After Trump opened Bears Ears land to business, prospectors swooped in

This is a public lands and mining story, not one with a direct energy-efficiency angle for your home. But it touches on uranium, which matters for nuclear power and the electricity grid.

President Trump shrank Bears Ears National Monument in southeast Utah by about 90 percent this summer, opening roughly 1.2 million acres to mining and other development. On the first day claims could be filed, September 11, miners staked 16 claims, mostly for small local operations with an interest in uranium. One Moab mining family filed 13 of those claims, including additions to an existing mine that had been dormant since 2018, when uranium prices were too low to make digging profitable. Environmental groups expect more claims to follow and worry about pollution and damage to the land.

The renewed interest in uranium ties back to rising electricity demand from data centers and artificial intelligence, which has pushed the Trump administration and Utah's governor to promote nuclear power as part of the energy future. Uranium is the fuel nuclear plants use, and Utah has historically been a major uranium-producing state. A Canadian mining company's uranium interest and a nearby uranium processing mill, the last conventional one operating in the country, are also part of the picture.

None of this changes rebates, incentives, or upgrade programs for homeowners. It is a land-use and energy-policy story worth watching if you're interested in where the country's electricity, including any future nuclear generation, might come from.