10.13.15

Congressman Wants To Ban Uranium Mining In Grand Canyon

Law360, New York (October 13, 2015, 10:41 PM ET) -- U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona announced on Monday that he will introduce legislation to permanently protect the Grand Canyon from new uranium mining claims and protect sacred Native American cultural sites, according to a statement from his office. 
The announcement was made during a press conference joined by the Havasupai, Hualapai, Navajo and Hopi communities, and the bill is a “tribal-led effort to protect the Grand Canyon watershed and surrounding area,” Grijalva, ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement.

“Sometimes when proclamations are made under the Antiquities Act regarding something as large as the Grand Canyon, tribes are put in the back seat,” Grijalva said. “This bill promotes a collaborative working relationship and brings the Antiquities Act back to front and center with Native tribes.”

The Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument Act aims to designate a large swath of federal land within Arizona as a national monument to promote a collaborative regional approach between tribal nations and federal land managers, protect commercial and recreational hunting, preserve grazing and water rights and conserve the Grand Canyon watershed, Grijalva's office said.

Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye released a statement Tuesday saying he supports the proposed legislation, which would permanently bar new uranium mining claims within the Grand Canyon monument.

“On the Navajo Nation, our people are dying from various forms of cancer. We believe many are directly related to the uranium mining of the 1940s through the '80s, and the leftover tailings from the uranium mill processing sites,” Begaye said. “The effects from uranium mining are real and must be prevented.”

In 2005, the Navajo Nation Council passed the Dine Natural Resources Protection Act to bar uranium mining on Navajo Indian country, according to the nation.

The nation has intervened as an amicus curiae in litigation before the Ninth Circuit in which the American Exploration and Mining Association, the Nuclear Energy Institute, the National Mining Association, the Arizona/Utah Local Economic Coalition andQuaterra Resources Inc. sued the U.S Department of the Interior over its decision to impose a 20-year moratorium on uranium mining on more than 1 million acres around the Grand Canyon, alleging the federal agency violated the National Environmental Policy Act by not including local governments in the decision, among other claims.

The Navajo Nation told the Ninth Circuit in August that the DOI was right to take into consideration certain threats and uncertainties regarding the potentially adverse effects of uranium mining on water resources before deciding to bar new uranium mining on the land for the next two decades.

The tribe’s "long and sordid" history with uranium mining backs the government's decision to err on the side of environmental protection, the nation said.


By:  Vidya Kauri
Source: Law360