Forest Service opens 30-day comment period for Wyoming rare-earth mine

Sundance resident calls 30-day window insufficient

The U.S. Forest Service opened a 30-day public comment period in July on a rare-earth element mining project in northeast Wyoming, according to reporting by WyoFile journalist Dustin Bleizeffer distributed by The Associated Press.

Comments are due Friday.

The window is the public’s only opportunity to weigh in on the federal process, according to the AP report. The project is “being fast-tracked by the Trump administration,” the AP report said.

Colorado-based Rare Earth Resources plans to construct an open-pit mine at Bull Hill in the Black Hills National Forest. The site sits about 12 miles northwest of Sundance and roughly 22 miles from Devils Tower.

Raw materials extracted from the mine would be trucked to a demonstration processing plant the company operates near Upton.

People may submit comments on the mine’s potential effects on health and wildlife, proposed exemptions to the Black Hills Forest management plan, and air and water quality.

Sundance resident Justin Johnson, who has lived in the area for more than a decade, told WyoFile the 30-day period was insufficient to evaluate the mining proposal and accompanying environmental review documents.