Good news for the Grand Canyon and Arizona! The Obama Administration has approved a 20-year ban on new mining claims near the Grand Canyon.
The Obama administration announced a federal ban Monday on new mining claims affecting a million acres near the Grand Canyon, an area known to be rich in high-grade uranium ore reserves.
In doing so, the administration brushed off pressure from congressional Republicans and mining industry figures who wanted a policy change.
At an early afternoon event, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced a 20-year ban on new mining claims on public land surrounding the Grand Canyon. On two previous occasions the secretary had imposed temporary bans on new mining claims. On Monday, he said that while uranium remains an important part of a comprehensive energy strategy, the Grand Canyon is a national treasure that must be protected.
This is a win for Conservation groups and a loss for the mining industry and Republicans, especially in AZ, who having been putting on the pressure to open up more areas in the GC region to uranium mining. AZ Representatives have been pushing for the million acre area to be opened up to mining, claiming the jobs are needed. The Grand Canyon is in itself a very large generator of money for the state of AZ. I don’t think we need to mine the area just to make some more. Some places are more valuable in their natural state.
Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and other GOP lawmakers are backing legislation to prevent Salazar from moving forward with the 20-year ban.
Salazar had reversed a Bush policy in 2009 that opened the land up to new mining with a two year moritorium, that has now been extended for twenty years thanks to the Obama Administration.
The ban will not affct more than 3,000 mining claims already in the area. But. the Native Americans who believe the area to be sacred and all the people who visit and love the Canyon, can feel good that the people who have the power to try to protect it have done so.
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