News
This Month’s Superfund Listing of Abandoned Uranium Mines in the Navajo Nation’s Lukachukai Mountains Is a First Step Toward Cleaning Them Up
Uranium sickened Navajo who worked in the mines and contaminated the mountains where they hunted, grazed livestock and gathered plants for medicines and ceremonies.
By Noel Lyn Smith
COVE, Ariz. – In a corner of the Cove Chapter house on March 15, members of the Navajo Nation were silent as they looked at photos the Environmental Protection Agency showed of abandoned uranium mines in the Lukachukai Mountains Mining District during a visit by EPA officials to highlight the area’s placement under the agency’s Superfund program.
Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: coal
State of Play
The use of coal, a staple of heating and electricity-generation for decades, is in decline in the United States — supplanted by newly abundant production of natural gas — but is still dominant in some parts of the world. While economical, coal use is particularly problematic as international attention focuses increasingly on climate change.