Shondiin Silversmith, Arizona Mirror

When Louvannina Tsosie walked into The Door Christian Fellowship Church in Gallup, N.M., she expected the kind of church service she had growing up: worship, music, a sermon, prayer and some scripture reading.

What she didn’t expect was a stage performance aimed at Native people that included a condemnation of traditional Navajo beliefs — and those who embrace them.

“Unfortunately, it turned out to be a really disrespectful kind of play,” she said.

Hataałii protect and preserve all traditional ceremonies and customs of the Diné way of life, and they hold a special place of honor among the Diné people.

The Door showing the damnation of a Hataałii “wasn’t a misunderstanding,” Tsosie said, but rather a “direct attack on our beliefs and spirituality.”

The Door is an offshoot of the Potter’s House Christian Fellowship Church, which was founded in Prescott, and is part of Christian Fellowship Ministries located in Benton, Kentucky. Christian Fellowship Ministries has over 4,000 churches worldwide, with seven churches on the Navajo Nation.

“Our church here in Gallup was among the first few Southwestern works launched out of the Prescott congregation,” The Door’s website states. “From the earliest days, it has stood as a testimony to God’s power to transform lives and reach cities through evangelism, discipleship and church planting.”

The Arizona Mirror reached out to The Door and Potter’s House, but neither church responded.

The shock from the play prompted Tsosie to start recording a video of the over-the-top theatrical production on her phone. She then posted that video on her TikTok account with the caption: “The things you see in border towns.”

Her TikTok posts feature two parts of the play, which was set in a dark room with the stage illuminated by red lights, while ominous drum music plays in the background.

The music played throughout the show featured remixes of traditional songs, layered with sound effects to create a more menacing tone.

At the center of the stage, a Navajo man dressed in traditional clothing kneels by a fire, holding an eagle feather in his hand. Kneeling next to the Navajo medicine man is an actor dressed in a demon costume, encouraging his actions.

Suddenly, another Navajo person appears, shouting at the medicine man and demanding to know what he did to his niece.

“She’s in the hospital. What kind of ceremony did you do?” the man shouts. The interaction escalates into violence, as the angry man stabs and kills the medicine man.

In the next scene, the medicine man — the murder victim — is standing at what is supposed to be the gates of heaven, surrounded by white light, interacting with an angel. That angel swiftly bars the Hataałii from heaven and condemns him to hell.

The stage suddenly bathed in red lights, demons surround the medicine man, taunting him. “Come on, let’s do a ceremony,” and “We don’t like tradition, do we?” they say.

The medicine man is laid on the floor, and the lead demon gives orders to his minions: “Let’s do a purification. I’ll purify your soul in the fiery pits of hell. Demons, take this pedophile and make him suffer.”

Since she posted the video, Tsosie said she has received an overwhelming response. The video has garnered more than 230,000 views on TikTok, with nearly 1,600 comments.

Tsosie said some of the comments in her videos claim she is taking the play out of context, misrepresenting the situation and she needs to find her way with Christ.

“It kind of felt like a big slap in my face,” she said.

Tsosie, 24, grew up in a Christian household in Tohlakai, New Mexico, on the Navajo Nation. She said she is familiar with the religion, even though she is no longer religious. She attended The Door’s service because a friend invited her.

In response to the play, Tsosie helped organize a peaceful protest across the street from the church on June 8. She said they want accountability, including a public apology. They have not received a response from the church, much less an apology.

Navajo elders and youth have reached out to her. Tsosie said the elders appreciate her speaking up about the incident because they thought they’d never see it happen. Youth have shared their feelings about forced religion and the cultural shame they encounter.

“It’s been emotional and overwhelming, in the best and hardest ways,” she said. “This moment is bigger than me, and it’s about our people realizing that we don’t have to stay silent anymore.”

‘It was absolutely revolting’

As she sat through the service, Tsosie said she noticed how utterly unbothered the predominantly Native audience was as the actors portraying the demons mocked Diné ceremonies.

“I guess it felt normal to them,” she said. “I think the painful part of the play was that most of the actors were themselves Navajo.”

Diné historian Dr. Jennifer Nez Denetdale said she has heard stories about The Door Church and how many Navajo people involved with the church actively participated in demeaning and derogatory remarks about their people.

Her niece witnessed this firsthand and never returned, appalled by their actions. Denetdale said demonizing the Diné people’s way of life is a long-term strategy of The Door Church.

Denetdale said the Navajo Nation has never really acknowledged or accounted for the extent to which the Navajo people have been Christianized since colonization began on their homeland.

“What follows the soldiers are the missionaries,” she said. “What follows the establishment of the forts is the missionaries and the priests.”

