By Anastasia Hufham | The Salt Lake Tribune | Photo by Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune
State leaders have nothing but praise for the Trump administration’s decision to significantly shorten the environmental review process of a southeastern Utah uranium project.
Earlier this week, the Department of the Interior announced it was fast-tracking the permitting process for Anfield Energy Inc.’s plans to reopen the Velvet-Wood uranium mine in San Juan County. The environmental assessment for the project must be completed by the Bureau of Land Management in just 14 days — as opposed to the prior timeline of months or years.
“We’re excited to see the Department of the Interior highlight a Utah project as one of the first to benefit from a faster, more efficient permitting process,” said Gov. Spencer Cox in a statement. “For years, we’ve called for commonsense reforms that make it easier to build without sacrificing environmental stewardship. There’s no reason permitting can’t be both timely and responsible — and we’re hopeful this project will prove just that.”
President Donald Trump in January issued an executive order announcing a “national energy emergency,” which was followed by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s move to shorten environmental reviews.
The Velvet-Wood mine, near Utah’s Lisbon Valley, will produce both uranium and vanadium. The former can be processed into fuel for nuclear reactors, while the latter is commonly used in steel alloys.
The BLM reports the project will “result in only three acres of new surface disturbance given the underground mining plan and the existing surface disturbance from the old Velvet Mine.” The older mine shut down in the 1980s and produced 400,000 tons of ore between 1979 and 1984, according to Anfield Energy. The company said that the site currently boasts over 5 million pounds of uranium ore to be mined.
Read more at SLTrib.com.
This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.