Ken Salazar to announce 20-year extension of Grand Canyon uranium-mining ban

[Earth_First]

Although the direction of the administration was made clear in October, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will on Monday finalize a 20-year ban on new uranium-mining on some one million acres of land near the Grand Canyon. The announcement will be made at the National Geographic Society HQ in Washington, D.C.

The ban, which is actually an extension of an existing ban, has been under consideration since 2009. Under the Bush administration, thousands of new mining claims had been encouraged under the 1872 Mining Act.

After Salazar's position became clear when he chose "Alternative B" from the Bureau of Land Management's final environmental impact statement on withdrawing lands, Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Orrin Hatch and Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah, as well as Sen. John McCain and Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona, announced their intention to introduced legislation that would allow new uranium mining.

Alternative B bars 1,006,545 acres of federal lands from new mining. It allows previously approved operations to continue and some new operations on mining claims with valid existing rights. The federal lands are located on two parcels north of the Grand Canyon National Park and one parcel south of the Grand Canyon in the Kaibab National Forest.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/06/1052300/-Ken-Salazar-to-announce-20-year-extension-of-Grand-Canyon-uranium-mining-ban?via=blog_1

[Buddyblazon]

1. The first thing Salazar has ever done (that I recall)...

that I can say, "Good Job, Mr. Salazar.".

I was duped into helping his campaign while trying to volunteer for Kerry. It took me a couple of days before I realized we were doing more work for Salazar than Kerry.

And then he got elected. One of the worst of the Blue Dogs. He's got a long way to go to being a "good guy" in my book.