Uranium Mining Industry Doesn’t Deserve a Handout

WASHINGTON – A Trump administration panel proposed measures today aimed at artificially rigging the market to keep alive the polluting, dying uranium mining industry in the U.S.

The following is a comment from Geoff Fettus, a senior attorney for NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):

“Rather than try to protect people and their health, the Trump administration is jumping in with plans to prop up this dirty, dying industry.

“This is a wasteful solution in search of a problem. We get much of our uranium from allies like Canada and Australia. There’s no national security reason to protect these polluters.”

Background:

The administration today released the recommendations of the Nuclear Fuel Working Group, a White House created panel that offered plans to prop up the U.S. uranium mining industry.

Much of the U.S.’s uranium supply comes from countries that are strong allies of the U.S., such as Canada and Australia. Also, the International Atomic Energy Association opened a global “uranium bank” a few years ago to assure a stable supply of low-enriched uranium. There’s no need to duplicate that effort.

Uranium mining is terribly polluting, but the Trump administration halted new EPA standards that would ensure the industry protects scarce groundwater resources. There is also a terrible, toxic legacy of these mines dating from the dawn of nuclear age. The EPA has a database of more than 15,000 abandoned uranium mines awaiting clean up.

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The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.​