Feds change Grand Canyon mining rule; conservation groups outraged

| The Associated Press

10/10/2008 -

PHOENIX — Federal officials have moved to abolish a rule that allowed a congressional committee to try blocking future uranium mining around the Grand Canyon.

The plan by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has outraged conservationists, who said the U.S. Interior Department and the Bush administration are advancing business and energy interests at the expense of the environment.

During a June meeting, committee members passed a resolution that ordered Interior Secretary Dick Kempthorne to immediately ban new mining claims on more than 1 million acres of federal lands north and south of the Canyon for up to three years.

Lawmakers invoked a little-used rule in Section 204 of the 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act that allows House and Senate natural-resources committees to take emergency action to protect threatened public lands.

But the Interior Department questioned the constitutionality of the rule and continued to authorize additional mining claims and permits near the park.

Environmental groups sued, and the case is pending in U.S. District Court as permits continue to be issued.

The new action announced Thursday by the BLM, one of several agencies under the Interior Department's umbrella, essentially rescinds Congress' right to withdraw lands from mining and other activities in emergencies, said U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz.

"They behave more like real estate agents rather than stewards of those lands," Grijalva said.

Conservationists say it also will leave the Grand Canyon vulnerable to environmental damage from hard-rock mining and exploratory drilling.

The BLM argues that there are plenty of regulations and laws protecting federal lands without the rule that allows the congressional committee to act.

"I know there are protections in place for the Canyon and all the public lands," BLM spokesman Chris Paolino said. "Whether it be the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, there are protections in place.

"Impact statements need to be done. Rules need to be followed before any mining is done," he said.

"The administration has chosen to change the law under a highly constrained public process rather than follow it and protect Grand Canyon," said Taylor McKinnon, public-lands program director for the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity.

There are as many as 10,000 existing mining claims on BLM and U.S. Forest Service lands near the Grand Canyon for all types of hard-rock exploration, officials said.

Since the June emergency resolution, three exploration projects have been initiated and four exploration projects have been authorized in the area, McKinnon said.

Conservationists believe that a hard-rock mining boom that has accompanied higher prices for uranium and other raw materials poses an immediate environmental threat to the national park.

Paolino said the BLM moved to end the rule allowing congressional action because it was redundant. The Interior Secretary already is required to withdraw federal lands from development when mining would harm the environment, he said.

The public has 15 days to comment on the proposed BLM rule.