It’s all about the priorities, people! Donald Trump’s proposed 2021 budget would cut $292 billion from Medicaid, federal housing assistance, and food stamps, and $70 billion from federal student loan forgiveness, but uranium mining? That’s a different story.
Trump is asking Congress for $1.5 billion over 10 years to prop up the U.S. uranium mining industry. The claim is that the move is about energy security—that the nuclear industry shouldn’t be dependent on foreign uranium—with Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette telling reporters that the $1.5 billion is part of a plan “to put the United States back in the nuclear game around the world.” But this is the Trump administration we’re talking about, so you don’t want to believe the first things you’re told.
National security? The Energy Department’s own budget presentation admits that “no immediate national security need has been identified.”
So, yeah. But uranium mining companies and a nuclear industry trade group are very pleased, after a 96% drop in U.S. uranium production between 2014 and 2019. Residents of areas around existing or proposed uranium mines would be less pleased. While a government bailout of the industry might restore or save some jobs, many people, it turns out, don’t want to live near uranium mines. People like to have safe drinking water. Little things like that.
What a great plan all around.