Uranium mining company pushed Trump administration to reduce Bears Ears

Tuesday, January 16, 2018  

A uranium mining company based in Canada stands to benefit from the gutting of the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah.

Energy Fuels Resources prepared maps of the areas it wanted removed from Bears Ears and distributed them when Secretary Ryan Zinke of the Department of the Interior visited the area last May, The New York Times reported. The firm's vice president and lobbying team -- which included a former member of Congress who once disparaged Native activism -- later met with Zinke's top staff to discuss the monument, The Washington Post reported.

Zinke has denied that mining interests played a role in his recommendation to reduce the size of the monument. But Energy Fuels happens to own a third of the uranium claims within the original Bears Ears designation, The Times reported.

The firm already operates the White Mesa Mill, which the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe has opposed, and the Daneros Mine on the outskirts of Bears Ears. Overall, there are more than 300 uranium claims within the original monument boundaries, The Times reported.

“Come February, anyone can place a mining claim on the land,” Greg Zimmerman of the Center for Western Priorities, a conservation group that has investigated Zinke's ties to industry and political interests, told The Times.

Stopping uranium development was one of the reasons why the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, the Navajo Nation and other tribes supported the monument. The Navajo Reservation is littered with more than 500 abandoned mines and many tribal citizens have suffered health problems from working in the mines and living near the toxic sites.

"We felt the full brunt of uranium contamination and lost a whole generation of men who were mining or milling uranium,” Amber Kanazbah Crotty, an elected delegate to the Navajo Nation Council, told The Post.

Energy Fuels is telling a different story, calling uranium mining safe and beneficial to national interests. President and CEO Mark Chalmers described The New York Times report as a "hit piece."

Read More on the Story:
Uranium Miners Pushed Hard for a Comeback. They Got Their Wish. (The New York Times January 13, 2018)

Only one tribal leader invited to hearing to gut Bears Ears National Monument (January 8, 2018)
The Conversation: Threats to Bears Ears and sacred places violate human rights (December 18, 2017)
Deb Haaland 'ready to fight' as first Native American woman in halls of Congress (December 15, 2017)
YES! Magazine: President Trump's shrinking of Bears Ears won't survive in courts (December 8, 2017)
Jacqueline Keeler: President Trump again uses Navajo elders as props for political purposes (December 6, 2017)
Secretary Zinke slams 'special interests' after tribes go to court to save Bears Ears (December 5, 2017)
Tribes plan lawsuit as Trump schedules visit to reduce size of Bears Ears in Utah (November 29, 2017)
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Gregory Ablavsky: President Trump continues dark chapter with treatment of tribes (November 9, 2017)
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Environmental groups sue Trump administration over national monument plans (November 3, 2017)
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Bears Ears remains in limbo as Republicans leave tribes out of monument bill (October 13, 2017)
Cronkite News: Republicans quickly move bill to limit new national monuments (October 12, 2017)
Navajo Nation plans to sue Trump administration to protect Bears Ears in Utah (September 21, 2017)
Secretary Zinke goes against tribal interests with monument recommendations (September 18, 2017)
Cronkite News: Secretary Zinke sends secret monument report to White House (August 25, 2017)
Richard Frias and Todd Leahy: National monuments preserve Native culture (July 31, 2017)
Navajo Nation citizen Carol Surveyor announces run for Congress in Utah (July 24, 2017)
Cronkite News: Trump's review of monuments draws 1.4 million comments (July 24, 2017)
Trump administration receives 1.4M comments on national monuments (July 12, 2017)
Loni Romo: We owe it to future generations to keep Bears Ears protected (July 10, 2017)
Lawsuits expected after President Trump changes Bears Ears boundary (June 28, 2017)
Secretary Zinke rejects complaints about consultation and Bears Ears (June 24, 2017)
Tribes lash out at Trump administration for lapses in consultation (June 13, 2017)
Ryan Benally: Bears Ears was a false promise for Native Americans (May 26, 2017)
Documents show few meetings between Secretary Zinke and tribes (May 22, 2017)
Deadline looms in Secretary Zinke's review of Bears Ears and other monuments (May 15, 2017)
Terry Tempest Williams: Will Bears Ears be the next Standing Rock? (May 8, 2017)
Tribes vow fight in effort to protect Bears Ears National Monument (May 3,2017)
Tribes encounter silence from Secretary Zinke in Bears Ears review (May 2, 2017)
Ute Tribe demands 'voice' as Trump orders review of Bears Ears (April 28, 2017)
Trump singles out Bears Ears as an 'abuse' of government's power(April 26, 2017)
Jacqueline Keeler: New monument marks victory for tribal sites (January 10, 2017)
Tribes celebrate designation of national monument at Bears Ears (January 9, 2017)