Denetdale holds a doctoral degree in history and serves as the professor and chair of American Studies at the University of New Mexico. Her research work focuses on settler colonialism, decolonization and Diné studies.

Denetdale is from Tohatchi, New Mexico, on the Navajo Nation. During her regular drives to Gallup, which is 25 miles away and the closest community with resources for many Navajo people in the area, she made it a habit to count the churches along the way.

“In that stretch, there are at least 16 Christian churches, and we’re talking about a remote area,” she said. “There’s an investment in continuing to Christianize Navajo people, and in that process, they must discount, vilify and demonize who we are and our foundation as Diné people.”

Due to how heavily Christianized the Navajo people are, Denetdale said their response to conflicts involving the church, such as what was depicted in Tsosie’s video, is often not to say anything — or to deflect by saying things like, “That’s not my church and that’s not us.”

“They don’t see it as problematic because they personalize it,” she added. “I think that’s part of the problem, and a question for all of us is to acknowledge just how Christianized we’ve become.”

Denetdale said she is not a Christian, and it is difficult for any Navajo person to say they are not a Christian because so many prominent leaders on the Navajo Nation are Christian. However, she said she is a historian and knows the history of Christianity, and “it is an ugly, ugly story.”

Denetdale said she doesn’t use the terms “culture” or “religion” to explain the Diné people’s way of life because they do not adequately describe who they are. She said that the Diné people’s knowledge and understanding of the world are rooted in a deep philosophy of Diné values.

When she saw the video, she said “it was absolutely revolting” and she shouldn’t be surprised that, in this day and age, one can showcase something that has “such incredibly grotesque depictions of Diné ways of being, and that medicine people, traditional practitioners, are demonized.”

“I’m shocked, but I shouldn’t be shocked — this is Gallup, New Mexico,” she said, a city with a long history of racism and discrimination against Indigenous people.

The City of Gallup was founded in 1881. It has been referred to as the “Indian Capitol of the World” due to its proximity to several tribal nations, including the Navajo Nation and the Zuni Pueblo Nation, whose tribal lands surround the city, as well as the significant contribution of Indigenous people to the local economy.

Indigenous people make up more than 52% of the city’s population, but like many border towns, Gallup has a history of racism and violence against Native people.

In response to public outcry, the City of Gallup released a statement indicating that, since its founding, it has been a place of diverse heritages, beliefs, and practices.

Due to the diversity of Gallup, the city stated that “conflict is inevitable,” and when it occurs, their priority is to ensure the public’s safety and that all rights are respected and protected.

The city stated it cannot intervene or take sides in matters of speech and expression. However, they can and will impose reasonable restrictions on time, place and manner in the public arena.

“Freedom of expression comes at a price,” the city wrote in its statement. “It requires an acceptance of and willingness to bear insult and offense, to hear and see what one may find hurtful or despicable.”

The Arizona Mirror reached out to the City of Gallup for comment, but it did not respond.

Navajo Nation Council issues letter to church

Navajo Nation Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley said that since the video was released, council delegates have been asked by constituents to address it. Curley called the church’s play very disrespectful.

“It was very gruesome and visual,” she said, especially with the sound effects. “They went above and beyond to do that.”

On the best way to move forward, Curley said that she consulted with faith-based leaders from various denominations and traditional practitioners to hear their perspectives on the incident.

“Many of them reiterated that this type of disrespect or depiction of discrimination should not be tolerated toward any faith,” she said in an interview with the Arizona Mirror.

Many expressed their disapproval of the church’s performance, she said, noting that it crosses the boundaries of respect among faiths.

“Navajo traditional practices are considered sacred by many of our people,” Curley said in a statement. “They are integral to Navajo identity, history, and our way of life.”

On behalf of the Navajo Nation Council, Curley issued a formal letter to The Door on June 11, expressing disappointment and calling on the church’s leadership to take responsibility for the performance.

“As neighbors to the Navajo Nation, the City of Gallup and surrounding communities share not only a geographical proximity but also a cultural and social relationship with our people,” the letter stated. “It is within this shared space that mutual respect, understanding and coexistence must be nurtured.”

The Navajo Nation Council described the performance as a misrepresentation and mockery of sacred aspects of Navajo spirituality, stating that the portrayal is disrespectful and culturally insensitive.

“Navajo medicine men are spiritual leaders and should never be made a mockery in such a violent manner,” Curley said in a statement.

The letter calls on the church to take the concerns of the community seriously, Curley said, and she is more than willing to sit down with the church’s leaders to have a “respectful dialogue on what has happened.”

“Many of our people are still frustrated,” she said, adding that they have not received any type of response back from the church.

Curley said that it is essential to acknowledge the religious freedoms practiced on the Navajo Nation. However, she said that “freedom should never come at the expense of another person’s sacred beliefs or traditions.”

