WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — Despite numerous complaints and community opposition to transfer uranium waste to the landfill in Thoreau, the Environmental Protection Agency is moving forward with its plan.
EPA, Region 9, Remedial Project Manager Kenyon Larsen, has received approval to spend $183 million to complete clean up and removal of uranium waste from the Quivira Mine Site in the Church Rock area and haul it to the Red Rock Landfi ll in Thoreau. Larsen requested the funds via a memorandum issued to Barry Breen, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator with the EPA Office of Land and Emergency Management, Dec. 30. The memorandum is public record and is available on the EPA Website.
Breen approved the request a week later, on Jan. 6.
In the memorandum Larsen states the “removal action involves excavating waste from the site and disposing of it off-site in a planned disposal cell that will be permitted by the State of New Mexico to hold radioactive waste at the Red Rocks Disposal Facility located near Thoreau.”
In his memorandum, Larsen included information on meetings and public hearings conducted in the region in 2024 to inform community about EPA’s plans. Residents of Thoreau that included the high school students asked EPA not to use their community as a uranium waste dump. The majority of the comments in favor of the plan were from residents who live around the mines, known as the Red Water Pond Road and Pipeline Road communities. They have been urging EPA to get the waste out of their backyards. According to Larsen, the decision to move it to Thoreau was made in consultation with the Navajo Nation. Navajo Nation President Dr. Buu Nygren was quoted in a news release issued by EPA Tuesday, following Breen’s approval.
A Navajo couple attend a public hearing at UNM-Gal lup on March 23 to hear about EPA’s plans to move uranium waste from an abandoned mine in the Church Rock area to the landfill in Thoreau. Vida Volkert/Independent
“This solution is a compromise that will get radioactive waste in this area off of the Navajo Nation as soon as possible,” Nygren stated. “It’s not everything the three affected communities would wish for but it’s action in the right direction now rather than in the future.” The removal action is estimated to cost $183 million and will take six years to implement, according to Larsen.
The project, however, could take longer, as EPA has yet to obtain permits from the State of New Mexico to complete construction of the new disposal repository in Thoreau.
Permits required
According to Larsen’s memorandum, removal action requires a one-to-three year State permitting and facility construction period prior to commencement of waste removal from the site. Prior to construction of the uranium waste repository, the Northwest New Mexico Regional Solid Waste Authority would have to apply for and receive these permits, including a mining permit, which requires public participation with the option of a public hearing – if requested; and a groundwater protection permit from the NM Environmental Department. The groundwater protection permit typically requires two public notice periods. USEPA currently has approximately $87 million in the site’s special account which intends to use to perform this removal.