Below is a statement posted by Congressman Grijalva (D-AZ) on The Hill blog.

June 20th, 2008

Yesterday, I requested a resolution to the Natural Resources Committee to require the Secretary of Interior to Withdraw Certain Lands Surrounding Grand Canyon National Park.

On June 25, 2008, the Committee on Natural Resources will consider a resolution to notify the Secretary of Interior that he is to immediately withdraw approximately 1 million acres of federal land surrounding Grand Canyon National Park from further claims under the 1872 General Mining Law. The authority to require the Secretary to take such action derives from Section 204(e) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act which allows for this action in the case of an emergency where “extraordinary measures must be taken to preserve values that would otherwise be lost.” In light of the U.S. Forest Service’s issuance of permits for exploratory drilling for uranium under categorical exclusions from the National Environmental Policy Act within two miles of the border of the National Park, the grave threat to human health uranium mining presents, and in light of the exploding numbers of mining claims being staked within the Grand Canyon watershed, I feel this creates just such an emergency, deserving of an immediate and unequivocal withdrawal from further claims.

This procedure was last invoked by the late Congressman Morris K Udall.

This country has a responsibility to protect the Grand Canyon National Park, the crowned jewel of our national park system from being destroyed.  The Colorado River and its tributaries carved this natural cathedral known as the Grand Canyon, and its waters now support one of the largest desert civilizations in world history, including Tucson, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Diego.

We cannot wait while uranium mining claims continue to be filed and the Bush Administration continues to use the exclusionary clause to allow uranium mining exploration and eventual mining operations within public lands in close proximity to the Grand Canyon National Park.

I support this resolution to protect the Grand Canyon and appreciate Chairman Rahall’s action to bring the resolution forward. There is no other place in the world like it. It deserves something better than the assaults it seems to have to consistently face - as does our nation’s entire system of national parks.