At the behest of environmental groups, President Biden is considering cutting off America's best uranium resources even as his administration pushes to do away with fossil fuels.

Government officials and stakeholders met last week to discuss the creation of the Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument, which would prohibit resource development on 1.1 million acres of uranium-rich land nestled between the Pinyon Plain Mine and the Grand Canyon.

"This land contains some of the most valuable uranium deposits in the United States," said Curtis Moore, senior vice president of marketing and corporate development for uranium producer Energy Fuels Resources. "Over the last, probably, 45 years, the area has extracted uranium that would provide fuel for 50 reactor years. These are the highest grade uranium deposits in the United States. For every tonne of ore you pull out, this rock has more uranium than any other deposits in the United States."

Energy companies stress uranium's importance to a carbon-free nuclear-powered future: The area under consideration for a national monument has enough deposits for many 20-acre-maximum mines, each of which contain enough uranium to supply the State of Arizona with carbon-free energy for one to two years, Steve Trussell, executive director of the Arizona Rock Products Association and the Arizona Mining Association told National Review.

But activist groups and Native American tribes, who have for decades fought to halt mining in Arizona, say mining operations pose risks to groundwater, natural formations, and cultural sites: "Destinating these areas as a national monument will protect them from contamination, destruction, exploitation, and the other harmful effects of mining," Edmond Tilousi, the vice chairman of the Havasupai Tribe, said last week. Colorado River Indian Tribes chairwoman Amelia Flores said that mineral-mining near the Grand Canyon risks "contaminating the water, rocks, gravel, sands, and soil of the Colorado River Basin," adding that "the benefit to a few does not outweigh the risk."

Modern uranium-mining has been studied extensively and poses little environmental risk. Former president Barack Obama authorized a mineral withdrawal in 2012, which prevented new claims on Arizona lands until 2032, and provided time to study the impacts of breccia-pipe mining under a process dubbed the “Science Plan.” The plan, as of its latest report in 2021, found that: "No conclusive effects from breccia-pipe mining activities on uranium concentrations in groundwater samples collected to date (2021) in the Grand Canyon region can be confirmed." A 2022 Arizona Geological Survey report on breccia-pipe-uranium mining in the Grand Canyon area even found that a near-impossible "worst-case" mining scenario in the region, in which 30 tons of uranium might be dumped into the Colorado River, would have an undetectable effect on the surrounding environment.

"It is no exaggeration to state that the 'breccia-pipe'-uranium mining in Arizona is setting the world standard for responsible and sustainable mining, regulatory oversight, and environmental protection," Trussell said. "This is evidenced by its stringent permitting requirements.”

Energy Fuels Resources owns the sole active uranium mine in the region, Pinyon Plain Mine. While Pinyon Plain's operations would be unaffected by the monument — the mine is likely to be grandfathered under "valid existing rights" (a legal term that can give companies with existing permits property rights on public land) — the monument would enforce a mining moratorium on hundreds of surrounding unclaimed or unexplored uranium deposits. Pinyon Plain is likely the most litigated mine in history, Moore told National Review, and has been under fire for years.

Native American tribes and environmental activists have tried but failed to contest the mine's permits multiple times. Donald Trump defended Pinyon Plains' permits, as did the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals — twice.

Historical distrust of uranium-mining is understandable, Moore said — when the post–World War Two arms race ramped up, many miners, including Native Americans, died of cancer and respiratory diseases from under-regulated underground operations.

"A lot of Native Americans, I think, are rightfully skeptical of uranium-mining, based on what happened 50 to 80 years ago. And of course, anti-nuclear activist groups are happy to exploit that," Moore said.

Tribes, along with activist groups such as the Sierra Club, called on Biden in April to designate the monument under the Antiquities Act of 1906, which presidents have used in the past to dramatically increase acreage of federally-protected land. Under the act, the Bears Ears National Monument was established and expanded by Obama in 2016, reduced by 80 percent by Trump in 2017, and again expanded to greater than its original size by Biden in 2021.

The law authorizes the executive to declare "historic landmarks, historic and pre-historic structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest" national monuments only under the condition that the monuments "be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected."

Presidents have used the act more than 300 times since 1906. Supreme Court chief justice John Roberts questioned the scope of presidential power to expand monuments in 2021 and even invited challenges to the Antiquities Act. Utah took up Roberts's challenge in 2022 and has a pending lawsuit against the Biden administration for issuing "repeated, abusive federal overreach." Senator Mike Lee (R., Utah) said similar overreach is happening in Arizona.

"This ill-conceived abuse of the Antiquities Act would bring dire consequences for local grazers, miners, and others in Utah and Arizona who depend on the region. It represents yet another top-down approach, further exacerbating the disconnect between the ruling elites and the people their decisions affect," Lee told National Review. "The Biden administration needs to wake up and reevaluate its balance between conservation and the realities on the ground."

Energy groups such as Moore's are concerned that the monument will cut off America's uranium resources at a time when most U.S. uranium is imported from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Canada. According to the Energy Information Administration, only 5 percent of the uranium used for U.S. nuclear-power reactors is produced in the U.S.

"Demand for minerals is increasing at an exponential rate which begs the question: Why not mine it where it is done responsibly? If not, we risk inherent supply issues given global tension from countries that are controlling mineral reserves as well as the export of key minerals," Trussell said. "Creating a national monument in this region would directly hinder the Biden administration's policies on clean energy, electrification, creation of jobs, and economic growth."

Arizona's naturally occurring resources are the lowest-cost and lowest-impact sources of uranium in the U.S., making them clean-energy assets, Trussell added.

"The truth is that these are very small, very low-impact mines — less than 20-acres in size — and they are completely safe and responsible, and they contain a lot of clean energy," he said. "The energy contained in the uranium in each of these mines is the same as that contained in a [hypothetical] continuous coal train that stretched from Los Angeles to New York and part of the way back."

Biden has emphasized the importance of rebuilding the nuclear supply chain, which is Russia-dominated, especially as the Russia–Ukraine war ramps up. Although the Biden administration has remained supportive of nuclear generation, conversion, and enrichment, Moore said the administration is divided in its approach.

"The Biden administration wants nuclear, but they are much shakier on the domestic mining that enables nuclear," he said.

Just a few weeks ago, Biden met with Canada's prime minister Justin Trudeau to shore up support for North American mining efforts. The U.S. Department of Energy released a statement with Canada's Department of Natural Resources, vowing to advance nuclear technologies and reduce reliance on nuclear goods from Russia, a goal that was agreed upon at the G7 summit in 2022:

"Nuclear power provides affordable low carbon energy while contributing to the security of energy supply as a reliable, clean energy source," the joint statement reads. "We recognize that advanced nuclear technologies such as small modular reactors present an opportunity to strengthen global energy security, and lower emissions while creating economic growth."

Former secretary of commerce during the Trump administration, Wilbur Ross, concluded in a report that the lack of domestic uranium mines is a national-security risk. The Trump administration never finalized a proposal to reopen the land that Obama issued a 20-year moratorium on, which expires in 2032. Arizona Democrats have proposed legislation that would make the ban permanent, but a presidential monument designation would bypass legislative gridlock.

"I think that these groups have basically exhausted all of their legal remedies to try to stop mining," Moore said. "Now they’re going for a Hail Mary to ask Biden to create a national monument or ask Congress to create a national monument."