New uranium mining claims on hold
Two-year ban applies to land by Grand Canyon
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Monday called for a two-year “timeout” on new mining claims on nearly 1 million acres near Grand Canyon National Park in northern Arizona.
The move reverses a Bush administration decision to open the land flanking the park for hardrock mining for uranium. That ruling was opposed by some in Congress and within the National Park Service over concerns about the toxic heavy metal’s potential impacts on the park’s watershed, wildlife, and cultural and archaeological resources.
Interior says it is placing a two-year hold on leasing on Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land, mostly on the north rim of the Grand Canyon and much of it within miles of the park, while it studies the environmental effects of hardrock exploration and mining.
Interior could extend the mining ban for up to 20 years. The land in the withdrawal area remains open to leasing for other minerals and for geothermal projects, according to a notice in Monday’s Federal Register.
National Mining Association spokesman Luke Popovich blasted the decision as a “de-facto ban on mining.”
“We can’t see how a sweeping ban for up to 20 years for all mining is justified,” he said. “Particularly when we are at a time when we are trying to strengthen our nation’s energy security.”
Increased interest in nuclear power has sent uranium prices soaring, sparking a rush of exploration. Mining claims within five miles of the park increased from 10 in 2003 to more than 1,100 in 2008, according to government data reviewed by the Environmental Working Group.
Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., who co-sponsored legislation that would permanently exclude uranium mining on federal land around the Grand Canyon, said, “This is a treasure that we cannot risk contaminating.”
Grand Canyon Superintendent Steve Martin told the Los Angeles Times last year that he was concerned about the possibility that uranium could escape into the local water and its effect on fish in the Colorado River at the bottom of the gorge, and on the bald eagles, California condors and bighorn sheep that depend on the canyon’s seeps and springs.
Last year the Metropolitan Water District of Los Angeles, which sells wholesale water throughout Southern California from its Colorado River Aqueduct, wrote to Interior asking the agency to prevent uranium mines near the Colorado River, arguing, “exploration and mining of radioactive material near a drinking water source may impact the public’s confidence in the safety and reliability of the water supply.”