For the 5th time in history, the House Natural Resources committee invoked its authority and ordered the Bush administration to stop mining claims in the Grand Canyon. The measure was urged by Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva of Tucson, chair of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forest and Public Lands.
The withdrawal halts thousands of mining claims in national forest areas surrounding the Grand Canyon amid fears that resumption of uranium mining presents a danger to drinking water for some 25 million people in the southwest.
Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano had requested that Interior Secretary Kempthorne withdraw the Grand Canyon area from mining. The request was denied on the grounds that Congress must make the request.
The four previous emergency withdrawal authority requests were authored by Rep. Morris Udall, who was Chairman of the House Interior Committee.
Will the Bush administration abide by this authority, or is Bush still “the decider”?
Source: Press Release from The Sierra Club
Image Credit: www.inetours.com/…/ Tours/Grand_Canyon_7739.jpg
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Max Lindberg
My home state is Illinois, and my hometown a little railroad/farming community named Galesburg.We lived on a small farm during my high school years and I became very aware of nature and it's wonders. I loved the out of doors, working with animals, plowing fields and harvesting crops. Those were very good years.After a stint in the Army during the Korean war my broadcasting career took off at the local radio station, a 250 watt "teapot" as it was called in those days. My first job was as an engineer, then the ham came out and I became an announcer/newsman, graduating after several years to a larger market and a stint as a TV journalist/photographer. Cold, wet weather led me to the southwest where I've lived for most of the last 40 years, with a couple of years out to have fun working as a private investigator in San Francisco, and a few years working in Las Vegas hotels and casinos. In all, its been a real ride.After retiring a few years back I became fascinated with the efforts being made to find alternative energy sources. I've watched our environment deteriorate during my lifetime, and now it's my chance to join the chorus of intelligent and caring individuals making a difference one day at a time.
One Response to Uranium Mining Claims in Grand Canyon Area Ordered Withdrawn
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Thanks for posting this. Being an avid hiker and outdoorsman, I all to often see the damage caused by corporations stripping public lands of their resources. There is a superfund site along the A.T. near the Delaware watergap that will never return to it’s natural state