“My statement is not intended to play down or disrespect another religion, but there has to be some type of respect, even as neighbors,” Curley added. “This goes across all faiths. We have to stay respectful to one another.”

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren has not released a statement about the incident. The Arizona Mirror reached out to Nygren’s office, but it did not respond.

A top Arizona Republican is hoping the Trump administration will do what a federal court wouldn’t: overturn a national monument protecting lands around the Grand Canyon so that mining companies can extract uranium and other valuable minerals from the land.

Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen sent a letter to the U.S. Department of the Interior on Feb. 7 requesting a meeting with Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to discuss ending the “government overreach” of the national monument and ban on uranium mining in the area.

At issue is the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument, which President Joe Bidencreated in 2023. Petersen and Ben Toma, who was at the time the speaker of the state House of Representatives, sued to have the designation revoked.

The GOP’s lawsuit argued that Biden did not have the power to create the monument, which spans 917,618 acres the federal government already managed. They also claimed it harms both the state and local communities by permanently barring uranium mining — limiting the state’s potential future revenue — and complicating land development.

On Jan. 27, Judge Stephen McNamee ruled that the Arizona Legislature and the other plaintiffs did not have standing to sue and dismissed the case.

The Grand Canyon is the ancestral homeland of multiple tribal nations across the Southwest, and tribes still rely on the canyon for natural and cultural resources that are significant and sacred to their communities.

The monument protects thousands of historical and scientific objects, sacred sites, vital water sources and the ancestral homelands of many Indigenous communities.

The monument’s name comes from the Indigenous names the Havasupai and Hopi gave to the area. In the Havasupai language, Baaj Nwaavjo means “where Indigenous peoples roam,” while I’tah Kukveni means “our ancestral footprints” in the Hopi language.

The monument restricts new mining within the area, but any mining rights in place before the designation have not been impacted.

Petersen called the Biden administration’s designation of Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni a “land grab,” and said keeping it in place contributes to high energy costs and the United States’ reliance on foreign powers.

“Ending the federal government’s hold of this piece of land falls in line with the Trump Administration’s goals of energy independence, job creation, and lower costs for Americans,” he said in a written statement.

Petersen said that government scientists believe that there is more than 300 million pounds of uranium is buried near the Grand Canyon.

“The energy that could be produced from this mineral is astronomical,” he said.

“I look forward to working with Secretary Burgum on this matter of importance for Arizona and the entire nation,” he added.

A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit that Arizona GOP lawmakers brought last year aiming to strike down former President Joe Biden’s national monument designation near the Grand Canyon.

The lawsuit argued that Biden did not have the power to create the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. They also claimed it harms both the state and local communities by permanently barring uranium mining — limiting the state’s potential future revenue — and complicating land development.

However, Judge Stephen McNamee ruled that the Arizona Legislature and the other plaintiffs did not have standing to sue based on their claims surrounding legislative status, resource injury, impingement of water rights, reduced revenue and economic development, and increased burdens.

“As no Plaintiff has standing, the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over this matter and dismisses the parties’ complaints,” McNamee wrote in the dismissal.

Senate President Warren Petersen and former House Speaker Ben Toma, both Republicans, filed the lawsuit last year, asking the court to declare the monument’s creation unlawful and set aside its designation.

They were joined by State Treasurer Kimberly Yee, Mohave County, Colorado City, the town of Fredonia and a cattle rancher from northern Arizona.

The cattle rancher claimed the monument covers a significant portion of his land, exposing him to “severe regulatory burdens and the threat of criminal penalties for engaging in everyday conduct” on his ranch.

Although the case has been dismissed, Petersen said they are reviewing the ruling and will likely file an appeal. And if the courts won’t do it, he said President Donald Trump will.

“We are confident this unconstitutional land grab will be reversed, either by the courts or by the Trump Administration,” Petersen said in a statement emailed to the Arizona Mirror.

Trump downsized two national monuments in southern Utah during his first term: the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears. Biden restored protections for both monuments during his administration.

Supporters are concerned over the possibility of the monument near the Grand Canyon being downsized or reversed.

Grand Canyon Trust attorney Aaron Paul said the Trump administration’s actions in its first weeks in office, including the newly appointed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s order to review all of the country’s national monuments for potential oil and gas drilling and mining reserves, are cause for alarm about the future of Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni—Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument.

Paul said there is “no doubt” that conversation groups and tribes expect political challenges.

“I hope that folks who oppose the monument will come to understand how broad the support is for national monuments like Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni and that we can move on to planning the monument management in a productive, meaningful way,” he said.

The Grand Canyon Trust recently released the results of a poll on Arizona voters’s support for national monuments. The poll found that 80% of Arizona voters support Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukven, and 88% support the Antiquities Act.

