U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum toured the San Xavier Underground Mining Laboratory outside of Tucson Monday.
Burgum – who oversees federal lands and natural resources – met with University of Arizona staff, faculty and students studying mining as well as local industry leaders to talk about critical mineral development.
“This is one of the mining capitals of the world, is Southern Arizona…the opportunity to visit one of the few university-led, real mine laboratories that’s working so collaboratively with the private sector,” he said. “We want to highlight the importance of this industry to America and American national security.”
Burgum was invited by congressman Juan Ciscomani to walk the university-run facility that offers workforce training for students.
UA President Suresh Garimella thanked the U.S. Rep. for inviting Burgum stating that before the Trump Administration came in, the UA selected five areas for focus on such as space and national security, critical minerals and mining, AI and fusion commercialization.
“The goal is to position the University of Arizona and the United States ahead of China and sort of not be stuck with all the progress we want to make without the right critical minerals,” he said.
Burgum has been an advocate for more people pursuing careers in mining and metallurgy – a belief that aligns with the Trump Administration’s priority of Unleashing American Energy. The nationwide plan aims to ramp up oil and gas leasing on federal lands — something the administration says will allow the country to become energy dominant.
“So basically, the whole world pivots on your district, Juan” the Secretary told Ciscomani.
During a roundtable discussion, industry leaders shared their top priorities with the Secretary ranging from streamlining the permitting process for mining, the Endangered Species Act and ongoing Colorado River water negotiations.
Brenda Burman, general manager of the Central Arizona Project, told Burgum that she does not envy Burgum’s position as water master of the Lower Colorado River Basin states.
“The Colorado River is at a true crisis crossroads and we knew that was coming because we’ve had 20 years of sort of rules of the river that are expiring this year, but then Mother Nature has thrown in, this is most likely the driest year in our lifetimes,” she said.
The seven Colorado River Basin states missed their second deadline set by the federal government on Feb. 14 to come up with a plan for operating guidelines for the river after this year.
Burgum told reporters that no final decision has been made and that the federal government has to balance the states’ needs and water rights.
“Everybody can come to the table individually and make powerful claims about their needs but we’re going to have to try to balance the, it’s a system-wide approach and we have to think about how do we keep the system alive and functioning and working even at these super low water levels, it’s an extreme year,” he said.
Burman told AZPM that this has been a tough year on the river, but immediate action is needed.
“We can do that action through partnerships in the Lower Basin – California, Nevada, Arizona are working together,” she said. “We want to be working with the United States to put forward immediate actions to address this coming year.”
Recently, Governor Katie Hobbs has asserted that national defense and national security rely on the Colorado River.
Burgum said the economies of multiple western states depend on the river and that it was important to identify new water sources.
“We don’t have water to meet the needs of the population, industry, military, everybody,” he said. “We don’t have enough water in the basin to meet everybody’s request right now. It’s just a fact. So how do you take a pie that got smaller?”
In February, Ciscomani and other members of Arizona’s House delegation sent a letter to Burgum, asking for the withdrawal of operating guidelines for the river, proposed by the Bureau of Reclamation.
The letter states that strategies published in January, would impose “drastic reductions” on Arizona’s water supplies.
