Uranium

 by Anne Mariah Tapp, Energy Director

In early April, we received the disappointing news that Federal District Court Judge David Campbell had decided that the Canyon uranium mine, located just six miles from the south rim of the Grand Canyon, could resume operations despite a plan of operations and environmental review dating back to the mid-1980s. We appealed Judge Campbell’s decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last week, and our lawyers are currently working to ensure that the Canyon Mine does not resume operations in June, as currently scheduled.

Part of the reason that the Forest Service allowed the Canyon Mine to re-open is the obsolete and unsafe regulations that allow uranium mining companies to play Russian roulette with America’s most treasured public lands.

To address this problem, we’re launching a second line of defense. Using a legal tool called a "petition for rulemaking," we’re asking the federal agencies to change these antiquated regulations.

Times They Are A-Changin'

In the 30 years since Canyon Mine’s original review and approval, a lot has changed. We’ve moved from CD players to Spotify, swapped Polaroids for Instagram, and gone from no internet to 4G networks.

Do you trust uranium mining permits that were reviewed and approved before something as basic as DNA fingerprinting technology had been discovered?

Circumstances have changed significantly in ways that merit new environmental review and reconsideration of the Canyon Mine’s approval. To name just a few: 

• The mine’s original plan of operations expired, and mine ownership has changed several times
• Radon became a “hazardous air pollutant” subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act
• California condors were reintroduced near Grand Canyon National Park
• Studies revealed the hydrologic connections between the Redwall-Muav Aquifer that underlies the Canyon Mine and the Canyon’s seeps and springs
• The Red Butte Sacred Site was designated as a Traditional Cultural Property
• The 2012 Mineral withdrawal was enacted

Despite all this, the Forest Service did not even consider these changed circumstances in an environmental review, require a new plan of operations, or issue a new approval.  

 by Roger Clark, Grand Canyon Director

The same day that American Rivers listed the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon as America's Most Endangered River, U.S. District Court Judge Campbell denied a request to halt a uranium mine located six miles from the South Rim. 

Challenging the Status Quo

Canyon Mine first opened in the late 1980s, but it closed due to a drop in uranium prices before the mine shaft reached ore. It re-opened briefly, shutting its doors again when uranium prices fell. Now thanks to another recent bump in uranium prices, mine owners are planning to open Canyon Mine again this summer.

The Havasupai Tribe, the Grand Canyon Trust, and allies challenged the U.S. Forest Service’s decision to allow Energy Fuels Inc. to reopen the mine without completing formal tribal consultations and updating an obsolete federal environmental review dating to 1986. Uranium mining on public land surrounding Grand Canyon threatens tribal cultural values, as well as aquifers and streams that sustain the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River.

Evidence of Contamination

Water samples, summarized by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in 2010, showed that 15 springs and five wells contained dissolved uranium concentrations in excess of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards for drinking water. The USGS report concluded that these contaminated sites “are related to mining processes.” Federal and state agencies have ignored these findings and continue to permit uranium mines to operate without requiring monitoring wells to detect contamination. 

We are working with our partners to evaluate the basis for a possible appeal of Judge Campbell's decision. See press release here ›

 Read more about the Most Endangered River Listing

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK—One year after the Obama administration enacted new protections limiting uranium mine development on 1 million acres around Grand Canyon National Park, pollution and legal threats from the uranium industry remain. Five uranium-industry lawsuits — one seeking upwards of $120 million from the United States — as well as plans to reopen two 1980s-era mines still threaten the public and traditional tribal land and water within and around Grand Canyon National Park.

“Grand Canyon and its watershed provide important habitat for a variety of wildlife — from condors to bighorn sheep — plus it is an economic engine for northern Arizona, providing jobs and important income to this rural area," said Sandy Bahr, director of the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter. "This mineral withdrawal — stopping destructive mining activities — is critical to protecting Grand Canyon and the water that is the lifeblood for our communities.”

The administration finalized the million-acre “mineral withdrawal” around Grand Canyon on Jan. 9, 2012, following regional and national uproar over the potential impacts of a new uranium-mining boom in the world-famous landscape. The withdrawal prohibits new mining claims and mine development on old claims that lack proven ore reserves and valid rights to mine.

