Bill limiting uranium mining reintroduced in U.S. House

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Environmental groups are re-introducing legislation to put a little more than 1 million acres of federal land on the Colorado Plateau off-limits to most new uranium mining.

The measure would not impact existing claims where miners have proven they have viable deposits, but is a response to renewed uranium mining interest in the region, spurred by rising prices.

U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Tucson, reintroduced the legislation Thursday, along with U.S. Rep. Ed Pastor of Arizona.The bill would limit exploration north and south of the Grand Canyon, including in the Kaibab National Forest near Tusayan, in House Rock Valley, and near Kanab Creek. The measure is supported by the Grand Canyon Trust, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club.

At the same time, the environmental groups are also asking the new interior secretary, Ken Salazar, to put in place temporary measures they requested last year that would temporarily ban uranium mining until the House and Senate could vote on Grijalva's bill.

"The easiest course of action would be for the Obama administration to do a mineral withdrawal," said Taylor McKinnon, of the Center for Biological Diversity.

Last year a House divided committee chaired by Grijalva passed a measure directing former Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to put these lands off limits.

Kempthorne declined, calling the committee's direction possibly illegal without a full vote of the House and Senate.

The groups filed suit in response.