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The Interior Department closed the land to new mining claims in 2009 to study a long–term ban. On Oct. 26 it recommended blocking new mining on all 1 million acres of the Arizona Strip for 20 years, a ban that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has already publicly supported..."
Despite the fact that Crown Jewel of our National Park (Grand Canyon) system is so close to this area, special interest groups want to open up this area for mining. To see photos of the Grand Canyon, see my link below:
www.AcrossArizonaTours.com
Posted Nov 5, 2011, 5:36 pm
Joshua Armstrong Cronkite News Service
WASHINGTON — A bill that would open 1 million acres near Grand Canyon National Park to new uranium mining was hailed Thursday as an economic boon and derided as a threat to the park’s wilderness and tourism value.
More than a dozen people – including scientists, federal agency heads, Arizona congressmen, businessmen and northern Arizona locals – gave differing opinions at a House subcommittee hearing on the
Northern Arizona Mining Continuity Act.
The bill would block the Department of the Interior from imposing a 20–year ban on new mines in the so-called Arizona Strip – a ban the department formally recommended last week.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Trent Franks, R–Glendale, and three other Arizona Republicans testified that the bill would create much–needed jobs in the northern part of the state and boost U.S. energy production.
“The Obama administration’s effort to make 1 million acres of uranium–rich land in Arizona off-limits for future uranium mining is a step in precisely the wrong direction for the American economy,” Franks testified to a House Natural Resources subcommittee.
But Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D–Tucson, said the area must be approached with exceptional caution because, “It’s the Grand Canyon, stupid.” He introduced a bill earlier this year that would do the opposite of Franks’, by permanently blocking new uranium mines in the area.
“The uncertainty is to a degree that caution is the operative word,” Grijalv.."
http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/110511_grand_canyon_uranium/grand-canyon-uranium-fight-heats-up-dc/
