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Uranium Mining Near Grand Canyon National Park!
"Our view: Antiquated 1872 law puts our state treasure and other
parks at risk. There is no place more sacred to Arizonans than the
Grand Canyon. However, it is at risk." - Arizona Daily Star (02/21/08)
The Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter is working with other conservation
groups as well as local, state and federal policy makers to ensure that
the Grand Canyon, its watershed, and the health of area residents is
protected from the harmful impacts of uranium mining. We are supporting
a proposal to protect one million acres near the Grand Canyon from new
future mining activities, including uranium mining, and also have challenged
a proposal to allow uranium mining exploration within only a couple of
miles of the Park boundary.
Background
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In December 2007, the Kaibab National Forest approved a proposal
by VANE Minerals, a British Company, to explore for uranium in the Tusayan
Ranger
District. This will allow up to 39 new uranium-exploration drilling sites
in the area. Two of these drill sites are just two miles from the border
of Grand Canyon National Park, south of Tusayan Ruins, and four miles
from the rim of the Canyon itself. The water in the area of the drilling
site all drains toward Grand Canyon.
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The Kaibab National Forest reported in January 2008 that they
had more than 2,000 claims filed in the Tusayan Ranger district alone.
Thousands
more have been staked on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) public lands
adjacent to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in the Kanab Creek drainage
and House Rock Valley.
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The owners of the Canyon Mine, which went through an Environmental
Impact Statement in the 1980s during the last uranium rush, are proposing
to
reopen the mine as a full mining operation. The Canyon Mine is located
close to Red Butte, a site sacred to the Havasupai tribe and only 13
miles south of Grand Canyon. Conservationists and the Havasupai tribe
have previously objected to this mine.
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In conjunction with mining activities on nearby private land
and proposals for exploratory drilling on adjacent state and federal
lands, this drilling
would result in significant negative impacts in the area including to
the ground and surface water.
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The uranium and heavy metals that could wash into the Colorado
River in this area would pollute Lake Mead and other reservoirs down
river – potentially
posing water quality issues for downstream Colorado River water users
including Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Diego, all
of which get drinking water from the Colorado River.
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The negative impacts of large scale mining development, with
the attendant noise pollution, air pollution, and traffic generated by
mining activities,
could seriously degrade the visitor experiences at Grand Canyon National
Park. The Grand Canyon National Park generates more than $687 million
dollars for the northern Arizona economy each year. Adverse impacts to
the Grand Canyon could hurt the area’s tourism and recreation business.
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Much of the area around the Grand Canyon is already protected
from mineral development. President Theodore Roosevelt protected the
North Kaibab
Ranger District from mining when he created the Kaibab Game Preserve
in 1906. The tribal lands bordering the Park are all off limits to uranium
development, and President Bill Clinton protected Grand Canyon-Parashant
and Vermilion Cliffs National Monuments when he established them. This
only leaves the Tusayan Ranger District and the BLM public lands in the
Kanab Creek Drainage and House Rock Valley as areas where uranium mining
can occur on the borders of the Park or along important watersheds of
the Park.
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In March 2008, Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) introduced
the Grand Canyon Watersheds Protection Act of 2008, HR 5583, legislation
which
would ban new mining claims on 1 million acres of national forests and
public lands bordering Grand Canyon National Park.
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A legislative withdrawal will ban the establishment of new
mining claims. Previously established, or “proven” claims,
will still be allowed to operate under the 1872 Mining Law. Therefore,
it is critical
that this legislative withdrawal also act as a big step towards much
needed reform of this arcane law. (See Fact Sheet on 1872 Mining Law
for more information).
What you can do
To help protect Grand Canyon and its watershed from uranium mining,
please write a comment in support of the H.R. 5583, the Grand Canyon
Watersheds
Protection Act of 2008, which will withdraw approximately one million
acres near the Grand Canyon from mineral exploration under the 1872
Mining Act. We also need your support for reform of the 1872 mining law. To find out how you can get involved in these and other efforts to
protect Grand Canyon, please contact Stacey Hamburg at (928) 774-6514
or stacey.hamburg@sierraclub.org
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Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Chapter, 202 E.
McDowell Rd, Suite 277, Phoenix, AZ 85004, (602) 253-8633
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