Trump’s recent executive order directs land management agencies to prioritize mining over all other public uses and could have significant negative consequences for Idaho’s clean air, clean water, and treasured public lands.
What Does the Order Say?
President Trump recently signed an executive order titled “Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production,” which has sparked significant concern amongst conservation and public health groups. The order prioritizes minerals with little or no strategic importance, such as gold and coal.
Specifically, the order directs federal agencies to accelerate domestic mining and processing with the following instructions:
- “Expedite permitting” to bypass environmental safeguards and ignore local concerns. Federal agencies have just ten days to compile a list of pending mineral production projects that could be immediately approved and fifteen days to nominate projects for FAST-41 status, which fast-tracks approvals at the expense of public involvement.
- Provide subsidies for mining companies. The order would provide additional, taxpayer-funded subsidies to support for profit mining operations. The order specifically invokes wartime powers under the Defense Production Act, allowing the Department of Defense to directly fund domestic mining and processing through subsidies, loans, loan guarantees, and supply contracts. It also directs all agencies with loan authorities, such as the U.S. Export-Import Bank, to hasten approval processes.
- Re-direct federal agency priorities. The order directs the Department of Interior to prioritize mining over all other uses of federal public lands and to consider opening areas for mining that are currently protected by Resource Management Plans.
Stacking the Deck for Mining
Even before this executive order, the outdated Mining Law of 1872 has overwhelmingly favored the mining industry, granting companies broad rights to extract minerals from public lands with few restrictions. Unlike the oil and gas industry, mining companies pay no federal royalties, allowing both domestic and foreign corporations to extract billions of dollars in valuable minerals from public lands with no compensation to taxpayers who own these resources. The Mining Law of 1872 also prioritizes mining over all other public uses such as municipal water supplies, unless an area has been specifically closed to mining through an act of Congress.
This executive order further tilts the scales in favor of mining, providing yet another massive giveaway to wealthy (and often foreign) corporations. These unchecked handouts put Idaho’s public lands, clean water, and public health at even greater risk of mining-related damage and contamination. The order is shockingly broad in scope, covering a wide range of minerals—including cobalt, antimony, gold, and even coal—and targeting public lands that previously had some level of protection from mining.
Perhaps most troubling, the order explicitly directs federal agencies to prioritize mining over all other uses of public lands, a blatant violation of the multiple-use mandate codified in the Federal Land Policy Management Act. It would be hard to stack the deck even more in favor of the mining industry than that, and it is basically one step away from giving mining companies free reign to exploit public lands, including previously protected lands. According to the EPA, mining is already the number one toxic polluter in the U.S. The executive order could also re-prioritizing the remaining federal employees from mission critical work related to recreation management, trail maintenance and hazardous fuel reduction around communities.
What’s Next?
The long-term impact of this executive order on domestic mineral production and processing remains uncertain. Fortunately, executive actions cannot override or eliminate existing environmental laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Wilderness Act and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. However, the order signals an intent to pressure permitting agencies into cutting corners and fast-tracking approvals for large-scale mining projects. Unsurprisingly, mining industry associations and mining companies alike (including Perpetua Resources, owner of the Stibnite Gold Project) have been publicly celebrating this news.
Ironically, the Trump administration’s sweeping budget cuts to federal agencies and reductions in staffing may hinder its own efforts to enforce the aggressive timelines set forth in the order. Additionally, aspects of the order will likely face legal challenges, and the courts will play a critical role in determining its ultimate reach.
Despite these fresh headwinds, ICL remains steadfast in our commitment to stopping mining projects in places that are too special to mine while ensuring that mining projects in less sensitive locations are held to the highest standards of environmental protection. We encourage you to take a look at our statewide mining report (released last November) for more information regarding what mining projects are happening across the state and ICL’s recommended best practices for mining projects.
As always, ICL will continue to advocate for policies that prioritize Idaho’s clean water, public health, and cherished landscapes over unchecked and incompatible mining projects.