Lawsuit files that Uranium Drilling to Threaten Grand Canyon

Several environmental groups are challenging the approval of up to 39 new uranium drilling sites, operated by British firm VANE Minerals, within only a few miles of Grand Canyon National Park’s southern border. The suit claims that the Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act, Administrative Procedures Act, and Appeals Reform Act when it [...]

Several environmental groups are challenging the approval of up to 39 new uranium drilling sites, operated by British firm VANE Minerals, within only a few miles of Grand Canyon National Park’s southern border. The suit claims that the Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act, Administrative Procedures Act, and Appeals Reform Act when it approved the uranium exploration using a “categorical exclusion,” the least rigorous analysis available to the agency.

“Grand Canyon simply isn’t the place for uranium development,” said Taylor McKinnon of the Center for Biological Diversity. “Our national treasures deserve better than the calamity of an adjacent industrial zone.”

“The Grand Canyon is facing a massive uranium build-up at its southern boundary,” said Sandy Bahr of Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter. “The mining law doesn’t negate the Forest Service’s duty to conduct detailed environmental and public reviews for new uranium development — and the Grand Canyon deserves at least that much.”

Fueled by a fifteen-fold increase in uranium prices during the last eight years, planned uranium development has increased enormously on federal lands immediately south of the Grand Canyon, which are facing 1600 uranium claims, five uranium exploration projects, and the possible opening of one mine.

The boom provoked a unanimous resolution from the Coconino County Board of Supervisors earlier in the year opposing uranium development around the Grand Canyon — the VANE Minerals exploration specifically — and supporting congressional efforts to protect the area from future uranium development.

“Some places should be off-limits to noise, heavy equipment traffic, drilling, and potential contamination from uranium exploration and drilling; the rim of the Grand Canyon is one of those places,” said Dave Gowdey from Grand Canyon Trust. “Congress should act now to protect the park and its surrounding public lands.”