10.12.15

Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva Announces Bill Banning Uranium Mining Near Grand Canyon

Congressman Raúl Grijalva will announce a bill this afternoon designed to permanently ban uranium mining in the Grand Canyon watershed.

The Tucson legislator's measure, officially called the Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument Act, calls for protecting the area by declaring the region a national monument.

According to a statement from Grijalva's office, the bill, if successful,"permanently protects the Grand Canyon from new uranium mining claims; protects tribal sacred cultural sites; promotes a more collaborative regional approach between tribal nations and federal land managers; protects commercial and recreational hunting; preserves grazing and water rights; and conserves the Grand Canyon watershed."

Leaders of the Havasupai, Hualapai, Navajo, and Hopi tribes are scheduled to join Grijalva this afternoon in Flagstaff to show their support for the measure and to speak about the cultural and ecological significance of the area.

This new bill from Grijalva represents his latest effort in the long war he's been waging against uranium mining: "Mining so close to the Canyon could seriously impair the region’s ecosystems: wreaking havoc on the landscape, drying up critical seeps and springs, disturbing fish and wildlife, and releasing toxic chemicals into the environment," he wrote in a letter to former U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar about the practice.

"With mining claims positioned so close to the Canyon and the Colorado River, a range of contaminants from heavy metals to uranium could also degrade the downstream water supply, impacting a water supply relied on by millions of Americans. Not to mention the fact that uranium mining produces permanent radioactive waste, an environmental toxin which must disposed of in an urgent, safe manner."


By:  Miriam Wasser
Source: Phoenix New Times