By Adam Eckman

Colorado and the nation face increasing energy demands and critical mineral supply needs. These pressures are amplified by population growth, energy-intensive artificial intelligence, a shrinking energy supply portfolio, and geopolitical challenges that have fundamentally altered historical supply chains. In Colorado specifically, approximately a quarter of our electric energy is supplied by coal.

However, public policy decisions will result in this supply largely going offline during the next five years as a result of premature coal fleet retirements. The already significant gap left by these retirements has been made even more challenging by the rise of AI technology expected to increase energy consumption by 6.7% to 12% by 2028, according to a Department of Energy report. At the same time, critical minerals supply chains for advanced technologies used in defense applications, renewable energy and electric-vehicle batteries have become constrained by China, which has a near 90% monopoly on the critical minerals market.

It’s becoming increasingly apparent our energy portfolio must include carbon-free nuclear energy, and our minerals supplies must be sourced domestically with the highest environmental standards, rather than from unreliable adversarial nations with little to no environmental protections. In 2024, federal legislation was enacted banning the import of Russian Uranium and the current administration took decisive action issuing executive orders earlier this year to better coordinate the review process for domestic minerals projects. The U.S. Geological Survey also designated uranium as a critical mineral, and in May of last year Coloradans of both parties came together to enact legislation defining nuclear energy as a clean-energy source for municipal financing purposes and to count toward Colorado’s statutory carbon emissions reduction goals.

Colorado is well positioned to play a leading role in sustainably sourced critical minerals production and has some of the nation’s richest reserves of uranium, the supply source for nuclear energy, and vanadium used in high-strength alloys. However, our ability to meet these supply needs is directly challenged by new county regulatory proposals that would conflict with existing requirements already administered by the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety (DRMS), the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Specifically, San Miguel County on Colorado’s western slope has been promoting a regulatory framework to establish the nation’s first county-level comprehensive mining and reclamation program.

This is problematic for a number of reasons, beginning with the fact under Colorado Law, DRMS has the exclusive authority to regulate mining and reclamation in the state. Similarly, Bureau of Land Management regulates mining operations on Federal Public Lands, and the DOE administers specific uranium leases under its authority. These regulatory entities have decades of experience and highly qualified staff to ensure Colorado’s mining and reclamation operations are among the safest and most environmentally sound anywhere in the world.

San Miguel County’s “purposely duplicative” proposal would complicate program administration, allow for a county-level veto of state and federally granted permits, and interfere with vested mineral rights, all without any added measure of environmental protection. Instead, the county proposal would drive away investment in sustainably sourced minerals and eliminate good paying jobs in the county’s west end, which widely supports new mining operations. A recent report by the Common Sense Institute found up to 170 permanent, good-paying jobs could be generated in the near future as a result of new mining activity in the area. Finalizing the county’s proposal would severely jeopardize this potential economic activity in rural Colorado communities.

The Colorado Mining Association has engaged with the county for almost a year in five Board of County Commissioners hearings and submitted detailed comments regarding industry concerns and how to address them. Most recently, CMA urged the county to work collaboratively with DRMS, BLM and DOE to make full use of the wide range of communication and coordination tools already available to ensure county concerns are heard and addressed in state and federal permits. DRMS, BLM and DOE have signaled their willingness to work with the county in this effort, rather than see the county move forward with a program inconsistent with state and federal law. CMA remains hopeful the county will consider working collaboratively with state and federal regulators to ensure the regulatory entities can continue implementation of Colorado’s world-class mining and reclamation standards without needless duplication and conflict that would impede clean-energy development, national security supply chains, rural jobs and county budgets.

Adam Eckman is president and chief executive of the Colorado Mining Association.