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Conservation Groups Challenge Uranium Mine Exploration
Near Grand Canyon
- On December 20th, 2007, the Kaibab National Forest gave approval
to VANE Minerals, a British firm, for exploratory uranium drilling
at up to 39 sites on the Tusayan Ranger District immediately south
of Grand Canyon National Park, some within three miles of the Park.
This is the first of five similar uranium exploration projects slated
for the District.
- The purpose of the drilling is to evaluate site potential
for uranium mining. The drilling seeks to extract radioactive material.
Radioactive drilling residue will be stored adjacent to each site in
either a storage pond or contained tank. Storage ponds will be netted
to keep larger wildlife out, but may not prevent exposure to species
capable of penetrating the net or consuming contaminated vegetation
- The Forest Service unlawfully approved the drilling using
a “categorical exclusion,” the least rigorous analysis
available to the agency under the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA). Categorical exclusions presume that an activity will have no
effect on the environment without undertaking detailed public and environmental
reviews.
- The Forest Service’s categorical exclusion afforded
the public only one opportunity to comment on the drilling proposal.
The public was denied an opportunity to review or comment on an analysis
of the proposal’s effects or to look at alternatives. The public
was also denied the ability to administratively appeal the Forest Service’s
decision to proceed with the drilling, which is why it was necessary
to pursue litigation.
- On February 11th, 2008, the Center for Biological Diversity,
Sierra Club and Grand Canyon Trust sent a letter to the Kaibab National
Forest outlining legal problems with its approval of VANE’s exploration
and requesting the approval be withdrawn. The Forest Service did not
respond to this letter and did not withdraw the proposal.
- The Forest Service claims it has little power to deny uranium
development under the 1872 Mining Law. But the mining law doesn’t
negate the Service’s separate duty under the National Environmental
Policy Act for detailed public and environmental review of such proposals.
- On March 12th, after seeking a withdrawal and after reviewing
the proposal and its potential harm to the Canyon, the same organizations
filed a lawsuit charging that the Forest Service’s decision to
approve VANE’s exploration violated the National Environmental
Policy Act, Administrative Procedures Act and Appeals Reform Act. At
the heart of the suit is the Forest Service’s failure to fully
analyze cumulative impacts of all five uranium exploration projects,
its failure to prepare an environmental assessment or impact statement,
and its unlawful use of a categorical exclusion in the face of controversy
and substantial questions about the impacts of the drilling. The suit
requests that the Forest Service’s Dec 20th decision be overturned
and that the agency prepare an environmental assessment or impact statement.
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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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