“After an extensive review process and substantial public participation, Secretary Salazar made a strong, affirmative decision to protect one of the world’s most enduring landscapes and the sustained health of indigenous communities that live within the watershed of the Grand Canyon,”said Dave Nimkin of the National Parks Conservation Association. “Current efforts to compromise that bold and appropriate decision put all of us at risk.”

Challenges to the uranium mining ban

Five lawsuits from the uranium industry and its supporters were filed in 2012 challenging the withdrawal; one was withdrawn, and four were consolidated into one suit, now before a federal district court in Arizona. To defend the withdrawal, the Havasupai Tribe and conservation groups have intervened in that suit.

“The Grand Canyon and lands, watersheds and communities around it should not become dotted with mines and crisscrossed by roads and heavy trucks carting radioactive material,” said Ted Zukoski, an attorney representing tribal and conservation groups opposing the industry lawsuits. “We’ll continue the fight to protect the area’s people, wildlife and life-giving waters.”

London-based VANE Minerals withdrew its suit challenging the mining restrictions late last month, opting instead to sue the United States in the court of claims. In that pending suit, VANE claims that the new restrictions on mining entitle it to $120 million-plus from U.S. taxpayers.

The Kaibab National Forest in April granted mining rights to Energy Fuels for the Canyon Mine along Grand Canyon’s south rim and within the withdrawal area. In June the Forest announced that it would allow Energy Fuels to reopen the Canyon Mine without updating its 27-year-old “environmental impact statement.” The mine is adjacent to Red Butte, an area sacred to the Havasupai, who in the 1990s waged a years-long court battle to block the mine.

“The Obama administration’s agencies are allowing old mines to reopen without updating ancient environmental studies. These mines will bring the same pollution the mineral restrictions intended to block. Their approval in the 1980s was a terrible idea; allowing them to reopen now on the basis of out-of-date science is even worse.”

-Taylor McKinnon, public lands campaigns director, Center for Biological Diversity.

The Bureau of Land Management is allowing Energy Fuels to prepare a second mine, the Pinenut Mine located north of Grand Canyon, for opening. Like the Forest Service, the BLM has not updated 1980s-era environmental reviews for that mine or for the nearby Arizona1 mine, which began operations in 2009, and which tribes and conservation groups have sued to halt. That litigation is now before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Toxic Legacy

"Decades of uranium mining in the region have left a toxic legacy that has permanently polluted surface and groundwater and continues to threaten people’s lives, the park, and plant and animal communities," says Roger Clark, Grand Canyon program director for the Grand Canyon Trust. "Grand Canyon National Park recently spent $15 million to remove radioactive machinery and topsoil from the Orphan Mine, which pose health risks to endangered condors and visitors to popular Canyon overlooks. Mining is a boom-and-bust industry that harms tourism and robs local economies of long-term benefits from Grand Canyon’s enduring and unpolluted landscapes.”

Uranium pollution already plagues the Grand Canyon and surrounding area. The Navajo Nation has several hundred abandoned uranium mines that have yet to be cleaned up. Because dozens of new mines threatened to industrialize valued lands, destroy wildlife habitat and permanently pollute or deplete aquifers and springs, scientists, tribal and local governments and businesses have all voiced support for the protection that the mineral withdrawal affords Grand Canyon and its surrounding land.

TAKE ACTION! Urge federal officials to close and clean up “zombie” uranium mines threatening Grand Canyon › 

They are undead. They've been put to rest for years -- perhaps decades. Buried and forgotten. But our complacency can be shattered in an instant when, with no warning, they are up and running again, leaving trails of contamination, threatening everything they encounter. 

A zombie mine is a mine that has been shut down, but can be allowed to resume operations with no modifications to outdated plans of operation; no new environmental review. There are dozens of potential zombie mines across the Colorado Plateau. These unthinking, undead mines would be free to rage with no conscience for the environmental and cultural harm they cause. Zombie mines are not subject to the 20-year uranium mining ban achieved in 2009 by Grand Canyon Trust in a coalition of tribal, business, and civic leaders, hunting, fishing, ranching, and conservation groups, and county officials.