“This court order is great news for the remarkable cultural and biodiversity values that the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni National Monument protects,” Taylor McKinnon, the southwest director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.

“The public supports this iconic monument and the wisdom of the Tribes who proposed and fought for it,” McKinnon added. “Any further attacks from uranium industry surrogates or opponents of public lands will be wildly unpopular and meet fierce resistance.”

Tribal nations also celebrated the court’s decision, which protects a culturally significant region held sacred by multiple tribes in the state.

Havasupai Tribe Chairwoman Bernadine Jones said in a press release that the designation of the national monument was the direct result of tireless advocacy by her tribe and its members.

The Havasupai Tribe’s land is over 188,000 acres of canyon land and broken plateaus bordering the western edge of the Grand Canyons’ south rim. Supai, its main village, is located eight miles below the rim of the Grand Canyon.

“We fought for decades to protect these lands, and we’re grateful that the source has dismissed the challenge to those hard-won protections,” Jones said.

The lands of Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni include cultural and sacred places of the Havasupai Tribe, Hopi Tribe, Hualapai Tribe, Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, Las Vegas Paiute Tribe, Moapa Band of Paiutes, Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, Navajo Nation, San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe, Yavapai-Apache Nation, Pueblo of Zuni, and the Colorado River Indian Tribes.

Native American Rights Fund Deputy Director Matthew Campbell said in a press release that tribal nations in the Grand Canyon region have had to fight incredibly hard for the protections Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni upheld.

Campbell said over and over the cultural needs and health of Indigenous people in the region have been “sidelined in order to maximize corporate profits.”

The court’s decision cannot undo the damage that has already been done, Campbell said, but it does leave in place some “long-sought protections going forward.”

The monument will protect thousands of historical and scientific objects, sacred sites, vital water sources, and the ancestral homelands of many Indigenous communities.

The monument’s name comes from the Indigenous names the Havasupai and Hopi gave to the area. In the Havasupai language, Baaj Nwaavjo means “where Indigenous peoples roam,” while I’tah Kukveni means “our ancestral footprints” in the Hopi language.

Hopi Tribe Vice Chairman Craig Andrews said in a press release that protecting the tribe’s homelands within the national monument represents the resilience of its people.

“These lands preserve our history, our life, and our future,” he said. “We have lived in this region since time immemorial and our commitment to protect these lands will extend forward just as long.”

Paul said the judge’s dismissal is a victory for the monument because it puts off further litigation and reassures that the monument can continue protecting what it is meant to, including the cultural and ancestral sites of the tribal nations.

When the lawsuit was filed, Republicans called the creation of the monument a “dictator-style land grab,” and Petersen said that it would wreak havoc on local and state economies, jeopardize livelihoods and compromise national security.

Paul said the idea behind the monument designation was a “land grab” has no basis in history or law because there was “not one square inch of land” that was not already under federal ownership.

“The idea that the federal government took away something from the Arizona Legislature or Mohave County is just plain wrong,” he added.

Paul said the lawsuit’s dismissal shows that the designation of the national monument, which protects the land near the Grand Canyon, does not harm the Arizona legislator or a rancher in northern Arizona.

Growing up in Cameron, Candis Yazzie said that conversations surrounding uranium have always been evident within her community on the western edge of the Navajo Nation near the Grand Canyon.

She remembers first learning about the dangers of uranium from the superhero characters “Gamma Goat” and “Rad Rabbit” when her grade school teachers handed out comic books published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Navajo Environmental Protection Agency as educational material.

Yazzie, 39, said everyone had to learn from Gamma Goat and Rad Rabbit because they shared tips on what to do if they came across an abandoned uranium mine.

“Uranium is a natural element that occurs in the earth’s crust. While uranium is natural, exposure to uranium can make you sick,” the opening sentences of the comic book states. “This comic book is designed to teach you about the dangers of abandoned uranium mines. Old abandoned mines are scattered across the Navajo Nation.”

Yazzie said preschool and kindergarten-aged children are being taught how to pronounce uranium — and how to be aware of the radioactive material in their environment.

“How many kids have to go through this type of education?” she said, adding that her 16-year-old child got the same comic when they started grade school.

The comic book starts with a sheep wandering into an area with an open pit on the Navajo Nation before Gamma Goat appears and stops the sheep, telling them it’s an abandoned uranium mine.

Yazzie said that growing up on the rez, playing outside on the land was their usual pastime, and the coloring books taught them about the dangers of uranium in their environment.

“I grew up less than half a mile from one of the abandoned mines,” she said, but it wasn’t until she got one of those coloring books that she knew she needed to stay away from it.

