The federal government is pushing to restart domestic uranium production, and the communities most exposed to what that industry leaves behind are the ones that have been living with its last cycle for decades. In the White Mesa Ute Community in southeastern Utah, where about 200 Ute Mountain Ute tribal members live just five miles from the nation's only remaining conventional uranium mill, many residents already do not drink tap water and rely on bottled water instead.
The policy driver is specific. A federal law enacted in 2024 bans imports of Russian uranium by 2028, increasing pressure to develop domestic supplies. President Donald Trump set a goal of quadrupling U.S. nuclear capacity by 2050 and issued orders prioritizing mining on federal lands and fast-tracking approvals. The Velvet-Wood uranium mine in Utah cleared federal environmental review in 11 days, with local tribes given one week to comment.
For households in the Four Corners region, the question is narrower than the national energy debate. It is whether more ore moving to more mills changes what comes out of the tap, and the measured evidence is mixed, unlike the historical record.
White Mesa Sits Downhill from the Country's Last Uranium Mill
White Mesa Mill, built in 1980 near what is now Bears Ears National Monument, produces yellowcake for nuclear fuel and has diversified into processing radioactive waste imported from as far away as Estonia and Japan. Reporting by KFF Health News, which produced the story in partnership with NPR, documented 10 to 15 ore trucks arriving each weekday, most of which passed through the White Mesa community.
The trucking routes link separate tribes into a single set of concerns. Ore travels to the mill from regional mines, including one near the Grand Canyon where the Havasupai Tribe lives, and that route crosses the Navajo Nation. The mill stores its radioactive waste in five lined tailings cells occupying 284 acres, and plans to expand that storage with new cells about a quarter mile closer to the White Mesa community. Curtis Moore, senior vice president of marketing and corporate development at Energy Fuels, which has owned the facility since 2012, said the new cells will be triple-lined to modern standards, telling KFF that "it really is the perfect site for a uranium mill."
The historical record behind the distrust is documented rather than alleged. A government-driven uranium boom from the 1940s through the 1980s, concentrated around the Four Corners area, exposed miners to heightened mortality from lung and other cancers, and federal reviews found that miners, many of them Diné, were not warned about radiation risks even after government scientists understood them. Companies left behind waste sites that leached contamination into soil and water, including more than 500 abandoned mine sites on and near the Navajo Nation.
Dust, Not Leaking Ponds, Explains the Documented Spring Contamination
The specific water finding at White Mesa is worth stating precisely, because it is frequently compressed into something it is not.
In the late 2000s, an EPA report found elevated radionuclide contamination at Entrance Spring, a seep across the highway from the mill. EPA water samples showed uranium concentrations at times exceeding the federal drinking water standard. But EPA and U.S. Geological Survey fieldwork suggested the uranium came from dust blowing off the mill's ore storage pads rather than from leaking waste ponds. The most recent tests, from last year, put Entrance Spring at 22.5 micrograms of uranium per liter, below the federal drinking standard of 30 but still elevated.
The tribe does not use that spring for drinking water. It is monitored because seeps and springs offer early signals about whether waste ponds are reaching a shallower, less protected aquifer. The community's actual drinking water comes from a deep aquifer separated by a thick rock barrier. Scott Clow, environmental programs director for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, has said that the deep aquifer has its own quality issues, including arsenic, iron, and manganese, but that the public drinking water is filtered and safe.
Regional groundwater data points in the same direction, with an important caveat about age. A U.S. Geological Survey analysis published five years ago examined 573 samples collected between 1981 and 2020 from 206 spring and well sites across the Grand Canyon region and found that 195 of those sites, about 95 percent, had maximum uranium concentrations below the federal limit. USGS research hydrologist Fred Tillman said the monitoring exists to confirm the resource "meets EPA standards and is available." Researchers have also cautioned that groundwater flow paths in the region are slow, so effects from mining might not appear at springs for a very long time.
Regulators and Residents Disagree About Whose Evidence Counts
Utah regulators and Energy Fuels maintain that pollution associated with the mill is contained. Adam Wingate, uranium recovery manager at the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, has acknowledged that White Mesa sits downslope relative to underground water flow and that plumes of chloroform and nitrates already pollute the Burro Canyon Aquifer beneath the mill's waste cells, with the company pumping out the contamination. His assessment is that, on the available evidence, residents' health is not at risk from the mill.
Residents describe a different daily experience: tap water that smells of sulfur and looks milky, and odors they attribute to the mill. Moore denied that mill odors can be detected beyond the mill parking lot. Utah air quality officials say the state does not conduct ambient air monitoring in White Mesa and does not regulate odors.
The regulatory record is not spotless. In December 2021, EPA found the mill in violation of the Clean Air Act for failing to cover one of its tailings cells with liquid to limit radon emissions, called the violation egregious in nature and duration, and temporarily barred the mill from receiving Superfund waste. State regulators say the problem was corrected and the mill passed its most recent air quality review.
A 2023 federal health assessment concluded that radiation levels measured at the tribe's air monitor were unlikely to harm human health, but its authors said they could not evaluate whether the mill's radon emissions affect bordering properties and recommended sampling closer to the mill during heightened activity.
In 2021 the tribe passed a resolution stating that the mill should cease operating entirely. A University of Utah health survey is examining reported rates of cancer and asthma in the community. Those results are not yet available, and no study has established a causal link between the mill and illness in White Mesa.
For households near legacy mining, the practical steps are unglamorous. Use only regulated public water for drinking, cooking, and bathing rather than unregulated wells or springs. Livestock wells do not have drinking water. Anyone uncertain about a private well can request testing through a tribal or state environmental program.
Federal permitting decisions on additional mines and the mill's tailings expansion are pending; the University of Utah survey is ongoing; and state monitoring of the seeps and springs continues. MedicalDaily will report new sampling results and regulatory decisions as they are released.
Key Questions Answered
Is the drinking water in White Mesa contaminated? Government agencies and the mill operator say there is no evidence the mill is affecting the community's drinking water, which comes from a deep aquifer protected by a rock barrier. The tribe's environmental director says that water is filtered and safe to drink.
What was actually found at Entrance Spring? EPA sampling in the late 2000s found uranium concentrations at times above the federal drinking water standard. The most recent testing showed 22.5 micrograms per liter, below the federal limit of 30 but elevated. The spring is not used for drinking.
Did the contamination come from leaking waste ponds? EPA and USGS fieldwork suggested it came from dust blowing off the mill's ore storage pads rather than from the tailings cells. That distinction matters because the two problems have different solutions.
Why are tribes concerned if current readings are within limits? Because radioactive waste persists for tens of thousands of years, because the mill is expanding its storage, and because the last uranium boom left more than 500 abandoned sites and documented cancer excess among miners who were never warned.
Has any study proven that the mill causes health harm? No. A 2023 federal health assessment found that measured radiation levels were unlikely to harm health but stated it could not evaluate radon effects on neighboring properties. A University of Utah health survey is ongoing.
Has the mill ever been cited by regulators? Yes. EPA found a Clean Air Act violation involving radon controls on a tailings cell and temporarily barred the mill from receiving Superfund waste. State regulators say the problem was corrected.
What should people living near legacy mining sites do? Use only regulated public water sources for drinking, cooking, and bathing, stay away from abandoned mine sites, and contact a tribal or state environmental program to have a private well tested.