 Canyon Mine, only six miles from the entrance to Grand Canyon National National Park, began operating in 1986 over the protests and lawsuits of the Havasupai Tribe. Along with other opponents, the Havasupai objected to potential uranium mining impacts on regional groundwater, springs, creeks, ecosystems, and cultural values associated with Red Butte. The mine closed in 1992 when the price of uranium crashed. Groundwater beneath Canyon Mine feeds municipal wells, seeps and springs in Grand Canyon, including Havasu Springs and Havasu Creek. Although in 2010 the U.S. Geological Survey found dissolved uranium concentrations in this groundwater exceeding Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drinking water standards, this mine was allowed to reopen -- 26 years after it's original approval; 21 years after it was declared nonliving.

Other zombie mines on the Colorado Plateau that have resumed operation are Arizona 1 and Pinenut Mine. The government agencies tasked with protecting the environment have been zombified too -- they have no will to stop the reanimation of these mines. Scared? You should be. The solution to zombie mines would be to update federal regulations for mining on public lands; to require a new environmental review after 10-years in the grave. Better yet: reclamation and closure. No sequels. In the meantime Grand Canyon Trust has filed a lawsuit to that would require Canyon Mine to undergo a new environmental review. If successful, it would set a precedent for potential zombie mines resting in their graves all over the Colorado Plateau. This is a process, risk, and an expense that mine operators do not want. It may be enough to keep these mines in the graveyard for good.

ACT NOW to protect Grand Canyon from "zombie" uranium mines ›

Facing a lagging uranium market, Grand Canyon’s zombie mines may be falling back into their graves. But their pollution problems remain alive and well—along with agencies’ refusal to require updated reviews or reclamation.

Broken policy framework

Citing market conditions, Energy Fuels Inc. on Friday announced plans to halt mining at a second Grand Canyon-area mine--the Pinenut Mine, located just north of Grand Canyon National Park. It is to be shuttered in August 2014.

This news comes after the company shuttered the Canyon Mine earlier in November, pending a federal district court ruling. It agreed to those terms with the Trust, the Havasupai Tribe and other plaintiffs who last year sued the Forest Service for allowing the mine to reopen absent Tribal consultations and additional environmental reviews.

On Friday the company also said that it plans to close the nation’s only conventional uranium mill. The White Mesa Mill, which turns regionally mined ore and radioactive waste into yellow cake, will close in 2014 and then reopen in 2015. When it reopens it will process radioactive waste exclusively.

Uranium mine closures like this aren’t new. In fact, they’re symptomatic of a broken policy framework that gives an economically marginal uranium industry too much free reign over public lands.

Average uranium concentration that is more than 10 times background concentration

Four uranium mines near Grand Canyon were built and then closed in the early 1990s, owing to market conditions. Then, for two decades, they simply sat. Those intervening years allowed the mess to spread. At the Kanab North mine, soil sampled from as far away as 420 feet outside of the fence has an average uranium concentration that is more than ten times background concentration. At Pinenut, the shaft filled with nearly three million gallons of water.

Those years also saw scientists gain new understandings of the connection between mine-threatened aquifers and Grand Canyon’s springs. California condors were reintroduced to the area, new national monuments were designated and land use shifted toward recreation and tourism.

Then, as uranium market spiked in the mid-2000s, industry regained interest. One by one, agencies allowed the old mines to reopen—first the Arizona 1, then Canyon and Pinenut. (The fourth, Kanab North, was mostly mined out and not worth restarting.)

Now, one by one, they’re starting to go on “standby,” indefinitely—making a mockery of agency estimates that these mines are economically viable. Costs continue to take their toll on public lands, sacred sites, water, wildlife, and recreation values, while zombie mines lie in wait for another day that may never come.

Irresponsible policy

A day must come when the current policy is changed— the irresponsible policy that allows polluting uranium mines to languish for decades without reclamation or renewed environmental review. As shown by Grand Canyon’s situation, current policies are broken and need to be fixed.

Roger Clark and Taylor McKinnon are co-authors of this article.

Plans to stockpile high-grade uranium ore near Grand Canyon’s north rim

Energy Fuels, Inc. recently announced plans to stockpile high-grade uranium ore indefinitely at Pinenut mine near Grand Canyon’s north rim. The mine’s previous owner walked away from uranium piled at the Kanab North mine site with disastrous results: “Mined waste rock, uranium ore, pond sludge, and local wind- and water-dispersed fine particles on the unreclaimed mine site (all of which contained high concentrations uranium and other trace element constituents such as arsenic) were exposed to the ambient environment for about 20 years at the partially mined site.” These findings by the US Geological Survey included extensive evidence of radioactive soil dispersed more than 400 feet beyond from the mine’s fenced perimeter and containment pond. Grand Canyon National Park scientists have documented irreparable risks to wildlife, water, and other park resources created by contamination from this and other uranium mines located within Grand Canyon’s watersheds.

