nuclear-news

Continued battle to save Colorado Valley from uranium mining

Geologists have warned that mining could deplete and contaminate aquifers that discharge into Grand Canyon and that cleaning them up would be next to impossible.

Appeal Filed in Lawsuit to Protect Grand Canyon From Uranium Mining, Center For Biological Diversity, July 12, 2010, GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz.— Conservation groups and Native American tribes today appealed a federal court decision that denied a request to halt uranium mining just six miles north of Grand Canyon National Park. The appeal filed with the Ninth District Court of Appeals challenges a lower court’s June 17 decision on the groups’ request for a preliminary injunction at the Arizona 1 uranium mine. The appeal was filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Grand Canyon Trust, Sierra Club, Kaibab Paiute Tribe and Havasupai Tribe.
The case could set important precedent on whether long-closed mines on public lands can resume operations using outdated mining plans and environmental reviews…………
Geologists have warned that mining could deplete and contaminate aquifers that discharge into Grand Canyon and that cleaning them up would be next to impossible. A U.S. Geological Survey study this year found elevated uranium levels in soil and water sources associated with past uranium mining, and the National Park Service warns against drinking or swimming in uranium-contaminated creeks in Grand Canyon………..
Denison Mines, which owns the Arizona 1 mine, is a Canadian mining corporation. Last year KEPCO, a Korean energy firm, purchased shares of Denison amounting to 17 percent of Denison’s capital. The deal requires that 20 percent of Denison’s annual uranium production be delivered to KEPCO until 2015. KEPCO has since entered into a contract with the United Arab Emirates to construct, operate, and supply nuclear fuel to new nuclear plants in that country. Since 2009 the Mine Safety and Health Administration has issued Denison 62 citations for safety violations at its two uranium mines on the Colorado Plateau, the Arizona 1 and the Pandora mine in Utah. Earlier this year the EPA cited Denison for operating the Arizona 1 mine without a Clean Air Act permit for radon emissions.

Appeal Filed in Lawsuit to Protect Grand Canyon From Uranium Mining

July 13, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, uranium