New Mexico Bans New Uranium Leases on State Lands — SkimNews
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- Stephanie Garcia Richard, New Mexico's State Land Commissioner, signed an executive order Friday banning new uranium leases on state lands, even as the Trump administration pushes to expand domestic nuclear fuel supply.
- New Mexico is the nation's largest historic uranium producer with hundreds of abandoned mines, but currently has only two active leases and no operating mines within the state.
- The order doesn't block mining on federal lands within New Mexico, where Australian miner Laramide Resources and Colorado-based Energy Fuels aim to begin production next year.
- State Sen. Angel Charly, daughter of a uranium miner from Laguna, said at the signing: "No community in New Mexico should have to sacrifice its people, its water and its land, so someone else can make a profit."
- New Mexico hosts the largest radioactive material spill in U.S. history — a 1979 tailings dam collapse that released 94 million gallons of radioactive water and 1,100 tons of uranium waste across New Mexico, Arizona and the Navajo Nation.
- The Trump administration added uranium to its high-priority mining list for national security last year, and the 2024 prohibition on Russian uranium imports has intensified efforts to rebuild domestic nuclear fuel supply chains.
Why it matters: The order closes only New Mexico's own state lands to new uranium leasing — federal projects like Roca Honda remain fast-tracked inside the state, meaning Laramide Resources and Energy Fuels can still target 2026 production. Communities bearing the legacy of the 1979 spill and Trinity Site gain a symbolic policy win, but the ban's material effect is limited to lands the state actually controls.
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