A
report published Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture included a recommendation to lift a 20-year ban on mining for uranium in the Grand Canyon watershed.
The report was one of several requested by Trump’s “energy independence” https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/03/28/presidential-executive-order-promoting-energy-independence-and-economi-1, which directed all agencies to identify regulations that potentially “burden” fossil fuel development. Among other recommendations in the USDA report, including creating more exclusions to the National Environmental Policy Act, was the recommendation to revise the current ban on new mining claims in the national forest lands that surround Grand Canyon National Park.
The current 1-million-acre ban on new uranium mining was
put into place by the Obama administration in 2012 for after an environmental impact statement found that expanded mining could cause severe impacts on water quality for downstream users. The Grand Canyon watershed provides https://wilderness.org/sites/default/files/PRS_AZ_Sept2017-091817.pdf for at least 25 million people.
“Like our ancestors, we do not know how future Americans will enjoy, experience, and benefit from this place,” former Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said
when the ban was announced. “And that’s one of the many reasons why wisdom, caution, and science should guide our protection of the Grand Canyon.”
The new Trump administration proposal was immediately slammed as another gift to extractive industries — one that puts drinking water, wildlife habitat, and the $
887 billion outdoor recreation industry at risk.