/SCOTT BUFFON, Arizona Daily Sun
Jessica Meyers | Cronkite News
Environmentalists are blasting a Trump administration call for “bold action to revive and strengthen the uranium mining industry,” an industry whose history they say has left a “toxic trail” through the Grand Canyon.
They are responding to a report by the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Fuel Working Group released in April, which called for the government to support both uranium mining and nuclear power technology to preserve national security.
The first step in that plan is a proposal for $150 million in next year’s Energy Department’s budget to buy and stockpile U.S.-mined uranium, the report said.
“As a matter of national security, it is critical that we take bold steps to preserve and grow the entire U.S. nuclear energy enterprise,” Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said in a statement announcing the report. He said a lack of U.S. progress on nuclear energy and technology “has threatened our national interest and national security.”
Environmentalists say there is no need to protect a “sagging” uranium mining industry and fear the report will lead the administration to slash environmental laws and regulations to allow for more mining. That is a particular concern in northern Arizona where there are hundreds of abandoned uranium mines that still pose health risks, they said. The Grand Canyon Trust recently released a report detailing the history of mining in and ouside of the Grand Canyon, which brings in details of the new federal report.