The safety lessons provided by Rad Rabbit included how to avoid harmful radiation from abandoned mines by decreasing time exposed to radiation, increasing distance from radioactive materials and increasing shielding.

The lessons feel a bit contradictory now, Yazzie said because uranium ore is being allowed to be transported through their community from Pinyon Plain Mine, even though it has been proven how harmful uranium has been to the Navajo people and their land.

“Transportation brings new hazards,” she said.

Significant portion of haul route on Navajo land

The entire uranium haul route is about 320 miles, and it passes through several communities in Arizona — many of which are within the Navajo Nation — before crossing the Utah border for the final stretch to reach its destination, the White Mesa Mill near Blanding, Utah.

The Navajo Nation stretch of the Pinyon Plain Mines’ approved uranium ore transportation route is more than half of the roughly 320-mile journey, with a total of 174 miles traveled on major state routes through Navajo land.

Uranium ore from Pinyon Plain Mine near the Grand Canyon will be transported by over-the-road 24-ton haul trucks and end dump trailers, according to Energy Fuels, Inc., and up to 10 trucks will make the trip daily.

Energy Fuels, Inc. owns and operates the Pinyon Plain uranium mine on U.S. Forest Service land in the Kaibab National Forest near the Grand Canyon. Numerous tribes, including the Navajo Nation, the Hopi Tribe and the Havasupai Tribe, have ancestral lands there.

“Cameron and many communities along the route have a really tainted history with uranium,” Yazzie said. The legacy of uranium mining has harmed the Navajo Nation for decades, from abandoned mines to contaminated waste disposal.

A billboard located along State Route 89 just outside the boundaries of the Navajo Nation reads: “Radioactive pollution kills. It’s time to clean up the mines.” The Navajo Nation has more than 500 abandoned uranium mines, and communities are still waiting for them to be cleaned up. Photo by Shondiin Silversmith | Arizona Mirror

From 1944 to 1986, nearly 30 million tons of uranium ore were extracted from Navajo lands, and hundreds of Navajo people worked in the mines, often living and raising families near the mines and mills.

There are more than 500 abandoned uranium mines across the Navajo Nation, according to the EPA. The mines located within Cameron are part of the Western Abandoned Mine Region, which includes 111 mines in total.

Cameron is the first Navajo community the transportation route passes through as it enters the Navajo Nation. Yazzie said she did not know the route passed through her community until news about it spread after the first haul happened at the end of July.

Even though Yazzie was the vice president of Cameron Chapter House, she said any information related to the transportation of uranium ore from the Pinyon Plain mine across the Navajo Nation has been provided to her by HaulNo!, a volunteer Indigenous-led group that spreads awareness and stimulates action on “nuclear colonialism,” which includes uranium mining and transportation.

Yazzie said her community has never heard from the mining company or the Navajo Nation government about the details of the uranium transportation route and its implications for the people living there.

“There’s never been a direct ask to the community on what our concerns are about this route,” she said.

It doesn’t surprise Yazzie that there hasn’t been any outreach from her tribe or the mining company, even as negotiations between the Navajo government and Energy Fuels near their sixth month. She said it is “business as usual” because she believes they will never see what comes of that negotiation at the community level.

Uranium ore transportation from Pinyon Plain Mine is on hold while the Navajo Nation Department of Justice and Energy Fuels, Inc. representatives have been in “good faith” negotiations since August. The mining company legally does not need the tribes’ permission to transport uranium ore through their tribal lands because it is transported along state routes.

The Arizona Mirror has contacted the Navajo Nation Office of the President and the Navajo Nation Attorney General multiple times for comment but has not received a response.

‘Shortchanging our community’

The lack of public education, concerns about potential contamination, the need for more community involvement in negotiations and demands for more up-to-date information on the uranium haul transportation route are some of the many concerns voiced by people from communities along the haul route passing through Navajo land.

Toward the end of the route on the Navajo Nation sits Mexican Water, a community that straddles the Arizona and Utah border. The community is the last Navajo community the 24-ton haul trucks will pass through before leaving the Navajo Nation.

“We were scared,” Martha Saggboy said when they heard about the transportation officially passing through their community.

Mexican Water Chapter Officials (from left to right) Clifford Sagg, Phoebe Begay, Lucinda Tomchee and Martha Saggboy stand in front of the entrance to the chapter house on Nov. 19, 2024. Photo by Shondiin Silversmith | Arizona Mirror

Saggboy is the president of the Mexican Water Chapter House. She said she saw the photos of the truck and felt the uranium ore was not adequately contained. The tarp covering the open-air container was flapping in the wind, potentially exposing the community to hazardous materials as it drove down the road, to say nothing of the fact that a tarp wouldn’t contain any of the ore in the event of an accident.

