Environment December 9, 2017

Uranium Company Lobbied Trump Officials To Shrink Bears Ears Monument

Bears Ears bluffs — BLANDING, UT - MAY 11; The two bluffs known as the "Bears Ears" stand off in the distance at sunset in the Bears Ears National Monument on May 11, 2017 outside Blanding, Utah. The newly created Bears Ears National Monument and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, are under review by the Trump Administration to help determine their future status.

Despite repeated denials that mining or drilling played no part in Donald Trump’s decision to shrink Bears Ears National Monument, The Washington Post reports this morning that indeed, a uranium company launched a major lobbying effort to convince the government to scale back the protected land.

“This is not about energy,” (Interior Secretary Ryan) Zinke told reporters Tuesday. “There is no mine within Bears Ears.”

Documents obtained by The Post “show that Energy Fuels Resources (USA) Inc., a subsidiary of a Canadian firm, urged the Trump administration to limit the monument to the smallest size needed to protect key objects and areas, such as archeological sites, to make it easier to access the radioactive ore.”

Last Monday, Trump traveled to Salt Lake City where he announced two national monuments in Utah would be dramatically reduced in size.