Stewart Brothers Drilling Company drills for everything from minerals to water wells across Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Texas, and Utah. But it was uranium that brought another generation of Stewart Brothers—Hardy and Bob Stewart—to Milan, New Mexico (population 3,245).

“My dad (Hardy) was a member of the greatest generation, and he had an entrepreneurial spirit,” says company president Steve Stewart. “After the war, he and other family members started the business in East Texas where there was a lot of oil and gas exploration.”

Stewart Brothers started in 1945 as a support company that drilled shallow holes in which to drop charged dynamite for seismic investigation for potential oil and gas fields. Then, uranium was discovered in the Grants Mineral Belt in New Mexico by a Navajo sheepherder in 1950, and the brothers moved west. “So that’s how we came to be part of the mining industry,” says Stewart.

The uranium mining industry prospered until the 1980s when nuclear power fell into disfavor and competition from countries with less stringent regulatory oversight, such as Russia, increased, says Stewart. With uranium mining on the decline, Stewart Brothers Drilling again found itself in a position where it had to diversify. Steve and his brothers David and Phillip and cousin Randy began working on large-scale environmental cleanup projects, drilling for soil samples that can be tested for spills or pollution. They’ve done large jobs at George Air Force Base, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Hawthorne Army Depot, and the Department of Energy’s Pantex Plant, among other places.

Today, uranium mining is enjoying a resurgence as countries like China and India face greater energy needs. Says Stewart: “The good news is that mining is strong again.” New technologies have also made uranium mining easier and safer. Stewart Brothers Drilling and others are exploring the use of in-situ leaching, a more environmental-friendly mining method with minimal disturbance to the earth’s surface and nearby wildlife. “The way we operate our business is driven by environmental concerns. We work in remote areas and try not to disturb any more than necessary and still operate safely,” Stewart explains.

This approach includes shutting down operations to protect the lesser prairie chicken, an endangered species native to southeastern New Mexico. During the chickens’ six-week mating period in April and May, Stewart has to shut down all drilling between the hours of 3 a.m. and 6 a.m., disrupting what is usually a 24-hour operation. “Over the course of the last 35 years, I’ve seen a dramatic change in the mining industry in that it is as environmentally concerned and safety conscious as it can possibly be. We are proud to be associated with today’s mining companies.”