The recent article (“EPA’s new leader lobbied for Colo. uranium company on Bears Ears,”) about Energy Fuels and Andrew Wheeler, now the acting administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, left out several key facts that provide important context for our work together. It is important for your readers to understand these facts.
Wheeler’s work for Energy Fuels was limited to matters before the Department of the Interior and the and Department of Energy. None of his work for us was before EPA, and he withdrew from representing Energy Fuels completely when he was asked to stand for nomination as the EPA’s deputy administrator.
As for the Bears Ears National Monument, Energy Fuels has repeatedly stated that we only proposed minor boundary adjustments to create buffers between the monument and our operations. This proposal would have affected only 2.5 percent of the monument. We never sought the 85 percent reduction the administration ultimately enacted. Energy Fuels has consistently underscored the need for protecting culturally and historically important land in the region, and we support a permanent limit on future mining activity inside the monument’s original boundaries.
Mark Chalmers
Lakewood