After the community learned of the first haul, Saggboy said that the Mexican Water Chapter House passed a resolution opposing the transportation of uranium through their community.

She said they did that because the community does not have a medical center or even an EMT service, so any type of emergency caused by the hauling would be concerning.

More than 300 homes are within the Mexican Water Chapter community, with about 140 homes in Utah and 160 in Arizona, many of which are multi-generational.

“They’re in harm’s way,” she said.

Saggboy said one of their community’s biggest criticisms is that neither the Navajo Nation government nor the mining company has ever tried to work with the communities directly along the route.

Saggboy said both have failed to visit the community to educate the public about the situation, inform chapter officials about the transportation of uranium or even tell them what the route looks like.

Due to that lack of information, concern for potential contamination, and the overall history of what uranium has done to the Navajo Nation, Mexican Water Chapter officials are wondering what the best move forward for their community is.

Lucinda Tomchee, Mexican Chapter House manager, said that the Navajo Nation government and the mining company are leaving communities like hers in the dark.

“We should at least have some sort of guidance as to how to approach this issue within our community,” she said, adding that they should not have to rely on social media posts or local news updates to find out what will happen on their own with the uranium haul route.

Tomchee said the first step the mining company and the Navajo Nation government should take is to reach out to the chapters. If chapter officials are not provided with information, she said, how are they supposed to educate their communities?

“If we’re not given that information, we’re shortchanging our community,” Tomchee said, adding that it takes a simple phone call to tell them the transportation schedule and what to expect from the transportation. That way, they can alert people in their community.

Mexican Water Chapter House offices voiced their concerns about safety along State Route 191 because it is a rough road to travel on in certain areas, especially near the Utah and Arizona border. Photo by Shondiin Silversmith | Arizona Mirror

Risky Intersection, Jurisdictional Concerns

Many road condition concerns surrounding the transportation of uranium ore through the Mexican Water community focus on how the roads are not adequately maintained, the high level of traffic, the lack of road signs, livestock, weather and jurisdictional issues.

“They’re not up to par,” Saggboy said of the roads, adding that there are sections of the road where erosion can be seen and cracks in the asphalt and potholes.

Given the current road conditions, Saggboy stressed the critical need for an emergency mitigation plan. This plan, she emphasized, must be in place to address any potential accidents, especially when large trucks are hauling heavy loads of hazardous materials like uranium ore.

The closest hazmat team to the Mexican Water Chapter is in San Juan County Emergency Management, which is based in Monticello, Utah, more than 70 miles away from their community.

“We don’t have the resources readily available nearby to mitigate,” Saggboy added, noting that jurisdictional issues arise because their community straddles the Utah and Arizona border.

Saggboy said the agency that responds will depend on which side of Mexican Water the emergency occurs, Arizona or Utah. They either get help from San Juan County in Utah or the Navajo Nation Police Department in Shiprock, New Mexico.

For example, she said that during one winter, a family’s car broke down a few feet across the Utah border into Arizona, and the responding Highway Patrol came from San Juan County in Utah but stopped right at the state line because they were not allowed to go any further.

Saggboy said the temperatures were below freezing, and the responding patrol could not provide the family any aid because they were on the Arizona side.

“No other resources came, so the family spent the night there,” she said. Luckily, a community member drove past and took the family to the trading post.

She said those are the types of jurisdictional issues their community regularly encounters, and they should be factored into the conversation surrounding the uranium haul route.

Tomchee said the road gets rough in many parts, and there is a pressing need for more speed limit signs, fencing to control the open range for livestock and an overall improvement in the road’s surface.

Mexican Water is located in northern Arizona and southern Utah, so weather factors into driving conditions along the route, including rain, snow and wind. Tomchee said the wind can be extremely hazardous in the area, and it causes sand to build up on the road.

She said the sandbars create speed bumps in the middle of the road, and winds can get strong enough to blow over vehicles.

A semi-truck pulls up to the intersection at State Route 160 and 191, which the Grand Canyon Trust’s analysis of fatal accident data identified as the most dangerous section of the uranium haul route. Photo by Shondiin Silversmith | Arizona Mirror

The biggest concern is the intersection at State Route 160 and 191, which the Grand Canyon Trust’s analysis of fatal accident data identified as the most dangerous section of the uranium haul route.

“The condition of that road is horrible,” Tomchee said, and the intersection is a concern because it has no significant marking to indicate the intersection is there. “With the amount of traffic at the intersection, there should be more lighting and caution signs.”

Tomchee said the lack of lights and caution signs has resulted in drivers speeding through the intersection as they come down State Route 191 into the hills alongside State Route 160.

