Interior Department Green Lights Utah Uranium Mine Under Expedited 14-Day Environmental Review

This is the first project in the United States approved under the department’s accelerated review process.

Cylinders of uranium from the Russian cargo ship unloaded at the port of Dunkirk, northern France, on March 20, 2023.Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images

The Department of the Interior (DOI) has approved the Velvet-Wood uranium and vanadium mine in San Juan County, Utah, through an expedited environmental review in a bid to “strengthen U.S. mineral security,” the agency said in a May 23 statement.

“This approval marks a turning point in how we secure America’s mineral future,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. Uranium is used in nuclear reactors, submarines, and for producing tritium, which is necessary for nuclear weapons. Vanadium is used in the production of steel and titanium aerospace alloys.

“By streamlining the review process for critical mineral projects like Velvet-Wood, we’re reducing dependence on foreign adversaries and ensuring our military, medical, and energy sectors have the resources they need to thrive. This is mineral security in action,” Burgum said.

This is the first project in the United States approved under the Interior Department’s latest accelerated 14-day environmental review process. Under the process, projects analyzed in an environmental assessment will be reviewed within 14 days, unlike the earlier one-year time period.

The Trump administration has been favorable to domestic energy generation in the country. President Donald Trump has ordered agencies to accelerate domestic energy projects, with a focus on nuclear energy, through multiple memoranda and executive orders.

The accelerated review process was initiated in response to Trump signing a presidential action on Jan. 20 declaring a national energy emergency.

America’s current inadequate domestic energy resource development was leaving the nation “vulnerable to hostile foreign actors” and posed an “imminent and growing threat” to the country’s national security and prosperity, stated the presidential action.

With the final environmental assessment now completed, Anfield Energy, which runs the Velvet-Wood mine, has all the necessary approvals from the DOI to restart operations.

The Velvet-Wood project is expected to bring “new jobs and infrastructure to the area, reopen and expand the existing underground mine, and restore the land once mining is finished,” the DOI said. “Most of the work will take place underground, targeting known mineral deposits left from earlier operations.”

At present, the United States is heavily reliant on foreign imports to meet its uranium and vanadium demand.

Imports accounted for 99 percent of the uranium concentrate used by U.S. nuclear generators in 2023, according to a Jan. 30 statement from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

According to the EIA, the United States had incentives and favorable trade policies in place until the 1980s that promoted the domestic production of uranium. However, production plummeted after the policies ended in the 1980s.

Regarding vanadium, almost half of U.S. consumption last year was accounted for by imports, according to the DOI.

Nuclear Energy Push

The accelerated permitting process for projects has drawn criticism from activist groups.

In an April 24 statement, environmental advocacy group Sierra Club criticized the DOI policy, saying the reduced time for permitting was “troublingly short.”

“These arbitrary time limits make a complete review of the risks of potentially hazardous projects impossible,” said Athan Manuel, director of the Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program.

“A shoddy review means the true hazards of a project may only be known when the air or water thousands of people rely on is dangerously polluted.”

Meanwhile, the National Mining Association applauded the faster permitting decision in an April 23 statement.

Rich Nolan, president of the group, said the United States has the second-longest timeline globally for bringing mines online—29 years.

This prolonged timeline has undercut American mining competitiveness and pushed the country into an “alarming” dependence on mineral imports, he said.

“The status quo on U.S. permitting is a nonstarter and our cumbersome processes have been longstanding enablers of China’s global mineral dominance,” Nolan added.

“With this streamlined process, we can better compete with China, advance responsible projects, feed our supply chains with responsibly sourced materials, and reliably meet the material and energy demands of modern life.”

Meanwhile, Trump signed four executive orders on May 23 aimed at boosting America’s nuclear industry.

The orders mandate fast-tracking of new licenses for nuclear power plants and reactors.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been instructed to finish license reviews within 18 months, streamline regulations and permitting processes, and provide federal lands for reactor development projects.