WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican U.S. lawmakers this week urged President Donald Trump’s administration to ease restrictions on uranium mining on federal lands, as a Cabinet-level committee prepares recommendations this month for boosting domestic nuclear fuel production.
“We strongly encourage you to make improved access to federal lands with high-grade uranium deposits a top priority,” according to the Sept. 30 letter from 27 Western state Republican senators and Congress members to Trump’s national security and economic advisers Richard O’Brien and Larry Kudlow, both co-chairs on the uranium mining working group.
“Greater access to our own resources will help put Americans to work exploring for and responsibly producing the uranium that our country needs,” wrote the lawmakers from the western states from Alaska to Utah.
Trump created the United States Nuclear Fuel Working Group in July to help U.S. uranium miners and nuclear industry struggling with foreign competition, after he rejected a section 232 trade petition by two companies seeking quotas for domestic production.
The group has met several times since its formation and is expected to detail its proposals by an Oct. 10 deadline.
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