Congress has opportunity to protect Grand Canyon region
An overlook of the Grand Canyon. (Photo by Tim Brown/Courtesy Bureau of Reclamation)
The Grand Canyon Protection Act was recently introduced by U.S. Rep. Raύl Grijalva and passed in the House and has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. The bills will permanently protect about 1 million acres of public lands surrounding Grand Canyon from the harmful and lasting damage of new uranium mining.
Sandy Bahr
Arizona Faith Network; Arizona Trail Association; Arizona Wildlife Federation; Center for Biological Diversity; Chispa Arizona; EarthJustice; Earthworks; Environment America; Grand Canyon Trust; Hispanics Enjoying Camping, Hunting, and the Outdoors; League of Conservation Voters; Living Rivers & Colorado Riverkeeper; National Parks Conservation Association; National Trust for Historic Preservation; Northern Minnesotans for Wilderness; Sierra Club – Grand Canyon Chapter; Get Outdoors Arizona; The Rewilding I
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Rep. Grijalva and 16 other Democrats introduced the Grand Canyon Protection Act Monday in the U.S. House of Representatives. It’s similar to other attempts to withdraw more than a million acres adjacent to the national park from future uranium mining while leaving existing claims intact.
In 2012, then-U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar banned new uranium claims for 20 years. Conservationists worry about the possible negative effects expanded mining could have on the Grand Canyon’s groundwater and springs. The Havasupai Tribe says if the moratorium is allowed to expire it would present a grave threat to its sole water source. The Hopi Tribe and Navajo Nation also support the permanent ban.
where this. represents our identity. like. in times past the havasupai used to live all across the grand canyon. in the nineteenth century they were forced to relocate to a narrow gorge. or to sing this song where everything. reversionary. the grand canyon these three reprieve for you know we were to be returned to ours.
together with the environmental organization the sierra club the havasupai have taken legal action to stop the mine from operating. in germany too uranium mining has taken its toll a toxic environmental legacy of the communist era in east germany. for example some eighty thousand tonnes of uranium were extracted here during the cold war delivered to the soviet union for nuclear bombs and to supply nuclear power plants. by some the valley of death was one of several dozen mines operated by vis moat a uranium exploration company set up by the occupying soviet union. in the one nine hundred ninety zero any a mining was discontinued as a consequence of german reunification the successor company also called business which is owned by the german state its job now is to clean up and stabilize the