Eli Leslie, senior public information officer for the Navajo Nation Department of Transportation, said the Arizona Department of Transportation maintains and improves State Routes 89 and 160, while Apache County maintains State Route 191.

The Arizona Department of Transportation confirmed that it maintains State Routes 89 and 160 that pass through the Navajo Nation, which routinely sees commercial traffic, including large trucks hauling loads.

“ADOT designs, builds and maintains state highways to strict federal standards for safety,” ADOT Spokesmen Steve Elliott said, adding that many large trucks use State Routes 89 and 160 daily.

“State highways are designed, built and maintained to accommodate large vehicles, with a weight limit of 80,000 pounds,” he said. “There is normal wear and tear from any traffic.”

Elliott said ADOT holds regular partnering meetings with Navajo Nation officials to exchange updates and discuss concerns about the route.

He said that concerns about the shipment of uranium ore have been raised within these meetings, but broad concerns about road conditions in relation to the shipments have not.

Navajo Nation needs emergency plan

In 2012, the Navajo Nation prohibited the transport of radioactive materials across their tribal lands. However, after Energy Fuels transported uranium ore through Navajo land in July, the tribe amended the Radioactive and Related Substances, Equipment, Vehicles, Persons, and Materials Transportation Act of 2012.

The amendment enhanced the Navajo Nation’s regulatory authority over the transportation of uranium and other radioactive materials across its territory. The law now mandates that companies provide advance notice of transportation at least seven days before the event.

Any entity intending to transport uranium ore, yellowcake, radioactive waste, or other radioactive materials onto or across Navajo lands must first enter into an agreement with the Navajo Nation.

In the agreement, the entity must provide the Navajo Nation with the terms and conditions for such transport, including routes, emergency plans, financial assurances, curfews and other travel restrictions, containment requirements and fees.

Although transporting uranium across the Navajo Nation is illegal, Leslie said the Navajo DOT does not have a response team to regulate or enforce the law prohibiting transportation.

“That is referred to the Navajo Nation Police Department and Emergency Services,” he said.

Elliott said ADOT and other state agencies work closely with the Navajo Nation on various critical issues, including the transportation of uranium ore.

“The state of Arizona recognizes the devastating impact that uranium mining has historically had on Indigenous peoples and is working to ensure businesses operating in Arizona are safely transporting materials across communities,” Elliott said.

He added that Gov. Katie Hobbs has instructed the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs to partner with the Navajo Nation’s emergency management team to develop an emergency response plan in the event of a road incident.

The Arizona Mirror contacted the Navajo Nation Police Department and Department of Emergency Services multiple times and did not receive a response.

Navajo Nation Council Delegate Curtis Yanito said that the Navajo Nation does not have “a comprehensive emergency plan for any kind of incident,” especially one involving hazardous material like uranium.

Yanito represents five chapters on the Navajo Nation: Mexican Water, Montezuma Creek, Aneth, Red Mesa and Teec Nos Pos. He said that a robust emergency plan is crucial to ensure the safety of our communities in the event of any incident.

Yanito said the Navajo Nation does not have the proper resources to address a potentially hazardous incident, which is why he believes the tribe needs to start implementing citations and fines for liability purposes and the safety of communities.

“This accident is going to happen,” Yanito said, adding that it is time for the tribe to pass legislation that focuses on fines for unregulated transportation and ensuring the safety of their communities.

Yanito said chapter houses across the Navajo Nation must have emergency plans for their communities. However, he said the tribe needs to develop an emergency plan for the nation, including language about issues citations for transporting hazardous materials.

“A lot of these companies are taking advantage of us” because the Navajo Nation does not have many transportation regulations, Yanito said.

For example, he said the Navajo Nation does not have weigh stations or inspection stops for trucks, which means they cannot monitor how heavy or secure semi trucks are as they pass through or even what they carry.

“It’s easy to contaminate highways,” he added, which is why it’s essential to monitor and guarantee that those truckloads are secure.

With the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that now requires potential voters to provide proof of citizenship with their state-created voter registration forms, Indigenous voting rights advocates want Indigenous people to know that they can still register to vote as tribal citizens.

Patty Ferguson-Bohnee said that Indigenous people living in Arizona who are enrolled in a federally recognized tribe can use their tribal identification numbers to prove their citizenship.

“As long as a tribal member is an enrolled member of their tribe, they can use that tribal ID number to register on the state form, and that will prove citizenship for purposes of voter registration,” she said, adding that it’s because all Indigenous peoples were declared citizens of the United States in 1924.

Ferguson-Bohnee is the Director of the Indian Legal Clinic and a Clinical Professor of Law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. She also coordinates the Arizona Native Vote Election Protect Project, which focuses on protecting the right to vote for Indigenous voters in Arizona.

