Obama bans uranium mining around Grand Canyon

Tourism, is Arizona's biggest industry and the Grand Canyon alone generates $687 million in annual revenue, according to the Outdoor Industry Association University of Northern Arizona 2005 study. A BP Gulf Coast of Mexico type of industrial incident at or near this location could keep people away for years. 

Leonardo A. Gem
Across Arizona Tours

www.AcrossArizonaTours.com

By Deborah Zabarenko

WASHINGTON | Mon Jan 9, 2012 3:21pm EST
 

(Reuters) - The Obama administration banned new uranium mining claims around the Grand Canyon for the next 20 years, a move hailed by conservationists on Monday as key to the president's environmental legacy but slammed by opponents as a job-killer...

 "A withdrawal is the right approach for this priceless American landscape," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement. "We have been entrusted to care for and protect our precious environmental and cultural resources and we have chosen a responsible path that makes sense for this and future generations."


"One of the things President (Barack)Obama's going to be remembered for is protecting the Grand Canyon," said Jane Danowitz of the Pew Environment Group, a non-profit organization that has pushed for the mining moratorium.

"Despite considerable pushback from the industry and even some in Congress, he didn't punt and he didn't blink and he went and issued the longest moratorium that he could under his executive authority," Danowitz said in a telephone interview...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/09/us-usa-grandcanyon-uranium-idUSTRE8081NA20120109