Bureau of Livestock and Mining is back!
BLM analyzes, approves Utah uranium mine in just 11 days
⛏️ Mining Monitor ⛏️
On May 23, the Bureau of Land Management’s Monticello field office approved the operating plan for Anfield Resources proposed Velvet-Wood uranium mine in southeastern Utah. By completing the environmental assessment for a new mine in just 11 days, effectively precluding public input, tribal consultation, and any meaningful analysis of the project’s potential impacts, the agency thumbed its nose at the foundational National Environmental Policy Act and took public land management back to days of the “Bureau of Livestock and Mining.”
I have to admit, even when Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered the agency to compress the months-long environmental review process down to just 14 days, I didn’t really believe it would happen. I figured they’d run out the clock, say the operating plan was deficient, and they’d need more time. Or, at the very least, they’d put out a rushed review and open it to public comment before making a decision.
But no. Instead, apparently in an effort to get the thing completed before the Memorial Day weekend, the agency issued a decision on Friday afternoon, three days ahead of Burgum’s “emergency” deadline.
The proposed Velvet-Wood mine isn’t especially large by mine standards — it is expected to employ 76 people to produce about 500 tons of ore per day — but to determine that it will have “no significant impacts,” as the BLM did, is irresponsible and unrealistic. Surface facilities will span about 28 acres, and will include new buildings, roads, water treatment plants, utility lines, and waste dumps. The underground impacts will be less visible, but potentially more harmful to groundwater and surface water.
Though this will play out on public land, the agency never opened the proposal up to public input, nor did it publish related documents until after it had made a decision. Nevertheless, Sarah Fields of Uranium Watch and the Center for Biological Diversity and Sierra Club submitted comments, with the latter groups noting:
Treating the Velvet-Wood Mine as an “emergency” will make it impossible for BLM to comply with NEPA. First, the 14-day timeframe in which BLM apparently expects to complete the EA will as a practical matter make it impossible for BLM to comply with the fundamental requirement of NEPA that agencies take a “hard look” at environmental consequences before making decisions, and “that the agency, in reaching its decision, will have available, and will carefully consider, detailed information concerning significant environmental impacts.” There is no way BLM can take a hard look at a project of this complexity, and comply with the requirements of NEPA, in only 14 days. Second, the incredibly short time frame, and lack of information provided by BLM, abandon the other key purpose of NEPA to inform the public and allow them to meaningfully participate in this process.
A cursory archaeological survey identified five cultural sites within the project area, and advised Anfield to “avoid” them. The agency allowed just seven days for tribal consultation (during which several tribes with ties to the area expressed myriad concerns).
Clearly the BLM did not take these concerns seriously enough to slow the review process down or to alter the proposed operating plan.
Before Anfield can begin mining, it must first get additional state permits. And it can’t process ore at its Shootaring uranium mill near Ticaboo, Utah — some 186 miles away — until Utah regulators license that facility. So it’s not clear why Anfield requested the expedited review, unless it was a cynical attempt to dodge a more thorough analysis that might have turned up problems.
Even if the Velvet-Wood is never built, which is certainly possible given the volatility of the uranium market, the rushed approval sets a dangerous precedent. It shows that Burgum and the rest of the Trump administration see the public’s land as nothing more than an “asset” to be exploited and ravaged for corporate profit. And by shutting out public input, they show that they hold the American people in similar disregard.
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The U.S. Supreme Court today declined to hear Apache Stronghold’s bid to block a massive copper mining project proposed for Chi’chil Biłdagoteel, aka Oak Flat—a boulder-studded plateau near Superior, Arizona, that has historical and ceremonial significance to the Apache people and other Southwestern tribes. The decision opens the door for a land swap that would hand over Chi’chil Biłdagoteel to multi-national mining corporations targeting a massive copper deposit underneath the area. Mining it would cause the land to subside, creating a huge crater in Oak Flat.
Notably, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas dissented, writing:
While this Court enjoys the power to choose which cases it will hear, its decision to shuffle this case off our docket without a full airing is a grievous mistake—one with consequences that threaten to reverberate for generations. Just imagine if the government sought to demolish a historic cathedral on so questionable a chain of legal reasoning. I have no doubt that we would find that case worth our time. Faced with the government’s plan to destroy an ancient site of tribal worship, we owe the Apaches no less.
📸 Parting Shot 🎞️
So when the current WH resident said: "dont believe what you see and hear" - this must be one of the issues he was talking about - right? It's odd that many of the people who believed that were NOT his voters! Gets more frustrating and terrifying every minute of every day.
Hot damn. No public input is a real FU to public landowners. This is spot on: "Even if the Velvet-Wood is never built, which is certainly possible given the volatility of the uranium market, the rushed approval sets a dangerous precedent. It shows that Burgum and the rest of the Trump administration see the public’s land as nothing more than an “asset” to be exploited and ravaged for corporate profit. And by shutting out public input, they show that they hold the American people in similar disregard.