DoomsdaysCW<p>GRAND CANYON URANIUM MINING</p><p>"The public lands surrounding <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/GrandCanyon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>GrandCanyon</span></a> National Park contain high concentrations of uranium ore. Mining bores deep into vertical rock formations called 'breccia pipes,' making <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/uranium" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>uranium</span></a> soluble to <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/groundwater" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>groundwater</span></a> and risking pollution to Grand Canyon’s biologically rich springs. They then leave most of the removed material in <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/tailing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>tailing</span></a> piles that contribute to <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/water" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>water</span></a> and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/air" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>air</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/pollution" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>pollution</span></a>.</p><p>"Because <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/UraniumMining" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>UraniumMining</span></a> is not consistently profitable, these mining operations are often abandoned for decades at a time — without any oversight or continued maintenance of the work area. </p><p>"Large drilling sites, tailing piles and mines are often left open to the forces of nature — leading to leaks into <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/groundwater" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>groundwater</span></a>, dispersal of <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/airborne" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>airborne</span></a> uranium pollution and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/dust" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>dust</span></a>, and unsafe conditions for recreational visitors to public lands. And if and when these old mines are cleaned up, the cost burden usually falls on the American public.</p><p>"Even more disconcerting is the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/toxic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>toxic</span></a> legacy left on public lands and sacred <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/AmericanIndian" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AmericanIndian</span></a> sites. Iconic landscapes have been marred, and sources of drinking water remain polluted. Manmade ponds containing uranium-contaminated water are left uncovered and used by native <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/birds" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>birds</span></a> and other <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/wildlife" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>wildlife</span></a>. These mines affect <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/abitat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>abitat</span></a> for more than 100 sensitive species, including <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/muledeer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>muledeer</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/mountainlions" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>mountainlions</span></a>, imperiled <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Californiacondors" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Californiacondors</span></a> and highly endangered native <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/fish" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fish</span></a>. </p><p>"<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Groundwater" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Groundwater</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/pollution" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>pollution</span></a> has the potential to seep into underground <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/aquifers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>aquifers</span></a> used for drinking water and into seeps and springs that are the lifeblood for animals in the arid Grand Canyon region.</p><p>"The Center for Biological Diversity opposes all uranium mining near Grand Canyon. Over the past decade, we have worked through the courts, through Congress, with the president and in the media to prevent new uranium mining and force the closure and cleanup of old uranium mining sites. To date we have been successful in securing and defending a ban on new uranium mining claims for 20 years on the doorstep to Grand Canyon National Park and have pushed back the reopening of old uranium mines through aggressive litigation.<br>Our work continues today. </p><p>"We've submitted a legal petition to the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management asking them to update old uranium-mining regulations that don't adequately protect <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PublicLands" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PublicLands</span></a>, tribal communities and human health.</p><p>"We're supporting a campaign to designate a monument that would permanently ban new uranium mining on 1.7 million acres of land that contain the sacred sites of many American Indian tribes, habitat for endemic and endangered species, and tributaries of the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ColoradoRiver" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ColoradoRiver</span></a>.</p><p>"And we're fighting existing uranium mines, and the efforts of the mining industry to roll back existing protections, in federal court."</p><p><a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/public_lands/mining/Grand_Canyon_Uranium_Mining/index.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">biologicaldiversity.org/progra</span><span class="invisible">ms/public_lands/mining/Grand_Canyon_Uranium_Mining/index.html</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WaterIsLife" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WaterIsLife</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NativeAmericans" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NativeAmericans</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CulturalGenocide" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CulturalGenocide</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NuclearColonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NuclearColonialism</span></a></p>