President Trump’s recent decision to downsize Bears Ears National Monument in Utah may have been influenced by the company that operates a uranium mill just outside the monument’s boundary. The Washington Post reports that Energy Fuels Resources Incorporated, whose White Mesa mill sits a few miles from Blanding, lobbied hard for the 1.35-million-acre monument to be shrunk. This is despite statements by Republican lawmakers and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke that resource extraction was not a factor in Trump’s decision to cut Bears Ears by 85 percent. In a May 25th letter, Energy Fuels COO Mark Chalmers wrote the Interior Department that the monument’s proximity “could affect existing and future mill operations.” He also expressed concern that the monument’s western boundary is less than two miles from the company’s Daneros uranium mine. Chalmers said the larger monument contains many potentially valuable uranium and vanadium deposits and urged that it be made smaller.
Report: Uranium Firm Lobbied Hard to Cut Bears Ears