Concerns over radioactive dust

As reported in Grand Canyon News,  the “mining company's plan to stockpile uranium ore at a mine north of the Grand Canyon has raised concern among environmentalists over radioactive dust being swept across the landscape.” The Trust commented, “uncertainty over how long the uranium ore could sit at the site is unsettling….‘This could be another indefinite situation … where once again, there is an increased risk of harm to public resources in terms of radioactive dust.’” In another story, aired on public radio, we noted: “…cumulative effects of uranium ore of contaminated water both on the surface and in the mine shaft … were not anticipated by the original federal environmental review, which really needs to be redone.”

Pinenut is one of four zombie mines that remain active and in need of reclamation following the 2012 ban on new uranium claims on more than a million acres of public land watersheds that drain directly into the Grand Canyon.

ACT NOW to protect Grand Canyon from "zombie" uranium mines ›

In an important victory for public lands and Grand Canyon National Park, a U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge last week dismissed a lawsuit by VANE Minerals LLC challenging the Department of the Interior’s 2012 decision to ban new uranium mining across a million acres of public land in Arizona for 20 years.

The court ruled that VANE doesn’t have a property interest in unpatented mining claims, for which VANE had sought $123million in “takings” from the U.S.  Had they won, VANE’s could have made the government pay for mining claims that VANE hadn’t proven to be economically valuable, and for which VANE hadn’t established valid rights to mine. Such a result would make the uranium-mining ban (and any other “mineral withdrawal” on public lands for that matter) too expensive for the federal government, effectively re-opening Grand Canyon’s watersheds to dangerous new mines while undoing years of advocacy by Grand Canyon Trust and its members and partners. If VANE appeals the ruling, we’ll likely intervene. You can read more about the suit details in this recent article by E&E Publishing:

Court tosses industry suit over Obama administration ruling blocking mining claims

Manuel Quiñones, E&E reporter

Published: Monday, May 5, 2014

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has tossed a uranium exploration company's lawsuit against the Obama administration over its 2012 decision to block new mining claims on roughly 1 million acres around the Grand Canyon National Park.

Judge Susan Braden last week said Vane Minerals LLC's request for almost $80 million in compensation for 678 company mining claims and exploration activities in the affected area was not ripe for discussion.

Vane Minerals argued that the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service are not letting the company explore its existing mining claims.

Even though the Obama administration's withdrawal does not affect existing mining claims, regulators are only honoring claims proved to be valid. In other words, they must go through a test showing they contain economically recoverable mineral reserves.

Braden sided with the Obama administration in saying that Vane needed to go through a validation process before determining how the withdrawal will affect its claims.

"Unless and until Plaintiff receives a [valid existing rights] determination," she wrote, "neither the BLM, the Forest Service, nor this court can determine if and how the Withdrawal Order will impact Plaintiff's unpatented mining claims."

In its own court filings, Vane Minerals argued that it shouldn't have to go through the validation process because the government is well aware of the rich uranium deposits around the Grand Canyon.

The company also argued that the withdrawal made it harder to conduct the necessary exploration to prove validity -- and that having to prove validity amounted to a new regulatory burden.

"Had the segregation, and later withdrawal, not been in effect, the Forest Service would not have required mineral examinations or demonstrations of mineral discoveries as a condition of approving VANE's plans of operations," the company wrote in a court filing.

It added that "the value of VANE's mining claims has significantly decreased. Moreover,VANE must pay annual fees to maintain its claims, even though it is effectively barred from developing them."

But Braden, in her 23-page opinion, wrote, "Congress has authorized the Department of Interior to determine the validity of mining claims on the public lands."

"In this case," she concluded, "Plaintiff failed to obtain a VER determination and consequently has no property right."

Taylor McKinnon, energy director for the Grand Canyon Trust, described the case as an uranium industry attempt to "raid" the U.S. Treasury. "Dismissal of this case is good news for the American public and Grand Canyon National Park," he said.

