20-year ban planned on new Grand Canyon uranium mining,
LA Times 20 June 11
By Neela Banerjee,
The Obama administration announces the proposed ban for 1 million acres of land bordering the Grand Canyon, an area where uranium mining claims have spiked 2,000% in the last seven years.
The ban would strengthen a moratorium on new mining claims and activity, which the administration placed on Grand Canyon border lands two years ago in response to the jump in uranium stakes.Interior Department officials said the agency initially would extend the current moratorium another six months, until December, in order to complete the steps necessary to establish the 20-year ban. Mines currently in operation would not be affected.
Environmentalists, some lawmakers and water utilities serving metropolitan areas in the southwest, including Los Angeles, said the decision would protect the critical Colorado River watershed from possible contamination from uranium mining and would prevent the Grand Canyon panorama from being gradually industrialized…….
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/sc-dc-0621-grand-canyon-20110620,0,1196854.story
