FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PHOENIX, AZ — On Friday, May 22, the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona issued a decision in favor of the operator of a uranium mine near Grand Canyon National Park. The Grand Canyon Trust is disappointed in the court’s ruling, which helps clear the way for Canyon Mine to extract uranium ore on national forest land outside the national park.
Read: The court's May 22, 2020 Canyon Mine order ›
Canyon Mine is within the boundaries of a two-decade-long mining ban, established in 2012 on public lands adjacent to the Grand Canyon. Despite the ban, the Forest Service decided to let Canyon Mine operate based on the conclusion that the mine could have generated a profit based on the market and other conditions in 2012. The Havasupai Tribe, the Grand Canyon Trust, Sierra Club, and Center for Biological Diversity disagreed with the determination and filed suit. But on Friday, after seven years of legal arguments and an appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that landed the case back in district court in Arizona, the court upheld the Forest Service’s decision.
The following is a statement by Amber Reimondo, Energy director for the Grand Canyon Trust and author of the Trust’s newly published report, “Canyon Mine: Why No Uranium Mine is ‘Safe’ for the Grand Canyon Region.”
“A series of mining companies, including one that went bankrupt, have been claiming since 1978 that they can profitably mine the uranium deposit at Canyon Mine, yet as of 2020 have mined no ore. What that tells me is that the mine’s owners have destroyed what was once a beautiful meadow on public lands near the Grand Canyon on a gamble that a future uranium market will make them a profit. But federal law forbids that kind of speculation, which needlessly damages our public lands. While we are disappointed in the court’s decision, we firmly believe the 1872 Mining Law does not allow for such abuse of public resources, and we will continue to press the Forest Service to correct its analysis.”
