In May, the federal government fast-tracked the approval of Velvet-Wood uranium mine.
Eleven days. That’s how long the federal government took to approve the expansion of a long defunct uranium mine in southern Utah. This is expected to be the first of many expedited energy approvals on public lands.
Under normal circumstances, the public would have had a chance to weigh in. Instead, this time, the U.S. Department of the Interior did a rush job, fast-tracking its environmental review of the mine. The process cut the public out of the picture and gave Native American tribes a mere seven days to provide input on how the mine impacts their ancestral lands.
In short, it compressed into 11 days what should have been a months-long process to understand and minimize risks and ensure compliance with laws intended to protect people and the environment.
How is this possible?
On day one of his second term, President Trump declared an “energy emergency” via executive order. That order selectively defines energy to include only the sources the administration favors: “crude oil, natural gas, lease condensates, natural gas liquids, refined petroleum products, uranium, coal, biofuels, geothermal heat, the kinetic movement of flowing water, and critical minerals…”
Notably, President Trump not only excluded wind and solar power from the definition of energy in his emergency order but has actively taken steps to stymie renewable energy development, including placing a moratorium on federal wind permits the same day he declared an energy emergency. He has also pressured members of his own party to strip renewable energy incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act.
Relying upon President Trump’s energy emergency declaration, the Department of the Interior announced in April 2025 that it would use emergency authorities “to accelerate the development of domestic energy resources and critical minerals.” These emergency procedures cap agency environmental reviews at “28 days at most.” On May 23, 2025, these procedures were used for the first time to approve Canada-based Anfield Energy’s proposed Velvet-Wood uranium mine in southern Utah.
Is this legitimate?
No. The Grand Canyon Trust and others were quick to point out that the basis for this expedited review is deeply flawed. The president’s declaration of an energy emergency was baseless, and the Department of Interior gave no lawful justification for invoking the follow-on emergency procedures. Using those procedures to approve operations like Velvet-Wood is illegal.
There is no energy emergency
There are regulatory thresholds that allow emergency action under the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, and National Historic Preservation Act meant to accommodate true emergency situations, but those thresholds have not been met here.
The only justification the Department of the Interior gave for using emergency procedures is President Trump’s emergency declaration. But that declaration failed to supply a lawful basis for invoking the relevant emergency regulations. Indeed, President Trump’s anti-renewable policies underscore this fact by undercutting important, affordable energy sources like wind and solar that would help to ameliorate an energy emergency if there was one.
It is clear that the emergency declaration and subsequent expedited permitting by the Interior Department is merely a pretext for boosting energy sources the Trump administration favors, like fossil fuels and nuclear power.
What happens now?
The Grand Canyon Trust and others are assessing options for legal challenges. In the meantime, it’s clear that the Trump administration plans to continue expedited permitting for oil and gas, mining, and other conventional energy projects that request it, meaning that our public lands are in danger.
Uranium mines can pose significant environmental risks, as ongoing water problems at Pinyon Plain Mine (formerly Canyon Mine) near the Grand Canyon show.
Uranium mining has a long history of contaminating the environment and sickening people across the Southwest and has disproportionately harmed Native communities. The industry has left behind more than 500 abandoned uranium mines on the Navajo Nation alone, where they continue to contaminate land and water. Ironically, the argument by uranium mining proponents in recent years has been that past contamination was a result of operations the government fast-tracked with little to no environmental regulation, which today’s operations would not repeat. What’s more, Utah’s White Mesa uranium mill, the only facility with current potential to accept ore from Velvet-Wood Mine for processing, poses a significant threat to the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe’s nearby White Mesa community.
Uranium operations are a serious business. Ramming a mine approval through in just 11 days ignores the long legacy of environmental injustice caused by uranium mining in Utah and across the Southwest. Uranium mines merit careful, thoughtful, and thorough environmental reviews based on the best available science to make sure groundwater, land, and people are protected from radioactive contamination.