An attorney for Vane Minerals said this morning the company was mulling its options. It can appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Arizona case

While Braden's ruling is a win for opponents of uranium mining around the Grand Canyon, more significant litigation is pending in Arizona U.S. District Court involving numerous companies and groups, including the National Mining Association and the Nuclear Energy Institute.

The groups and companies argue that a section of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act allowing for congressional resolutions of disapproval is unconstitutional and, therefore, so are 5,000-acre-plus withdrawals.

Last year, Judge David Campbell agreed with the mining and nuclear industries in finding the resolutions unconstitutional, but he said that didn't invalidate the withdrawals.

Companies have signaled their interest in appealing Campbell's decision (Greenwire, July 16, 2013). However, other parts of the case remain pending, including whether the Obama administration followed the National Environmental Policy Act in approving the withdrawal.

TAKE ACTION! Urge federal officials to close and clean up “zombie” uranium mines threatening Grand Canyon › 

A major victory

The Havasupai Tribe and conservation groups including the Grand Canyon Trust won a major victory in the legal battle to protect the Grand Canyon watershed last week when a federal judge in Phoenix upheld the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI) 20-year ban on new uranium mining claims across one million acres of public lands adjacent to Grand Canyon. The ban, which expires in 2032, had been challenged by private uranium prospectors and the uranium industry, who hold hundreds of existing uranium claims on public lands surrounding the natural wonder. The ruling affirms conclusions by five federal agencies, including scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, that uranium mining poses unacceptable risks to Grand Canyon’s water, wildlife, and people.

"Zombie mines" remain a threat

Four existing uranium mines in the Grand Canyon watershed are not affected by the decision. These "zombie" mines (which shut down when uranium prices fall and rise from the grave when prices make mining profitable again) continue to threaten Grand Canyon’s watershed, including the Havasupai people’s sole source of drinking water. Here's a map of existing claims, mines, and proposed mines.

Err on the side of caution

In the Sept. 30 ruling, Judge David G. Campbell dismissed all claims by the uranium industry, stating that the Secretary of the Interior had the authority to “err on the side of caution in protecting a national treasure – Grand Canyon national park.” Federal agencies often permit mining on public lands even when long-term impacts are poorly monitored or understood. In this case, DOI concluded that existing evidence was sufficient to warrant the precautionary action—and last Tuesday Campbell agreed.

Arizonans and all Americans won an unprecedented victory in 2012 when Interior Secretary Ken Salazar approved the 20-year ban. Secretary Salazar said: "Time and again, we as a nation have shown that our strength comes not just from the power of our industry and technology but also from the wisdom of restraint." The temporary ban reduces the risk of permanent harm to wildlife, water, and sites sacred to Havasupai and other native peoples in the region. It also protects our national interest, as well as the tourism economy, which welcomes 5 million visitors to the canyon each year.

Uranium mines threaten hundreds of the Grand Canyon seeps and springs

Uranium mines threaten hundreds of the Grand Canyon seeps and springs that provide precious water to thousands of desert-dwelling species. Every new mine sacrifices cultural sites and fragments wildlife habitat, pollutingthe park with dirt roads, dust, heavy machinery, noise, off-road drilling rigs, power lines, and relentless truck traffic.

According to hydrology professor Abe Springer, “Although there is uncertainty in our understanding of the directions and magnitudes of groundwater flow in the regional aquifers…what we do know should lead us to exercise the precautionary principle of doing no additional harm. Because there is potential to harm the aquifer feeding the springs of one of the most important natural wonders of the world, and to tribes which count on the water from the aquifers as a sole source of water, it makes good sense to exercise the precautionary principle.”

The mining industry made a number of claims to overturn the ban, but now will have to appeal Campbell’s decision to the Ninth Circuit Court. The Trust will continue to intervene in defending this important legal precedent.

As Secretary Salazar said when declaring the 20-year ban on new uranium claims:

"Every generation of Americans faces moments when we must choose between the pressures of the now and the protection of the timeless. Today, we know that we can no longer afford to turn our backs on ... iconic landscapes like the Grand Canyon. ... I am therefore at peace with this decision, because it is the right thing to do."

The Grand Canyon Trust shares this belief. Please join us by signing the petition to protect the Grand Canyon watershed from zombie uranium mines.

