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The Trump administration has announced the first project to undergo an expedited environmental review under new Interior department procedures. Following President Donald Trump's declaration on January 20 of a 'national energy emergency,' the Interior department announced a plan to limit environmental reviews—which typically take at least a year—to 14 days, or 28 days for especially complex projects. On Monday, the Interior department announced that the Velvet-Wood Mine, in southeastern Utah's San Juan County, will be the first project to go through permitting under the new expedited process.
Anfield Energy, the owner of the mine, plans to reopen an old mine that closed in 1984, and intends to produce uranium and vanadium. Anfield also owns and plans to reopen the shuttered Shootaring Canyon uranium mill in neighboring Garfield County, Utah. However, an expedited environmental review won't singlehandedly change the broader dynamics of global uranium production, as Center for Western Priorities Policy Director Rachael Hamby explained in a Westwise blog post last May.
Meanwhile, 15 states have already filed a lawsuit challenging the emergency declaration, arguing that no actual emergency exists and that the use of emergency procedures to bypass proper environmental reviews is illegal. Challenges to the Velvet-Wood review specifically are also likely. "The majority of our uranium comes from allies as Trump 1.0 determined," said Aaron Mintzes, senior policy counsel at Earthworks. "So we’re not vulnerable and there is no emergency."
Interior department releases heavily redacted 'action plans'
In response to multiple Freedom of Information Act requests, the Interior department released a heavily redacted version of the 'action plans" produced in response to Secretary Doug Burgum's secretarial orders signed on his first day on the job. According to the document, the Bureau of Land Management still intends to conduct a review of national monuments to identify any "undue burdens on energy or mineral production."
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Public lands are not bargaining chips. They are the backbone of our economy, our culture and our identity. Selling them off in secret to fund the wealthy is not just bad policy, it is a disgrace. The people of Nevada and all Americans deserve better.”
