This story was originally published by Source New Mexico.

Patrick Lohmann
Source New Mexico

The New Mexico office charged with permitting what would be the state’s first new uranium mine in decades has agreed to hold a public hearing after receiving more than 200 letters in opposition.

Laramide Resources, Inc. announced a major milestone in mid-January for its years-long effort to build La Jara Mesa uranium mine about 10 miles north of Grants. After the state’s Mining and Minerals Division deemed the company’s 72-page mining plan “administratively complete,” officials opened a public comment period that ended last week.

The division received more than 200 letters, all of which expressed opposition to the mine, according to a Source NM review of the letters the division published online Thursday, Feb. 26.

According to the plan, the mine, once built, will produce 12 to 15 truckloads a day of uranium ore to be processed at an unspecified offsite mill. The operation could run in New Mexico for up to 20 years, the company says.

Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department Public Information Officer Sidney Hill said the department received “dozens” of hearing requests in addition to the comments, and has committed to holding a hearing.

But the hearing won’t happen until Laramide responds to questions the division has regarding the company’s mining plan. The division expects to send questions to the company before June, Hill said, though he said he couldn’t estimate when a hearing would be scheduled.

The proposed site is near Mount Taylor, which is one of four mountains sacred to the Navajo people and other local pueblos. Tribes and pueblos in the early 2000s successfully convinced the state to designate the mountain and outlying areas a “traditional cultural property” in an effort to protect it from mining.

Dozens of the letters also recounted harms uranium mining has caused Indigenous communities. Alicia Gallegos, an organizer for the Pueblo Action Alliance, told Source that in addition to running an online campaign, she collected several dozen hand-written letters.

“I think it’s important to have these public hearings, so that the folks who would be pushing this project forward are seeing the faces of the people who are impacted,” she said.

Leona Morgan, a Diné anti-nuclear advocate, wrote in her letter that the state should hold multiple public hearings along a potential uranium transport route in the Navajo Nation, because the only operating uranium mill is in Southeast Utah.

“This means the transport may go through Navajo Nation,” she wrote. “As such, the Navajo public must be informed and afforded the opportunity to give public comments.”

Josh Leftwich, vice president of operations and strategic development for Laramide, told Source NM in an email Thursday that the company “respects” the division’s decision to hold a hearing. He also said that the company “recognizes that mining projects can generate strong viewpoints.”

“However, regulatory decisions are ultimately based on technical standards, environmental protections, and compliance with established law,” he said. “Our focus remains on following the science, complying with the rules, and working constructively within the regulatory framework established by the State of New Mexico and federal agencies.”

Both the state and the federal government have to approve the mine through parallel permitting applications, though the federal government has signaled it intends to fast track approvals. Still, the division previously promised a “robust permitting process” that can diverge from the federal process if needed.

The post New Mexico state agency to hold public hearing on proposed uranium mine appeared first on ICT.

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