** U.S. uranium industry continues to shrivel
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Friday, January 17, 2020
Energy Fuels Resources' White Mesa Mill in Utah | EcoFlight ([link removed])

Faced with slumping commodity prices, the domestic uranium industry continues to shrink. This week, Energy Fuels Resources laid off one-third of its workforce ([link removed]) at the White Mesa mill in Utah, the last conventional uranium mill in the country. The company had petitioned ([link removed]) President Trump to set quotas for nuclear power plants to source a portion of their uranium from within the United States, a request that was denied.

Energy Fuels Resources has a checkered record in the West. The White Mesa mill has contaminated groundwater ([link removed]) critical to the Ute Mountain Ute. The company hired lobbyists ([link removed]) to successfully shrink Bears Ears National Monument. Energy Fuels' Canyon Mine, miles from the rim of the Grand Canyon, is filling ([link removed]) with uranium and arsenic-laced water, which the company is spraying ([link removed]) onto surrounding forests and trucking
([link removed]) to the White Mesa Mill in Utah.

While the Trump administration is still considering options to resuscitate the uranium industry, including opening lands around the Grand Canyon to new mining claims, the future looks increasingly bleak for mining companies. In the first nine months of 2019, Energy Fuels Resources reported losses ([link removed]) of $28.4 million.


** Talking climate in Colorado
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In the latest episode of CWP's Go West, Young Podcast ([link removed]) , Garrett Garner-Wells of Conservation Colorado joins us with a look at why Colorado has become “an island of sanity” on climate policy.
Quick hits


** BLM planning oil and gas leases in prized recreation area outside of Moab, Utah
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Moab Sun News ([link removed])


** New Mexico oil and gas regulators enact rule to issue civil penalties for violations
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Associated Press ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])


** Oil and gas revenues accounted for 39% of all general fund revenue in New Mexico last year
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Albuquerque Journal ([link removed])


** Former clients of Interior Secretary Bernhardt ramp up lobbying under Trump administration
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Mother Jones ([link removed])


** Valles Caldera National Preserve acquires site with volcanic features
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Albuquerque Journal ([link removed])


** Petrified Forest National Park embraces visitors, finds little theft of fossilized wood
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Durango Herald ([link removed])


** New Colorado state office looks to help communities transition past coal
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KUNC ([link removed])


** National Park Service to allow free entry at all parks on Monday, first of five fee-free days this year
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Washington Post ([link removed])
Quote of the day
Under Trump, insiders have taken control over virtually every agency, and the Interior Department is one of the far most egregious examples.”
—Alan Zibel, research director, Public Citizen | Mother Jones ([link removed])
Picture this
Stunning blue water flows through New Mexico's Black River Recreation Area
BLM New Mexico ([link removed])

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