Timothy Gardner reports that the National Mining Association (NMA) and the American Exploration and Mining Association (AEMA) filed petitions asking the court to reverse the Obama administration’s 2012 ban on new uranium mining claims on more than 1 million acres of public land adjacent to the canyon. In 2012, Ken Salazar, then the secretary of the interior, instituted the ban for 20 years on the public lands. The Havasupai tribe relies on water wells for drinking water within their settlements. The ban was upheld by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in December. NMA spokesman Luke Popovich said his organization was challenging Salazar’s constitutional authority to declare the large land withdrawal, and he said uranium mining does not harm the land. “There is no reliable evidence that uranium mining outside the park boundaries poses any threat to either the environment or visitor experience,” Popovich said. He said Salazar ignored a finding by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management that showed mining would have little impact. Conservation groups disagreed and said the ban should remain in place until geoscientists have time to study the contamination risks. “Is it worth gambling the future of the Grand Canyon to allow private companies to line their pockets when the risks to groundwater are unknown?” said Roger Clark, a program director at the Grand Canyon Trust.[Fact Check: The BLM studies have demonstrated that there is no risk to the aboriginals.].
Currently the global uranium market is so flooded that mining in the United States for the mineral used in nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons is not profitable. But that could change [read: will change at some point in time] as the new administration is considering protections on the mineral that could increase demand for domestically mined uranium [to reduce relying on uranium from insecure overseas sources, i.e., Kazakhstan, Russia, although secure sources are available from Canada and Australia]. Last month, the major uranium mining company, Energy Fuels, said it had won federal approvals to expand operations at two mines in southeastern Utah after years of challenges from conservation groups worried about emissions of radon gas [which once again such anti-uranium mining opposition was found to be groundless, without merit, and misleading].
Other companies have urged Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to reverse the 2012 ban. Last May, Vane Minerals LLC, a company in Arizona, told Zinke in a letter the company would appreciate it if he could begin the process to “terminate” the ban. A copy of the letter was seen by Reuters. Vane did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the letter. The Interior Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the letter or the petitions.[So what? Maybe they are considering the request to remove the ban...??].
For another report on the ban near the Grand Canyon (here).
For recent history of uranium discoveries near Grand Canyon, see I2M search result (more).
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