Foreign Mining Corporation Energy Fuels Faces Insider Trading Acquisitions After Bears Ears Reduction
Congressional Democrats Investigating Energy Fuels Top Executives’ Stock Trades Made Days Before the Announcement
HELENA, MT – President Trump’s decision to illegally strip protections from roughly 90 percent of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, gutting an unprecedented 3 million acres of protected public land, cleared the way for the mining and drilling interests the administration has served since day one. One of the biggest benefactors of the historic revocation of protections is foreign uranium mining corporation Energy Fuels. Yesterday, House Natural Resources Committee Democrats Jared Huffman and Maxine Dexter opened an investigation into potential insider trading at Energy Fuels Inc., the foreign uranium mining corporation whose White Mesa Mill sits roughly a mile from the monument’s former boundary.
Days before the July 13 announcement by the Trump administration, Energy Fuels CEO Ross Bhappu bought 74,000 shares, the largest insider purchase in the corporation's history, boosting his stake 41 percent, while Chairman Bruce Hansen bought 4,000 shares four days out. According to the letter, a securities filing weeks earlier touted “strong government support” to investors and cited “ongoing discussions with government sources” as key to financing the mill expansion that stood to benefit from the reduced boundaries.
“This is an unprecedented and unlawful attack on America’s public lands, justified by fabricated claims, was done to benefit foreign mining interests, specifically Energy Fuels. Worse, the foreign uranium mining corporation’s top brass potentially used insider information to enrich themselves,” said Jayson O’Neill, Save Our Parks spokesperson. “This was never about local control or public access. It was about clearing the way for mining and drilling interests leveraging their influence on the Trump administration to make a quick buck off insider knowledge at the expense of Americans’ public lands.”
Canadian-based Energy Fuels announced a $725 taxpayer-backed federal loan from Trump’s Department of War, the largest loan at the time, to expand its White Mesa Mill in June and hired a lobby firm with direct ties to the Trump administration, giving the corporation a direct path and insider knowledge of decisions that would benefit its bottom line. Democratic congressional members noted the evidence ‘demonstrates close coordination and communication with the Trump administration, which may have enabled you to receive privileged information about when the Bears Ears announcement would occur.’ Energy Fuels has until August 24 to turn over related records.
Trump and Interior Deputy Secretary Kate MacGregor falsely claimed that Americans couldn’t hike, hunt, or fish inside the monuments, saying visitors “can virtually not even walk on it.” A report published August 3 found Utah officials had told the administration otherwise in June, meaning officials knew these claims were completely false.
A White House fact sheet claimed the stripped acreage was “not relevant” to the monuments’ protected landmarks and would open instead to “multiple-use, sustained-yield management,” meaning mining and drilling. The same order dissolved the Bears Ears Commission, the co-management agreement between the federal government and the five tribes that make up the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition. Bureau of Land Management officials removed tribal seals from monument signage almost immediately.
New oil, gas, and mining leasing is set to commence on the now unprotected 3 million acres of public lands on September 11.
To speak with Save Our Parks spokesperson Jayson O’Neill, email jayson@focalpointstrategygroup.com.
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