NEW MEXICO MINING WATCH NEWS RELEASE
New Mexico Mining Watch on Friday applauded State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard for issuing an executive order prohibiting new uranium leasing on state trust lands, calling the action an important step toward protecting communities, water and sacred landscapes as the Trump administration pushes to rapidly expand domestic uranium production.
living with the consequences of the last one,” said Sarah Knopp with Amigos Bravos. “We thank the Commissioner for standing with communities and protecting state trust lands at a moment when the federal government is pushing in the opposite direction.”
Executive Order 2026-002 prohibits new leases for uranium mining and related purposes on state trust land and directs the State Land Office to focus on addressing uranium’s existing environmental and cultural damage rather than creating new liabilities. It also calls on the uranium industry and federal government to prioritize and fund cleanup before advancing new development. The order does not affect valid existing mineral rights.
Opposition to new uranium development is increasingly reaching state and local leaders. Rio Arriba County has passed a resolution opposing new uranium mining and supporting calls for a federal mineral withdrawal in the Chama Watershed, while other counties are considering similar action. In August, testimony from historically impacted communities before the Legislature’s Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee prompted Sen. Angel Charley to call for a statewide moratorium on new uranium mining.
“This action didn’t happen in a vacuum,” said Susan Gordon with the Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment, a member of the Mining Watch coalition steering committee. “Communities that have lived with uranium contamination for generations have been showing up and demanding that New Mexico learn from its history. New Mexico Mining Watch is proud to be part of that movement and to stand with communities calling on public officials to protect our land and water rather than repeat the mistakes of the past.”
Those communities continue to live with an enormous uranium legacy. More than 1,100 former uranium mining, milling and exploratory drilling sites remain across New Mexico, including at least 50 involving state trust lands that lack a clear or adequately funded path to restoration. Native communities, particularly Navajo communities in northwestern New Mexico, have borne a disproportionate share of uranium development’s environmental, health and economic consequences.
Mining Watch said addressing that legacy also represents an economic opportunity for New Mexico. New Mexico’s uranium booms produced short-term periods of extraction and employment, but they also left communities and the state with environmental, health and economic costs that have persisted for generations. Mining Watch said addressing that legacy offers a different kind of economic opportunity–one built around repairing existing damage rather than creating new liabilities.
Research by the University of New Mexico Bureau of Business and Economic Research found that uranium mine cleanup could require years of intensive work and long-term monitoring, with many existing mining skills transferable to remediation. The report concluded that the scale of work could provide employment for generations and recommended that New Mexico develop environmental remediation as a target industry.
“The real economic opportunity for New Mexico is in cleaning up the uranium industry’s legacy, not creating new damage,” said Gordon. “That investment can create jobs, support local businesses and protect water–but the communities that have borne the costs of uranium mining for decades must be at the center of that work and benefit from it.”
The BBER research warns that without intentional action, the economic benefits of cleanup could bypass the communities that have experienced uranium mining’s greatest harms. It calls for policies that help local businesses, workers and impacted communities participate fully in remediation work.
The executive order applies specifically to new uranium leasing on state trust lands and will not stop uranium proposals on federal, private or Tribal lands. With at least seven uranium exploration and operation permits currently pending across multiple jurisdictions, Mining Watch said broader protections remain necessary to ensure NewMexico protects communities and water from new uranium development while finally addressing the industry’s legacy of contamination.
About New Mexico Mining Watch
New Mexico Mining Watch is a statewide coalition of community, Indigenous, conservation and advocacy organizations working to protect New Mexico’s communities, water, land and cultural resources from the impacts of mining. The coalition works to ensure communities have a meaningful voice in mining decisions, strengthen protections for public health and the environment, hold mining companies accountable, and advance responsible cleanup of New Mexico’s mining legacy.