The Trump administration is trying to scrap a ban against uranium mining in the watershed near the country’s most renowned natural wonder: the Grand Canyon. The 20-year uranium mining ban — installed during the Obama administration in 2012 — covers over one million acres of land near the Grand Canyon owned by the Forest Service.
The proposal was released with a list of policy proposals that the Forest Service said are preventing the production of domestic energy, The Hill reported.
“The Forest Service should be advocating for a permanent mining ban, not for advancing private mining interests that threaten one of the natural wonders of the world,” Amber Reimondo with the Grand Canyon Trust said in a statement. “The Grand Canyon and the people and communities that depend on it cannot be left to bear the risks of unfettered uranium mining, which is what will happen if the moratorium is removed.”