Senators Cantwell and Wyden with 14 other senators have sent a letter to Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Jeff Bingaman and Ranking Member Pete Domenici asking them to protect the Grand Canyon and other national parks from the toxic mining boom. The other 14 senators are: Feinstein, Boxer, Lieberman, Sanders, Menendez, Feingold, Cardin, Dodd, Whitehouse, Murray, Durbin, Reed, Lautenberg, and Klobuchar. Click here to download the letter.
The letter comes as the Energy and Natural Resources Committee prepares to take up the issue of reforming the 1872 Mining Law. The 135-year-old law poses a remarkable threat to our national parks, especially the Grand Canyon. This past December, a British owned company received permits from the Forest Service to start exploratory drilling three miles from a popular lookout point on the Canyon’s southern rim.
Preservation Advocate, Christy Goldfuss, applauded these 16 senators saying, “These senators urgently need to be heard. Otherwise, postcards from Grand Canyon National Park could soon show industrial mining equipment. Our national parks were not made to be sacrificed for a onetime boost to corporate profits.”
As Sens. Maria Cantwell and Ron Wyden’s letter states, “The nature and scale of modern hardrock mining operations means mining impacts can reach well beyond a permitted mining area, and many mining claims are being staked in close proximity to natural treasures, such as the Grand Canyon. The government must have the authority to deny mining proposals that would damage the natural resources of our National Parks and Monuments.”
The situation at the Grand Canyon is a graphic example of the threat posed by hard rock mining. In the past five years, mining companies have staked more than 800 claims at the edge of the Grand Canyon, and with the price of gold increasing and the demand for uranium growing; the number of claims continues to rise.
The letter outlines the elements of mining reform that are necessary to protect the Grand Canyon and other public lands. It urges that any bill addressing the issue should; put mining on par with other important uses of public lands; protect national parks and monuments from mining; protect special places from new mining claims; give local communities a voice in land use decisions; establish environmental performance and reclamation standards; ensure that water quality is not degraded; and accelerate cleanup of abandoned mines.
In November, 2007, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2262, The Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2007. The bill includes protections for national parks and other areas too sensitive to mine. Specifically, a mining company would be denied a permit to mine near the Grand Canyon or any national park, if it was determined that the mine could degrade the natural resources of the national park. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has held several hearings on the issue in preparation for debating the issue in the next several weeks.
“The House has acted and 16 senators have weighed in on the importance of protecting the Grand Canyon and all of our natural treasures from toxic mining,” said Goldfuss. “We urge Sen. Bingaman to listen to their plea and include strong protections for our national parks in a bill reforming the 1872 Mining Law,” she added.
