Zak Podmore

A delegation of uranium workers from the Navajo Nation is calling on Congress to expand and extend legislation that compensates victims of radiation exposure.

A group is advocating for a target elevation of 3,588 above sea level for the half-full lake, far above the level of 3,525 that was set in a 2017 drought contingency plan.

The reservoir level fell below that target elevation earlier this month. It can only drop by 34 more feet before hydropower production becomes impossible. Lake Powell’s elevation dropped by 44 feet over the last year.

The Lisbon Valley Mining Company wants to pump diluted sulfuric acid and other chemicals into an underground aquifer to dissolve copper deposits.

<b>Muley Point •</b> Along the broken sandstone edge of Cedar Mesa, a pair of ravens watched Friday as supporters of Bears Ears National Monument offered gratitude to the landscape, the nearby piñon and juniper forest, and the San Juan River twisting through its goosenecks thousands of feet below.

Utah regulators have yet to decide whether the White Mesa uranium mill will be allowed to import 2,000 drums of radioactive powder from a rare metals facility in Estonia. But that won’t prevent Energy Fuels, the Colorado-based company that operates the mill in San Juan County, from exporting material to the same Estonian plant to be processed into rare earth elements as soon as this month.

The origins of the now-famous “monolith” sculpture in San Juan County are still unclear, but its disappearance Friday night is becoming less of a mystery.

Sanpete County Clerk Sandy Neill didn’t know there was a problem with the more than 13,000 mail-in ballots sent to voters in her county this week until they had already arrived in mailboxes.

For nearly two months, San Juan County has maintained its unfortunate lead among Utah health districts for the highest coronavirus case rate in the state.

<b>Bluff</b> • A long-anticipated Trump administration report aimed to “revive and strengthen the uranium mining industry” was released Thursday, and if its recommendations are implemented, it could provide direct government support for uranium production in San Juan County where the country’s last conventional uranium mill and several idled mines are located.

<b>Monument Valley </b>• Since the first COVID-19 case was confirmed on the Navajo Nation in mid-March, the near-daily updates released by the tribal government have been alarming.

As the coronavirus pandemic ripples through the global economy, San Juan County’s mining sector is feeling the impact.

<b>Teec Nos Pos, Ariz. </b>• Long school bus rides for Diné (Navajo) students in San Juan County may get a little smoother in the coming months thanks to an agreement signed Monday between county and tribal officials that partially resolved a rights of way dispute.

Utah’s second largest copper mine after Kennecott is seeking permits for an experimental method of extraction involving pumping diluted sulfuric acid underground that could potentially extend the mine’s life for another 26 years.

<b>Monticello</b> • Seven years after the Navajo Nation first brought suit against San Juan County under the Voting Rights Act, the landmark case that <a href=“https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2017/11/18/utah-navajos-will-soon-have-more-political-power-in-san-juan-county-though-some-dont-like-the-changes/” target=_blank>reconfigured the county’s voting districts</a> and led to the <a href=“https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2019/01/07/san-juan-county/” target=_blank>election of its first m…