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Help Protect the Grand Canyon From New Uranium Mining

Your help is needed today to protect the Grand Canyon from new uranium mining.

Global energy markets have caused a sharp increase in uranium-mining claims and exploration on public lands near Grand Canyon National Park. New uranium development threatens to degrade wildlife habitat, industrialize otherwise wild and iconic landscapes, and contaminate the water that feeds the Grand Canyon's springs and the Colorado River -- water that means survival to millions of people and to the Grand Canyon's most unique and endangered species.

Yet Congress' attempts to address those threats have gone ignored. In June 2008, the House Committee on Natural Resources invoked a rarely used legal provision to prohibit new mining claims and exploration across 1 million acres of public lands surrounding Grand Canyon National Park for three years. But the Bureau of Land Management has deliberately ignored Congress' order and continues to authorize new uranium exploration within the protected area.

The Grand Canyon deserves better. Please join us in calling on Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to enact protections to prevent new uranium claims and exploration around Grand Canyon National Park -- and to require the Bureau of Land Management to conduct rigorous new reviews for old mines to ensure that they adhere to the highest levels of federal environmental compliance.

​Click here to find out more and take action.

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Sample letter:

Subject: Protect the Grand Canyon From New Uranium Mining

I am writing to ask you to protect the Grand Canyon from uranium mining. Public lands surrounding the Grand Canyon have seen a sharp increase in new uranium-mining claims and exploration in recent years. Efforts are also underway to reopen old mines north and south of the Grand Canyon.

New uranium exploration and mining has the potential to hurt species, ecosystems, water quality, and tourism in and around Grand Canyon National Park. Aquifer contamination, were it to result from new uranium development, could impact municipal uses of the Colorado River in addition to special status species and biologically rich seep, spring, and riparian ecosystems within Grand Canyon National Park.

Uranium development would industrialize the wild and iconic landscapes flanking Grand Canyon National Park. New roads, mining facilities, vehicle access, and traffic would harm ecosystems and wildlife while hurting tourism by degrading park visitors' experiences. Finally, uranium development would occur over the objections and cultural beliefs of American Indians who hold the greater Grand Canyon area sacred.

For these reasons, I am asking that you issue an administrative mineral withdrawal to protect public lands surrounding Grand Canyon National Park from new uranium-mining claims and exploration. Please also ensure that any effort to reopen old mines is subject to rigorous new environmental and public reviews and the highest levels of federal environmental compliance.

Thank you for your consideration.

Please take action by October 1, 2009.

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2167/t/5243/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27594