“If you prove you’re a Native American through using your enrollment number, your citizenship is verified,” she said because there is a space for Indigenous peoples to include that specific information on the state voter registration form.

“The people who are registering voters need to know that we can’t leave that blank because if you do not provide that on your state form, they will reject it,” Ferguson-Bohnee added.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Aug. 22 that Arizona can enforce part of a voter registration law being challenged in federal court, allowing the state to bar legal voters from registering weeks before the election.

Ferguson-Bohnee said the law will cause some confusion among organizations and people out in the community trying to register voters, and it may discourage voters from registering.

“The goal of the law was to create barriers to the ballot box,” she said. “And even to prevent eligible voters from registering to vote.”

Lower courts initially blocked the Arizona law in 2022, but in a5-4 order, the Supreme Court reinstated a portion of the law that allows the state to stop accepting state-created voter registration forms from Arizona residents unless they provide proof of citizenship.

The ruling means that potential voters who register to vote in Arizona using the state-created voter registration forms will need documentation proving citizenship for the registration to be valid. If no proof is provided, the state will reject the form — without informing them.

Ferguson Bohnee said there is no option to correct the form once it gets rejected, so she suggests that people register with the federal forms first. Then, when they have all the documentation readily available, their registration can be promoted to full-ballot voters.

“It’s very discouraging because it’s making a change right in the midst of the election process when people are registering people to vote,” Ferguson-Bohnee said. “This decision by the court is revising the playing field for election law.”

Not all Indigenous peoples may have their enrollment numbers available, but that shouldn’t discourage them from trying to register to vote. Ferguson-Bohnee said that is when they should register using the federal voter registration form.

She said that registering with a federal form only requires people to affirm their citizenship, not provide document proof, so people will be registered to vote in federal elections, including the presidential and senate races.

However, Ferguson-Bohnee said that if the voter can provide documentary proof of citizenship later, their status will be moved to a full ballot voter, which includes state elections — but that has to be done the Thursday before Election Day.

The court ruling has left some voting organizations baffled about their best course of action because it disrupts the plan of action that has been in motion within Indigenous communities for months.

Arizona Native Vote Executive Director Jaynie Parrish said it has left her team in limbo.

“We’re waiting to hear more directions on what our team needs to do,” Parrish said, adding they haven’t been provided a clear path forward on how this impacts Indigenous voters in Arizona.

Arizona Native Vote is a grassroots organization that works to increase civic engagement and election participation in tribal and rural communities. The organization often hosts voter registration events within Indigenous communities to register Indigenous people to vote.

“We’re just not sure the scope of how this will really impact tribal and rural communities,” she added, but she said she knows that whenever one group is targeted, others are impacted as well.

Parrish said there have always been difficulties for Indigenous peoples in Arizona when it comes to voting, whether it’s the rural addresses or access to polling locations.

Now, adding another layer of requirements, Parrish said, will be challenging because her on-the-ground team will need to find ways to accommodate that requirement for the Indigenous peoples they register to vote.

She said she is curious if it will simply involve adding additional printers and scanners to their efforts in the field so that they can photocopy the documents needed to send them in with voter registrations.

For now, the uncertainty means Parrish and her team are considering briefly suspending their on-the-ground voter registration efforts until they better understand what is happening.

“It’s disheartening,” Parrish said, adding that is what voter disenfranchisement is meant to do. “We’re at a crossroads, and we just have to keep pushing forward.”

Parrish said she hopes Indigenous voters don’t feel discouraged from participating in the election and to check on their voter registration status to ensure they can vote.

“It’s clearly a voter suppression tactic and is why groups like us exist to help our voters navigate and understand,” She said.

Ceridwen Cherry, the legal director for voter advocacy group VoteRiders, said there are about 41,000 federal-only voters in Arizona who are allowed to vote on federal races, but not state ones, because they haven’t provided proof of citizenship.

“That’s a pretty decent chunk of people who are in this category right now,” Cherry said. “We’re going to be doing outreach to all 41,000 of those voters in Arizona to offer them our services.”

Cherry said her organization partnered on a national study that found that about 21.3 million American citizens of voting age lack ready access to a document proving citizenship, such as a U.S. birth certificate, U.S. passport, naturalization certificate or citizenship certificate.

“The survey’s results indicate that requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote would create significant barriers for eligible voters,” the Brennan Center stated in a press release.

The survey also found that, of the 21.3 million American citizens lacking ready access to documentary proof of citizenship, at least 3.8 million don’t have these documents at all.

“That is what’s really concerning to us is that there are voters who are just going to be entirely disenfranchised from participation,” she added.

The survey also showed that 11% of American citizens of color who are voting age are unable to readily access documentary proof of citizenship, compared to 8% of white American citizens.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and X.