Trump administration withdraws Obama rule on uranium milling

The Trump administration announced Friday it would withdraw an Obama-era proposal aimed at regulating how waste from uranium milling is disposed. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) withdrew the proposed rule for uranium and thorium mill tailings, or waste byproducts. The Obama administration had submitted the proposed rule the day before President Trump took office in January 2017. Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler called the now-scrapped proposal a “rush to regulate during the waning hours of the previous administration.” Share to Google+ Trump administration withdraws Obama rule on uranium milling © Getty Images The Trump administration announced Friday it would withdraw an Obama-era proposal aimed at regulating how waste from uranium milling is disposed. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) withdrew the proposed rule for uranium and thorium mill tailings, or waste byproducts. The Obama administration had submitted the proposed rule the day before President Trump took office in January 2017. Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler called the now-scrapped proposal a “rush to regulate during the waning hours of the previous administration.” “Today’s action is an important step in rebalancing EPA’s role with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s with respect to protecting public health and the environment alongside supporting modern methods of uranium extraction,” Wheeler said in a statement on Friday. Wheeler said that the Obama-era rule “would have imposed significant burdens on uranium miners and the communities they support.” A key point of the regulation was reducing the spread of radon, a cancer-causing radioactive gas byproduct of uranium...MORE