Unless mining laws and regulations are updated, the West will be bringing 19th-century tools to a 21st-century fight.

Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities


** As interest in mining resurges, Western communities look to lessons of the past
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Monday, January 30, 2023
A landscape in the Oak Flat area of Arizona, Patrick Dockens via Flickr ([link removed])

Hardrock mining is seeing a resurgence of interest in the West as society seeks sources of materials important to electric vehicles, renewable energy production and storage, and other technologies key to combating the climate crisis. But extracting these materials is not without challenges and risks, many of which threaten to repeat mistakes of the past.

On land sacred to the San Carlos Apache Tribe in southern Arizona, the proposed Resolution mine would produce significant amounts of copper — a necessary component of many renewable energy technologies — and serve as an important source of jobs and associated economic activity for the surrounding community. But the mine faces opposition ([link removed]) from the Tribe and from environmental groups who contend that the costs to endangered species and their habitats, and the impacts to water sources, outweigh the benefits of the project. As the project has progressed, the Save Oak Flat Act ([link removed]) , which would prevent the land exchange necessary to move forward with the project, has languished in Congress ([link removed])
since it was first introduced in 2015.

Meanwhile, in Utah, Canada-based Western Uranium and Vanadium Corp. has announced ([link removed]) that it has acquired property and plans to build a mill in Emery County, Utah that will recover uranium and vanadium from ore mined in Colorado and elsewhere. The company stated ([link removed]) that "the uranium market is in the early stages of a sustained upswing" and that demand is projected to exceed supply. The company also believes ([link removed]) that its new uranium milling process will enable it to profitably mill uranium ore that would have been uneconomical to mill at current uranium prices with traditional milling technology. The mill is also being designed to recover cobalt, an important component of batteries for electric
vehicles and other technologies, as part of its ore-processing operations, according to the company's press release ([link removed]) .

As the country strives to meet the climate goals set by the Inflation Reduction Act and by the Paris Climate Agreement, responsible mining can and should be a part of the solution. But unless mining laws and regulations are updated, the West will be bringing 19th-century tools to a 21st-century fight, and Western communities will see history repeated even as they are still working to address the mistakes of the past.


** New report finds 99 percent of coal plants more expensive than renewables
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Despite the renewed interest in mining, there's one resource that's unlikely to see a sustained upswing in demand: coal. A new report ([link removed]) from Energy Innovation finds that in 99 percent of cases, continuing to operate a coal-fired power plant is more expensive than building and operating a new wind or solar facility. This is an increase from an earlier analysis in 2019 that found that 62 percent of coal plants were more expensive than renewables. The study also finds that replacing coal-fired facilities with renewable energy facilities could generate up to $589 billion in investment, in part by leveraging tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act.

Building new renewable generation and storage facilities at or near the sites of existing coal plants can keep costs even lower while taking advantage of already-disturbed land. Xcel Energy recently announced a plan ([link removed]) to do just that: the company is building a battery facility ([link removed]) , intended to store energy generated from wind and solar, at the site of a coal-fired power plant that is set to retire by 2030.
Quick hits


** A copper mine could advance clean energy but scar sacred land
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New York Times ([link removed])


** Plans for a new uranium mill in Utah announced
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High Country News ([link removed]) | Salt Lake Tribune ([link removed])


** Emails reveal tensions in Colorado River talks
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Associated Press ([link removed])


** In Texas oil country, an unfamiliar threat: Earthquakes
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New York Times ([link removed])


** Rock slide halts operations at site of controversial mine expansion proposal
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Colorado Sun ([link removed])


** Nobody is happy with the federal grazing program
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Gizmodo ([link removed])


** NOAA-led study: One refinery responsible for up to 25 percent of Salt Lake's winter inversion PM2.5 pollution
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Salt Lake Tribune ([link removed])


** Protecting migratory corridors for bottled-up wildlife
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National Parks Traveler ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” I genuinely believe that we are at an impasse, and we’re all headed to a very dark place.”
—Chris Harris, Colorado River Board of California, email obtained by Associated Press ([link removed])
Picture this


** @Interior ([link removed])
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The grandeur of @MountRainierNPS ([link removed]) is often overwhelming. From the way the glacier-covered peak catches the light of a winter sunset to summer valleys carpeted with wildflowers, this park can take your breath away at any moment. Photo by Jacklyn Fraizer

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