Read Campbell’s decision. Also, please see Ban on Grand Canyon Uranium Mining Upheld by Arizona Court.

BLM Fails to Respond to Groundwater Contamination at Pinenut Mine

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz.— Conservation groups sent a letter last week urging federal regulators to suspend operations at a uranium mine near the Grand Canyon, where millions of gallons of uranium-laced groundwater threaten people and wildlife. Records obtained by conservation groups show that the contaminated groundwater — 80 times the limit set to protect public health and the environment — have inundated the Pinenut uranium mine immediately north of Grand Canyon National Park. It is unknown whether deep aquifers and nearby springs in the national park are also being polluted.

TAKE ACTION! Urge federal officials to close and clean up “zombie” uranium mines threatening Grand Canyon › 

“The big question now is whether contaminated water has moved from the mine into deep aquifers that feed Grand Canyon springs. Once polluted, remediation of the aquifers would be impossible. If agencies can’t ensure against that pollution — which they can’t — then mining should not occur.”

-Roger Clark, Grand Canyon program director, Grand Canyon Trust

Records show that when the Pinenut mine was reopened in 2009, the mine operator estimated that 2.85 million gallons of water had accumulated in the mine and that it was in direct contact with high-grade uranium for nearly two decades, but water storage capacity outside the mine was limited and the water could not be pumped out to prevent seepage into the watershed. In addition, 1,500 tons of uranium ore were stored at the site when the mine was temporarily closed in 1989. That ore was subsequently eroded by wind and water, allowing the uranium to dissolve into accumulated water.

Water from the mine shaft exceeds federal water-quality standards of the Safe Drinking Water Act. In the repository pond dissolved uranium levels are 2,400 micrograms per liter — 80 times the upper limit allowed under federal law. This highly contaminated wastewater threatens migratory birds and other wildlife that are attracted to the mine’s open-air evaporative pond.

“We have raised concerns about groundwater contamination repeatedly and the agencies who are supposed to be protecting public health, public lands and public waters have ignored those concerns. It’s unconscionable that regulatory agencies permit such risks to Grand Canyon’s wildlife and groundwater without requiring the needed protections to prevent permanent harm.”

-Sandy Bahr, chapter director, Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter

Records also show ongoing groundwater flow into the mine. Even after a mine closes, federal rules allow mine operators to dispose of low-grade ore and waste rock in the mine shaft before sealing it. There are no mechanisms in federal or state plans to ensure that polluted water does not move from the mine into deep aquifers after the mine is closed.

“Water is continually flowing into these mines, increasing the risk to deep aquifers and springs and opening the door to an environmental disaster. The BLM has ignored this problem for too long. We need our public officials to act now and respond to this crisis.”

-Katie Davis, public lands campaigner, Center for Biological Diversity

In August 2013 Grand Canyon Trust, Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the Bureau of Land Management under the federal Administrative Procedures Act to require a new mining plan of operations from mine operators in light of the millions of gallons of polluted water inundating the mine. The Bureau has not responded to that petition. The groups sent a third letter to the agency on Tuesday urging action on the petition.

Tuesday’s letter requests that BLM take action, based on their authority under the Federal Land Policy Management Act, by ordering an immediate suspension of the Pinenut operations to protect health, safety and the environment.

Background

In 2012 the Obama administration issued a “mineral withdrawal” prohibiting new mining claims and the development of claims lacking valid existing rights across 1 million acres of public land surrounding Grand Canyon National Park. Despite public protests and legal challenges from local American Indian tribes and conservation groups, federal agencies have allowed three uranium mines predating the withdrawal to resume operations. One of those, the Pinenut mine, was originally approved in 1986, but the mine owners closed the mine in 1989 because of low market demand for uranium. The BLM allowed the mine to reopen in 2009 after a request from Pinenut.

In 2010 water samples summarized by the USGS showed that 15 springs and five wells contained dissolved uranium concentrations in excess of the Environmental Protection Agency’s standards for safe drinking water. The USGS report concluded that these contaminated sites “are related to mining processes.”

In 2013 Grand Canyon Trust, Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity submitted a rulemaking petition to the BLM under the Administrative Procedures Act to update its operating plan to incorporate new information regarding uranium-mining risks to groundwater. The agency has not responded to the petition.

