Salazar’s decision to halt new uranium claims would be consistent with permanent bans by Hualapai, Havasupai and Navajo nations on their lands that surround the park….mining is a minor part of northern Arizona’s economy (unlike tourism at the Grand Canyon)
Uranium mining would hurt Grand Canyon area, The Arizona Republic, Tom Chabin, 28 Feb 2011, FLAGSTAFF — I support Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar’s proposed 20-year ban on new mining claims on public-land watersheds that drain into Grand Canyon National Park. Salazar’s decision to halt new uranium claims would be consistent with permanent bans by Hualapai, Havasupai and Navajo nations on their lands that surround the park. It would also acknowledge the fact that uranium mining produces miniscule economic benefits for a few years and imposes expensive, long-term health risks and costs to local communities and the federal government.
During nearly four decades of living in northern Arizona, I have seen the uranium industry’s devastating effects on the land, water, and people of this region…
…mining is a minor part of northern Arizona’s economy (unlike tourism at the Grand Canyon, which produces more than $600 million in annual revenues). The only long-term economic benefits that we have from the last uranium boom are jobs related to cleaning up its mess.
Arizonans, please join me in supporting the 20-year ban on new uranium claims around the Grand Canyon. We simply cannot afford the devastating costs of another round of boom and bust by uranium mining.
Tom Chabin, a Democrat, is a member of the state House of Representatives from Flagstaff.
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