Government Authorizes Grand Canyon Uranium Mining

The Bureau of Land Management has given the green light to new uranium mining exploration in the Grand Canyon:

All of the projects are within the 1 million acres of BLM and Forest Service land that the House Natural Resources Committee ordered to be withdrawn from new uranium mining claims in June 2008, according to the groups.

Jane Danowitz, U.S. public lands program director at the Pew Environment Group, issued a statement on the decision:

"We are surprised and disappointed by the prospect of uranium mining within a stone's throw of the Grand Canyon. We urge the Obama administration to move quickly to remedy this situation and protect this timeless treasure for future generations to enjoy."

Read the full Greenwire story

Comments

[cadawa]

12:41 AM on 05/11/2009

What a marvelous idea!
Piles of radio active mine tailings for hikers to play around in and to leach into the Colorado River during the summer monsoons. The superfund bill for this bad boy will dwarf any previous site.
All this in aid of what? The nuclear power industry that hasn't been able to safely dispose of the first rod used in the first reactor half a century ago? In support of an industry that looks carbon negative but that is actually requires huge amounts of carbon fuels for processing? That is a public health menace and a terrorists wet dream?
Maybe Obama wants to make more bombs? All that talk about nuclear disarmament was just a diversion?
I don't think this is what Roosevelt meant by "in perpetuity". Those rules were written before the creation of the BLM, an agency that should expressly forbidden from managing anything beautiful or valuable.

[shockmagog]

09:20 PM on 05/10/2009

Last year, the Republicans used the canard that stopping uranium mining near the grand canyon would hurt "local economies."

From the article:
'...BLM on April 27 authorized Quaterra Alaska Inc. to conduct eight uranium mine exploration operations at five separate projects north of Grand Canyon National Park and west of the Kaibab Plateau.'

'Quaterra Alaska is a subsidiary of Vancouver-based Quaterra Resources Inc.'

The democrats tried to stop the madness last year but it didn't work:

(E&E Daily, 06/26/2008)
'The emergency resolution utilizes authority granted to the committee under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA) to compel Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to withdraw the last pockets of public land around the Grand Canyon from new uranium mining claims.'

'Committee Republicans, led by Rep. Ron Bishop (R-Utah), walked out en masse before the vote on the resolution.'
http://www.eenews.net/public/EEDaily/2008/06/26/5

Please read the articles and stay on this. This is a carry-over from the last administration and a remedy for it is in the works:

'Grijalva reintroduces Grand Canyon withdrawal bill'
(E&E Daily, 01/23/2009)
http://www.eenews.net/public/EEDaily/2009/01/23/10

[mamacat]

11:59 AM on 05/10/2009

While we're at it, how about some McDonald's and Starbucks posters hung all the way across the Grand Canyon? If all we care about is the almight buck, then let's make some money selling advertising at the national parks.

The headline says that the BLM has authorised mining, and the article says that they have authorised exploration. What is really going on here? Is Huffpo still using misleading headlines to garner interest? Is the BLM still under the control of Bush appointees? I would like to know the truth.

[Guitarsandmore]

01:40 AM on 05/10/2009

This has to be some kind of April Fools joke, right?

[Skye13]

01:32 AM on 05/10/2009

Wow, brilliant idea, lets poison our water source! Well done, bravo... This week has been a horrible week for the world.. Truly a depressing show this week!

[oakley9]

03:40 PM on 05/09/2009

What???

[mergina]

12:22 PM on 05/09/2009

Oh is the Obama Administration chalking up some MISERABLE ENVIRONMENTAL FAILURES this week. What the hell are they thinking?

[DrJohnnySkeptic]

06:51 AM on 05/11/2009

I doubt that any thought process was involved.

[quidam56]

06:36 AM on 05/09/2009

They can say all they want about their heroic, patriotic leader keeping US safe from another terrorist attack on the homeland since 9/11. What they are doing in Appalachia 24/7 is TOXIC TERRORISM. We can't stand anymore of the prosperity.

http://www.wisecountyissues.com/?p=138

[Josephus]

10:15 AM on 05/09/2009

Toxic Terrorism = Ecoterrorism. It's not the environmentalists who are ecoterrorists but Massey Coal, Monsanto, Union Carbide, nuclear industry, et al.

[patianneb]

10:51 AM on 05/09/2009

i agree. i am beyond disappointed in Obama. if the election were today, i'd leave that box blank.

[mergina]

12:23 PM on 05/09/2009

I could not agree with you more. This week on the environment they just plain (expletive deleted)

[Cyberoptic]

08:18 PM on 05/09/2009

I started to agree with you about leaving the box blank. Then I thought about McCain and Palin in the White House. Maybe not much difference inside the White House after all. But outside the White House, we have Michelle's organic garden.

This isn't much at all, but it is better than a casino and a dead moose outside the White House.

And I agree, "beyond disappointed" is an apt description.

And there are five native peoples in the Grand Canyon area, some of which may have to deal with the environmental damage of uranium pilings, and since the federal government has their lands "in trust" they have less voice than other citizens.

[classicalgeek]

11:21 PM on 05/08/2009

Protest here:
[e-mail]

[mergina]

12:24 PM on 05/09/2009

Don't go here.

[SmallFarm]

06:51 PM on 05/08/2009

McCain is the Senator. What is he doing to protect the Grand Canyon?

[TJCole]

08:08 PM on 05/08/2009

The same thing he did to protect the Forrestal...!

[DrJohnnySkeptic]

11:22 AM on 05/09/2009

The Grand Canyon brings tourists who stimulate their economy. You never know.

Who am I kidding... you're right.

[mergina]

12:26 PM on 05/09/2009

If you check into the uses of uranium, most of them are military.