In 2013 the National Park Service said that the “regional aquifer groundwater wells at the Canyon, Pinenut, and Hermit mines as well as the sumps at the base of Pigeon and Hermit mines have all exhibited dissolved uranium concentrations in excess of drinking water standards (30 micrograms per liter), with sump concentrations at Hermit Mine exceeding 36,000 micrograms per liter.”

Resources:

Records showing Pinenut mine groundwater inundation › 

Records showing dissolved uranium concentrations of 1,500 microgrms per liter in mine water ›

More records showing dissolved uranium concentrations of 2,400 micrograms per liter in mine water ›

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Letter showing 1500 tons of uranium ore was stored at Pinenut mine site 

Petition to Bureau of Land Management requesting new mining plan

August 2013 letter to Bureau of Land Management urging action on petition

July 29 letter to Bureau of Land Management requesting Pinenut’s closure and response to petition

National Park Service concerns regarding uranium mining

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Letter showing 1500 tons of uranium ore was stored at Pinenut mine site

Petition to Bureau of Land Management requesting new mining plan

August 2013 letter to Bureau of Land Management urging action on petition

July 29 letter to Bureau of Land Management requesting Pinenut’s closure and response to petition 

National Park Service concerns regarding uranium mining

TAKE ACTION! You can urge federal officials to close and clean up “zombie” uranium mines threatening the Grand Canyon by signing our petition ›

Partners:

The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 2.4 million members and supporters nationwide, including 35,000 in Arizona as part of the Grand Canyon Chapter. Sierra Club’s mission is to explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth; to practice and promote the responsible use of earth’s ecosystems and resources; and to educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment. 

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 775,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. 

Two years ago, Arizona Congressman Raúl Grijalva greeted us warmly as we stepped in from a squall of snowflakes for a special event in Washington DC. My 17-year-old daughter and I had flown out from Flagstaff with only three days’ notice.

We hoped for something more than what had been publicized as a “premier showing” of a new Grand Canyon film in National Geographic’s theater. We weren’t disappointed.

On Jan. 9, 2012, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar signed the “record of decision” for a 20-year ban on new uranium claims on more than a million acres of public land surrounding Grand Canyon National Park.

Just prior to putting pen to paper, Salazar said:

“Every generation of Americans faces moments when we must choose between the pressures of the now and the protection of the timeless. Today, we know that we can no longer afford to turn our backs on … iconic landscapes like the Grand Canyon. … I am therefore at peace with this decision, because it is the right thing to do.”

Nearly a hundred supporters, who had worked for years to achieve this victory, stood and applauded. And then we flew home to continue battling mining industry attempts to overturn the decision and to keep four “zombie” uranium mines from harming the Grand Canyon further.

In the two years this ban has been in place, the uranium industry and its supporters have filed multiple lawsuits— one seeking to raid the U.S. Treasury of $120 million, alleging that the ban constitutes an unlawful taking of the company’s more than 700 unproven uranium claims. They have also moved to reopen two 1980s-era mines that still threaten the public and traditional tribal land and water within and around Grand Canyon National Park.

Thus far, U.S. attorneys, Havasupai Tribe, and Grand Canyon Trust in coalition with other conservation groups have consistently and effectively stood up to every challenge brought by the industry. In March, 2013, federal courts denied industry’s motion to overturn the withdrawal and the underlying federal authority to enact withdrawals larger than 5,000 acres. In early November, citing market conditions and litigation, Energy Fuels Resources, Inc. placed the Canyon Mine in non-operational, standby status and announced plans for  “temporary” closures of Pinenut mine and its White Mesa uranium mill in mid-2014.

Experience has taught us to increase vigilance as uranium activity wanes. In 2014, the Trust will seek to amend antiquated rules that would otherwise allow “temporary” closures to extend another two decades.  We’ll also push the old mines to be updated with enforceable standards that ensure against irretrievable contamination of Grand Canyon’s watersheds.  And we’ll be taking a hard look at the uranium pollution problems beyond the boundaries of Grand Canyon’s watersheds—including at the White Mesa Mill near Blanding, Utah.

As with the withdrawal, the public’s participation and support in these efforts will be critical to success.  We’ll keep our members abreast of our work and opportunities to help.  Together, we can continue to realize a safer, less-polluted and more equitable future for all of the Colorado Plateau’s inhabitants.

Learn more about uranium mining around the Grand Canyon ›