Uranium mining the Grand Canyon?
Every now and then, we hear news that makes us scream out, “I believe, because it is absurd!” I almost entitled this piece “What are they thinking? Part two,” but the subject matter is so important that direct communication is required. Sometimes, the subject matter is so important that I have to tip-toe across California’s border and write about it in this blog.
Today, I received word from some Sierra Club members who had “gotten wind of” (“an ill wind that blows no good“) a George W. Bush Administration move that could allow the Grand Canyon to be defaced by uranium mining! Just last week, after a quiet announcement and 15 days of public comment, the Bush Administration began preparing a rule that ends Congress’s ability to protect the Grand Canyon from mining. Of course this follows the Bush administration’s attack on the Endangered Species Act this past Thursday.
The new rule “defies a June 25th emergency resolution by Congress requiring Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne to withdraw a million acres of federal lands adjacent to Grand Canyon National Park from uranium mining.” The same article cited above states that Kempthorne has failed to comply with the emergency resolution, and that the Administration’s rufusal to comply with the law forced the Center for Biological Diversity, Grand Canyon Trust, and Sierra Club to file suit in federal court to require Secretary Kempthorne to withdraw these lands and not allow mining to continue. The same Web page provides links to background materials for download.
Perhaps greed CAN trump self-preservation after all! Or perhaps greed is a madness all its own….
-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™
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