No mining applications have been filed for parts of the Bears Ears National Monument that are no longer protected after President Trump reduced the boundaries of the monument.
Trump on Dec. 4 signed a proclamation cutting Bears Ears by more than 1.1 million acres, or 85 percent, and creating two smaller monuments instead.
His rollback of Bears Ears became official last Friday, allowing citizens and companies to make new oil, natural gas, and drilling claims.
But the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining says it hasn’t received any permits for mining in the area, as of Thursday afternoon.
“There have not been any new mining claims inside the Bears Ears area and we don’t expect there to be any anytime soon,” said Hollie Brown, a spokeswoman for the state agency, in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
Environmental groups have argued that shrinking Bears Ears could lead energy developers to seize on the land removed from protection to mine for oil and natural gas. Multiple environmental groups and American Indian tribes have sued the administration over the move, arguing Trump doesn’t have the power to shrink the size of monuments so extensively.
Energy Fuels, a uranium producer with mining claims in the area, lobbied the Trump administration to reduce the Bears Ears boundaries, so the company could have easier access to a nearby uranium processing mill that it operates.
But there is limited new opportunity for oil and natural gas drilling in Bears Ears and the area around it. Some uranium deposits are there, but prices are low and energy companies have downplayed their interest.
Brown said none of the already permitted mines in the Bears Ears area have produced since 2012, due to the low cost of uranium that is less than $20 per pound.
Republicans who support Trump’s actions on national monuments say the lack of interest in Bears Ears’ mining supports their claim that the changes are not motivated by increasing energy development opportunities.
A Republican-authored bill in Congress would ban mining and drilling in the new Bears Ears monuments, as well as the larger area protected by Obama.
“This is what happens when fear mongering meets facts,” said Katie Schoettler, a spokeswoman for House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop, R-Utah. “The truth always prevails. As we’ve said all along, this has never been about energy development.”
