The drills next to the Grand Canyon have stopped for now. A federal
judge halted all plans by a British mining company called VANE Minerals
to drill for uranium less than three miles from the national park. U.S.
District Judge Mary Murguia issued a temporary restraining order late
on April 4. VANE Minerals immediately turned off the drills off at
several sites.
“Unfortunately, these drills can only be
temporarily silenced by the courts,” said Environment America
Preservation Advocate Christy Goldfuss. “We need Congress to pack them
up and send them away for good to permanently protect this national
treasure.”
Environment America has worked to organize 16 U.S.
senators to push for strong mining law reform that would protect Grand
Canyon National Park and other national parks. Specifically, the
senators led by Maria Cantwell (Wash.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.) asked that
the government be given the power to stop any mine that would damage
the natural resources of a national park. Environment America helped to
pass a similar provision last year in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Without
changing the current mining law, the Forest Service claims it has no
choice but to approve permits such as those given to VANE Minerals. In
this case, the Forest Service used a loophole to issue the permits,
allowing the British company to avoid environmental review. However,
the judge determined that this project does not qualify for this
loophole, so VANE Minerals will likely have to go through the
environmental reviews required by law. Despite the outcome of those
reviews, without a fundamental change in the law, the Forest Service
will still have little power to stop VANE from going forward in the
future.
