Court: Planned NM Uranium Mine Not on Navajo Land

[The Straight Story]

Court: Planned NM Uranium Mine Not on Navajo Land


FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — A New Mexico-based uranium producer plans to move forward with a mining operation in the western part of the state after a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that its land is not part of Indian Country.

The full 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled in a 6-5 decision that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency erred when it determined that a parcel of land near the Navajo community of Church Rock was Indian land.

The decision means that Hydro Resources Inc. can seek an underground injection control permit from the state of New Mexico rather than the EPA, which has permitting authority on tribal lands.

Hydro Resources wants to inject chemicals into the ground to release uranium and pump the solution to the surface in a process called in-situ leaching.

"I think that it's clear we were right all along, and we've been vindicated," said Rick Van Horn, senior vice president of operations for Hydro's parent firm, Uranium Resources Inc. "That doesn't mean we're going to go ahead and do this without discussion with the other stakeholders in the community and surrounding areas."

Hydro Resources had argued the company's land, known as Section 8, isn't legally part of the Navajo reservation because it had not been set aside for the federal government for use as Indian land. The parcel had been a part of Indian Country at one time, but was removed by federal executive order in 1911.

http://www.reznetnews.org/article/court-planned-nm-uranium-mine-not-navajo-land-45300

[RC]

1. Of course it can't be Indian land. It has value to the white man.

:grr:

[jwirr]

2. There is nothing new under heaven and we also found precious

minerals in Afghanistan! Either way we are bound to steal them.

[AnnieBW]

3. What other tribe gets screwed?

n/t