Secretary Salazar: Leave the Grand Canyon’s Uranium Alone

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aigle_dore/5825408292/">Moyan Brenn</a>/Flickr

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


The uranium-rich land around the Grand Canyon has been given another stay of execution by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. On Monday, Salazar extended a two-year moratorium on mining in the area for another six months, buying time for the Bureau of Land Management to work through the final stages of evaluating a plan for long-term withdrawal (which, when approved, will put the kibosh on new mining activity in the region for the next twenty years).

In romantic, grandiose language, Salazar implored his opponents on this issue to think of our natural resources in a greater historical context. Speaking from an amphitheater on the Canyon’s south rim, Salazar invoked Grand Canyon explorer John Wesley Powell and Teddy Roosevelt in making his case to let the land be:

To be here—for John Wesley Powell or for any of us—is to be overwhelmed and humbled by the scale of geologic time.  The minutes, hours, and days by which we measure our lives are hardly an instant in the life of these canyons. Yet, all of us—by the decisions we make in our short time here—can alter the grandeur of this place…As Teddy Roosevelt famously implored from this very place: “Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it.”

Salazar first initiated a moratorium on the toxic uranium mining in July 2009. Concerns about contamination of the Colorado River watershed, tourism, maintaining the Canyon’s beauty, and preseveration of tribal lands all played into the initial ban. Exposure to uranium has been known to increase lung and bone cancers, can cause kidney damage, and abandoned mines have caused widespread problems for members of the Navajo Nation in Arizona. Still, uranium mining in the area has its backers, like Rep. Robert Bishop, R-Ariz. Salazar has become familiar enough with the Bishop ilk’s qualms—in his speech, he did his best to preempt accusations about failure to develop uranium:

First, I know some critics will falsely claim that with a full one-million acre withdrawal from new hard rock mining claims, we would somehow be denying all access to uranium resources. That, of course, is not true.  Uranium, like oil and gas, solar, wind, geothermal, and other sources, remains a vital component of a responsible and comprehensive energy strategy.  We will continue to develop uranium in northern Arizona, Wyoming and other places across the country.

Many groups have already issued statements in support of Salazar’s decision. The National Parks Conservation Association applauded the action via press release, stating: “This announcement is wonderful news for the millions of people who live near and visit the Grand Canyon each year, as well as the tens of millions more across our nation who believe the integrity and natural state of this awe-inspiring location should not be compromised.”

Rep. Raul M. Grijalva, D-Ariz., a long-time opponent of mining near the Canyon, was also buoyed by the news. Grijalva, the ranking member of the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Land, has been proposing bills to withdraw the land from hardrock mining in Congress since 2008. “I couldn’t be happier,” said Grijalva, who was present for the announcement.  “This withdrawal would protect the economy, the environment and the crown jewel of our national parks system for decades to come.”

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate