Department of Energy will handle long-term maintenance of the facility.
The agreement involves the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, the Navajo Nation and New Mexico as co-plaintiffs under federal Superfund law, which holds polluters responsible for cleanup costs.
“Today’s settlement will achieve tangible remediation of the Mine and Mill Sites and protect human health from radioactive wastes,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson said in a press release.
The EPA continues working to address contamination at 523 abandoned uranium mines on or near Navajo land, legacy sites from Cold War-era uranium extraction that have left lasting environmental and health impacts on tribal communities.
The settlement is subject to public comment and final court approval.
