WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. - Officials from the Navajo Nation and the federal government are taking a closer look at more than a dozen former uranium mines on the reservation.
The tribe and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reached an agreement years ago to assess so-called orphan mines. Those are mines where no responsible party has been identified for cleanup.
The officials recently named 17 sites on the reservation in northeastern Arizona that will be assessed because they pose significant hazards. The EPA has set aside millions of dollars for the evaluations and a study to determine whether the mines affected water sources.
