President Trump wants to expand hard rock mining on federal lands. A March 20 executive order calls for increasing new mining for uranium, copper, potash, gold, and any other “critical minerals” on the more than 400 million acres of public land in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast states managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.
Mining is a source of terrible water pollution. Mines leave mountains of waste containing heavy metals that leak into surface and groundwater, endangering people and ecosystems. The nation’s largest and most expensive toxic cleanups involve big mines.
Ranking officials also proposed selling 625 square miles of public land – 400,000 acres- for housing development in the rural West.
OPINION: Trump Administration Considers Sale of Public Lands for Housing Developments
Executive order from Trump seeks to ramp up mining operations on federal public lands
Interior Department reiterates plans for Alaska resource extraction, to Alaska delegation’s delight
US Takes Important Step Toward Tackling Its Massive Abandoned Mine Problem