President Donald Trump has issued an executive order to ramp up mining operations on federal public lands. Federal officials say the order is in the interest of national security, to help the country become less reliant on “hostile foreign powers’ mineral production.” It also decries “overbearing Federal regulation,” which has “eroded our Nation’s mineral production.”
The order includes uranium, copper, potash, and gold and gives a new “National Energy Dominance Council ” broad authority to designate other minerals. Interior and Energy secretaries Doug Burgum and Chris Wright are heading up the council. A later fact sheet issued by the White House on the executive order also mentions coal.
It also calls for the heads of federal agencies—including the Departments of Defense, Interior, Agriculture, and Energy—to streamline the permitting process for mining operations. It orders these heads to “identify priority projects that can be immediately approved or for which permits can be immediately issued,” as well as to “take all necessary or appropriate actions within the agency’s authority to expedite and issue the relevant permits or approvals.”
Rachel Hamby, policy director at the conservation advocacy group Center for Western Priorities, says there are already laws in place that govern how federal agencies craft land management plans, which are usually done at the local level. She adds that this order attempts to sidestep those laws and Congress.
“There's a lot of work and input and scientific study that goes into those so that we are using our national public lands in the best way and the way that people want to see them used,” she said. “And this would set all of that aside to prioritize mining and mineral production on all federal public lands.”
She says it’s also concerning because the executive order directs the departments to seek feedback from the mining industry on its plans, but not any of the communities that could be impacted by increased mining operations.
The order says federal land management agencies “shall issue a request for information to solicit industry feedback on regulatory bottlenecks and other recommended strategies for expediting domestic mineral production.”
In addition, Hamby says there’s a lack of transparency surrounding the logistics of ramping up mining operations.
The order gives agency heads ten days to come up with a list of mineral production projects to submit to the NEDC.
Hamby says the administration has already issued a number of similar orders, but the deadline comes and goes, and no plans are made public.
“So we, as the owners of these national public lands, are in the dark about what is happening on our lands,” she said. “We have no way to see what the administration is doing or planning to do and few mechanisms by which to hold them accountable.”
That’s especially concerning, Hamby says, because of all of the environmental impacts that come with mining operations — oftentimes, impacts that can’t be reversed.
“It will displace wildlife from their habitat and degrade or even permanently destroy that habitat, and once wildlife (is) displaced... You can't just send them an email to tell them that your mining operation is done and they can come back,” she said. “Once they're gone, they're not going to come back, and those wildlife populations are going to suffer permanently.”
Hamby adds that there are also impacts on human communities near mining operations
“Then there are the well-known impacts to things like surface and groundwater and contamination of soil, and even the release of dangerous substances into the air that are gonna travel beyond the footprint of the mine or the production facility and impact nearby communities,” she said. “So if there are any number of impacts, those impacts will last well beyond the life of any mine or production facility.”
Foreign policy think tank Atlantic Council says any success in actually ramping up mining operations on public lands is dependent on the private sector’s interest, as well as stable supply chains. The groups says that the long timelines for actually establishing and building mines and processing facilities, means there’s always uncertainty as to whether an operation can carry over from one presidential administration to the next.
In a statement, Rich Nolan, president of the National Mining Association, wrote:
“By encouraging streamlined and transparent permitting processes, combined with financing support to counter foreign market manipulation, we can finally challenge China’s mineral extortion. We applaud this strong action that confronts our mineral crisis head on and we look forward to working with the administration to ensure made in America increasingly means mined in America.”
Hamby says public lands most likely to be impacted are those overseen by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service, as well as lands mentioned in conservative policy document Project 2025. That includes national monuments like Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante in Utah, and the Thompson Divide in Western Colorado. Mining on these kinds of landscapes would hurt recreation, Hamby says.
“It would cut off our access to visiting and recreating on those national public lands,” she said.
Polling of Western voters consistently shows that westerners prefer that lawmakers prioritize conservation on federal public lands rather than extractive activities, according to Colorado College’s Conservation in the West poll.
“We already have laws that guide how we should be using our national public lands and balancing the many different uses and resources on them,” Hamby said. “So again, this is Trump trying to set that aside and get around Congress and dictate what the use of our national public lands should be.”
Copyright 2025 Rocky Mountain Community Radio. This story was shared via Rocky Mountain Community Radio, a network of public media stations in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico, including Aspen Public Radio.
Copyright 2025 Aspen Public Radio
