Challenges against Biden's abuse of the 1906 "Antiquities Act" will likely reach U.S. Supreme Court, could be only way to reauthorize mining
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Texas Insider Report) — “Cutting off access to the best uranium deposits in the United States through a 'National Monument Proclamation/ is not wise – particularly when those deposits will be mined using modern techniques that have no significant impacts to the country's public health, safety, or environment. This threatens national security and the country’s foreign policy positions as it dangerously promotes greater United States’ dependence on Russian uranium and nuclear fuel. Even worse, this potentially helps fund Russia’s war efforts,” said the operator of the Arizona region's sole active uranium mine.
Although Joe Biden's own Department of Interior acknowledged it had received no official request as of July 28, 2023 to expand the designation of the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument's area, in Arizona on Tuesday Mr. Biden's declaration effectively prevents future mining on almost one million acres of uranium-rich land.
He used the Antiquities Act of 1906 to designate the land, which is a law that limits monuments to “the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.”
Biden has in the past expressed strong support for domestic uranium production, as the U.S. is reliant on Russian uranium, and spends $1 billion annually purchasing the rare mineral from Russia.
Said Biden while visiting the area Tuesday:
“My first week as president, I signed an Executive Order establishing our country’s most ambitious conservation goal ever: I made a commitment that we will protect 30% of all our nation’s lands and waters, conserve 30% of all our nation’s lands and waters by 2030, and we’re on our way. We’re delivering.”
The announcement marks Biden’s 5th national monument designation – and is a move which energy stakeholders say will thwart his focus on climate-friendly energy by preventing the domestic production of uranium.
Since uranium is used for clean nuclear energy, which provides 20% of U.S. electricity and 50% of carbon-free electricity, many of the nation's energy experts say Mr. Biden’s goals of conservation and clean energy are at odds:
“The uranium deposits of Northern Arizona are geologically unique. They are very high-grade, close to the surface, and require very little land area to mine,” said Energy Fuels Resources, which operates the region’s sole active uranium mine.
"As a result, they're among the lowest-cost and lowest-impact sources of uranium in the United States – making them national clean energy assets,” Energy Fuels Resources said.
Challenges against presidential abuse of the act will likely reach the Supreme Court, which unless the next administration nullifies the national monument desiignation, could be the only way to reauthorize mining efforts in the area.
“The proposed designation of an additional 1.1 million acres of federal land as a national monument – which are outside the already designated 1.2 million protected acres existing in Grand Canyon National Park – does not meet these statutory requirements,” Energy Fuels Resources noted.
“Congress did not intend for the president to have the unilateral power to create expansive national monuments consisting of hundreds of thousands or millions of acres of federal land unconnected to any actual landmark, object, or structure, in order to achieve other unstated goals, such as stopping critical mineral resource development.”
Over one million acres of federal land already protect the Grand Canyon, and although Biden says the new monument will further safeguard the landmark, little evidence supports claims that uranium mining pollutes groundwater or the surrounding environment. Unsafe mining practices were common during the Cold War, before regulatory measures were implemented in the 1960s.
But recent studies show that the practice has improved:
- Arizona Geological Survey’s 2022 Study proved that even a “worst-case” mining scenario – if 30 tons of uranium were dumped into the Colorado River – would not produce a noticeable effect on the environment.
- The United States Geological Survey has monitored groundwater since 2017, and has yet to detect negative effects of uranium mining. In 2012,
- Barack Obama issued a 20-year mining withdrawal to study the environment in the area, the latest report from which (in 2021) could not detect negative effects on groundwater samples.
Uranium mining has been studied extensively, and is overseen by a host of Federal & State Agencies:
- The U.S. Forest Service,
- the Bureau of Land Management,
- the Environmental Protection Agency,
- the Mine Safety & Health Administration,
- the U.S. Department of Transportation,
- the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality,
- the Arizona Department of Water Resources,
- and more.
Energy Fuels Resources said these agencies should “take a great deal of pride in how their expertise and oversight has helped create a framework – that should be a model for the rest of the world.”
Still, Interior Department Secretary Deb Haaland (right,) called the monument designation historic.
“It will help protect lands that many tribes referred to as their eternal home, a place of healing and a source of spiritual sustenance,” she said.
Native American tribes have since 1986 tried – and failed – to shut down Energy Fuels’s Pinyon Plain Mine.
“It will help ensure that indigenous peoples can continue to use these areas for religious ceremonies, hunting and gathering of plants, medicines and other materials, including some found nowhere else on earth,” Haaland said.
