Environment
Ernest Scheyder
(Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s outgoing government is moving to loosen mining regulations and give the green light to new mineral projects before stepping down this month, with successor Joe Biden unable to reverse some of the changes.
Government officials told Reuters they plan to publish a series of decisions on January 15 that will expand miners’ access to federal land, give final approval to Lithium Americas Corp’s Nevada lithium mine and approve a land exchange for a copper mining project of Rio Tinto Ltd Arizona, among other steps.
Biden will be able to reverse some of Trump’s changes, especially proposed rules under regulatory review. But some of Trump’s steps will be irreversible or will require Biden to restart the rule-making process, an effort of years, which is a concern for environmentalists.
“The Trump administration’s midnight dance to push these proposed rules aggressively follows four years of destroying the already weak community and environmental oversight of the hard rock mining industry,” said Lauren Pagel of Earthworks, an environmental advocacy group.
Trump administration officials are finalizing a rule change that would add mining to a list of industries that may receive accelerated permission, part of a law signed by former President Barack Obama in 2015, according to government records here.
The law, known as FAST-41, aimed to streamline licensing for public service projects, such as power transmission lines.
“Congress never intended for FAST-41 to take care of the mining sector,” Representative Raul Grijalva of Arizona, chairman of the House’s Natural Resources Committee, wrote to regulators last month, trying to prevent the change.
The authorities may also allow the storage of mine waste, known as tailings, on federal land. The proposed change would essentially encode an existing practice in an area of law that environmentalists say is vague.
The Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency considering the new rule, did not respond to a request for comment.
Several U.S. lawmakers called for the immediate removal of Trump after his supporters broke into the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. It is unclear whether Vice President Mike Pence would continue Trump’s regulatory steps.
Trump could exercise his power under the Administrative Procedure Law, which stipulates how regulations are written and enforced, to finalize both proposals before leaving office, a step that would require him to find a “good cause” for faster approval than normal.
The National Mining Association, a trade group in the industry, claims to support simplification of regulations, especially changes to FAST-41.
“American mining is the key to successfully repairing our country’s infrastructure,” said Rich Nolan, president of the NMA.
The Biden transition team said its next administration “will begin taking swift and bold action across the federal government to reverse the damaging policies of the Trump administration, including those that impact climate and environmental policies, on January 20 to stop or delaying Trump’s harmful midnight regulations. ”
Trump officials are also on the verge of approving several mining projects or making significant progress in their regulatory review process.
One of them, the Lithium Americas Thacker Pass project in Nevada, is expected to pass on January 15, according to an official with the Bureau of Land Management.
“It has been a good and collaborative process with state and federal authorities. We look forward to the decision, ”said Jon Evans, chief executive of Lithium Americas, which has been developing the project for more than a decade. Lithium is an essential component of electric vehicle batteries.
At least 10 other projects were deemed important enough for the economic recovery of the United States from the coronavirus pandemic, so they should receive a quick authorization, according to an executive order the president signed last June.
Several gold and phosphate fertilizer projects in Nevada and Idaho, respectively, have also been approved by Trump recently or have seen major advances in the licensing process.
In Utah, developers of the Twin Bridges Bowknot Helium Project received approval to drill seven wells, build roads and install pipelines to produce helium in the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness, a project that environmentalists say was accelerated before Biden’s inauguration.
A judge issued a temporary injunction for the project in late December, pending a full review.
In South Dakota, the Dewey-Burdock uranium mine obtained several important licenses from the United States Environmental Protection Agency in November, although it needs other licenses before it can open. The mine, like Rio’s Arizona project, is strongly contested by Native American tribes who say it will pollute their water reservoirs.
In Arizona, Trump’s plans to approve the land exchange needed for Rio to build a copper mine have met with strong opposition from Native Americans who consider the land sacred. Rio sacked its chief executive last year after he oversaw the destruction of indigenous sites in Australia.
Its new CEO has promised to “restore confidence” to indigenous groups, although Native Americans say the company is about to make the same mistake in Arizona as it did in Australia.