Canadian-owned uranium mine 'blasted' by US green groups

Toronto-based Denison Mines has been generating controversy in the United States for its attempts to revive shelved uranium mines that are in an area just north of the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

Arizona - Even though it is Denison Mines that will operate the Arizona 1, the United States' Bureau of Land Management is the agency taking all the heat. A coalition of three environmental groups filed a law suit against the United States Bureau of Land Management for permitting the mine to proceed. The groups, the U.S. Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), Sierra Club and Grand Canyon Trust, took action after the Bureau allowed the mine to be placed within a buffer zone for the Grand Canyon. In a press release, the Center for Biological Diversity said the lawsuit was focused on

"... the Bureau’s failure to update 1980s-era environmental reviews and mining plans prior to allowing Denison Mines Corporation to begin mining at the “Arizona 1” mine. The Bureau of Land Management did not respond to a September legal notice from conservation groups urging the agency to correct course in order to avoid today’s litigation. The mine is within the same area that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar placed off-limits to new mining claims and operations in an order issued in July of this year."

CBC's Public Lands Campaigns Director, Taylor McKinnon said

“The Bureau of Land Management’s refusal to redo outdated environmental reviews is as illegal as it is unethical. It should be eager to protect the Grand Canyon and its endangered species; instead, it has chosen to shirk environmental review on behalf of the uranium industry.”

The coalition law suit also charges the Bureau with

"... violations of National Environmental Policy Act provisions that require the land-management agency to consider new information regarding the hydrology, spring ecology, and biodiversity of the area in order to accurately evaluate the impacts of the mine ... The suit also cites violations ... in the federal government’s failure to ensure that new mining will not jeopardize threatened and endangered species or their critical habitat — including Colorado pike minnow, humpback chub, bony tail, razorback sucker, southwestern willow flycatcher, and Mexican spotted owl."

On July 20, 2009, the office of the Interior Secretary of the United States, Ken Salazar released a decision to

"... segregate nearly 1 million acres of federal lands in the Arizona Strip for two years while the Department evaluates whether to withdraw these lands from new mining claims for an additional 20 years.

“I am calling a two-year ‘Time-Out’ from all new mining claims in the Arizona Strip near the Grand Canyon because we have a responsibility to ensure we are developing our nation’s resources in a way that protects local communities, treasured landscapes, and our watersheds,” said Secretary Salazar. “Over the next two years, we will gather the best science and input from the public, members of Congress, tribes, and stakeholders, and we will thoughtfully evaluate whether these lands should be withdrawn from new mining claims for a longer period of time.”

The segregated lands include 633,547 acres managed by Interior’s Bureau of Land Management and 360,002 acres managed by the U.S. Forest Service."

The Secretary of the Interior decision means that new mines cannot begin operations until the moratorium is over, however, existing mines are allowed to continue activities. The Bureau of Land Management has, however, allowed the Arizona 1 mine to proceed. Denison anticipates operations to get underway in early 2010. The Center for Biological Diversity said the mine had been initiated in the late 1980s, but was closed in 1992 and had never produced any uranium ore. The existing shaft has created an ideal situation for Denison, because start-up costs will be low. According to Denison, the Arizona 1 mine will see 335 tons of uranium extracted per day, four days a week. 32 people will be employed. Once extracted, the ore will be driven 315 miles to a processing mill. Denison has active mines in the United States and Canada. The uranium company posted $48.1 million in revenue for the first nine months of 2009. The Bureau of Land Management has been resisting government attempts to protect the Grand Canyon from uranium mining. The Bureau overturned a 2008 House Natural Resources Committee decision to halt uranium exploration around the Grand Canyon. Denison has been working to get Arizona 1 up and running for the past two years, applying for requisite permits. The Arizona 1 got the green light in September. Said the Director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, Benjamin Grumbles,

"We're adding important new safeguards to ensure existing mines protect air and water quality near one of Arizona's most precious resources - the Grand Canyon - and we will be watching these facilities closely."

Indigenous people living in the area have fought uranium mines for decades, and have long complained about the health effects they have suffered from radiation exposure caused by uranium mining. Denison has a heavy presence in the Arizona strip, with several other operating uranium mines. The Center for Biological Diversity had won a settlement with the Bureau of Land Management for a suit filed in 2000 over the BLA's lack of protection for a desert area in California. The Grand Canyon National Park was first created in 1893, achieving park status in 1919. It draws in 5 million visitors a year.