Getting your player ready...
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.—The full 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver has ruled that a proposed uranium mine in western New Mexico is not on American Indian land.
Tuesday’s ruling overturns that of a three-judge panel of the court. The decision means that a New Mexico-based uranium producer can seek a groundwater injection permit from the state of New Mexico rather than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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.
The EPA had argued that one area where Hydro Resources proposes to mine is within the boundaries of the Church Rock Chapter of the Navajo Nation.
