Multinational Uranium Mining Corporations Pushing Trump Administration For Favors

Some Trump Cabinet Members Lobbied On Their Behalf While Others Push Xenophobic Falsehoods

Not to be outdone by big oil and coal corporations, two multinational uranium mining corporations sent a letter requesting at least $150 million in taxpayer-fund monies from the Trump administration and the release of the long-delayed Nuclear Fuel Working Group report. Trump’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo used the coronavirus pandemic to push factually inaccurate information that the United States relies on China for uranium.

“It’s beyond appalling that President Trump’s team would use the coronavirus to push a factually inaccurate, xenophobic narrative to drive their corporate agenda,” said Western Values Project Director Jayson O’Neill. “Between the two Trump cabinet members that lobbied and represented the same multinational corporations making the request, uranium mining has enough undue influence amongst Trump’s swamp team.” 

E&E News reported that the United States actually imports no uranium from China. The latest data available on the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows that Canada (24%) is the largest supplier of uranium followed by Kazakhstan (20%) and Australia (18%). U.S. domestic suppliers produced 10% of uranium purchases.

Interior Secretary Bernhardt provided ‘legal services’ for Ur-Energy from 2009 to 2012. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, another ex-lobbyist, previously represented Energy Fuels Inc., a Canadian corporation, where he successfully lobbied the Trump administration to illegally reduce the size of the Bears Ears National Monument because of its proximity to the uranium mine and processing facility in Utah.

Background:

Grand Canyon Under Threat As Trump’s Nuclear Working Group Considers Allowing Uranium Mining

Trump Administration’s ‘Critical Mineral’ Directive Boon for Secretary Bernhardt’s Former Client; Threat to Grand Canyon and Public Lands

REPORT: Wheeler’s EPA: Is a Foreign Uranium Company On Verge of Getting More Wishes Granted?

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