As the controversy over banning uranium mining near Grand Canyon heats up in Washington, D.C., a long-running local front in the same fight against extraction remains unresolved in the state of Arizona.
Canyon Mine, owned by Energy Fuels Resources, is about 12 miles from the south entrance to Grand Canyon National Park. Despite decades of opposition to the mine, its grandfathered mineral rights so far have exempted it from a 20-year ban on new mining around Grand Canyon that was enacted in 2012.