mining

The Kayenta Mine, a surface coal mine which closed down in 2019, was operated by the coal company Peabody Energy. Now, retired coal miners across the Navajo Nation, including some who worked at the Kayenta Mine, are suffering from black lung disease and other health problems as a result of exposure to coal mine dust. In the second installment of a series on black lung among Navajo miners, former miner Alex Osif took KSJD on a driving tour of the mine in northeastern Arizona.

Last Friday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency held an informational meeting in northeastern Arizona on the first area in the Navajo Nation to be added to the Superfund National Priorities List. The EPA has proposed adding the Lukachukai Mountain Mining District to the national list, which is made up of sites in the United States that are highly contaminated and require long-term remediation. And Colorado is one step closer to ensuring all kids can access healthy food at school regardless of their ability to pay after Governor Jared Polis signed Senate Bill 221 into law last month.

A new round of cutbacks is coming for some water users on the Colorado River. And a new poll shows a majority of Arizonans support permanently banning uranium mining around the Grand Canyon.

Colorado is launching a one point eight million dollar grant program aimed at getting youth from underserved communities into the great outdoors. And fire crews in Gunnison County this week were able to subdue a wildfire caused by flames in an underground coal mine.

The U.S. Department of Energy is building up the country's strategic uranium reserve, and that means potentially more business for regional producers of the element.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled late last month that Canadian-based Resolution Mining Company can build a copper mine on sacred Native American land east of Phoenix. And Utah has opened a new state office dedicated to professional licenses.

For half a century, Navajo and Hopi lands were the site of one the largest coal mining operations in the west. The mines are now closed, but some are concerned about what’s been left behind. From the Navajo Nation, KJZZ’s Katherine Davis-Young has this report.

Part 1: Boom and Bust

Let's turn now to the latest on the battle over Oak Flat, Arizona, where a proposed copper mine has sparked a debate over industry versus the environment.…

Residents of a tiny, unincorporated, coal town on Colorado’s Western Slope are pitted against billionaire mine owner Bill Koch in a fight for clean…