President Obama, Please Protect the Grand Canyon
Recently, President Barack Obama visited the Grand Canyon, America's most iconic landmark. But uranium mining within miles of its majestic rim threatens to tarnish this timeless treasure. The nation still has on the books a 19th century law that allows mining in and around dozens of national parks and most national forestlands. Signed by President Ulysses S. Grant with prospectors and pack mules in mind, the 1872 Mining Law allows gold, uranium and other hardrock metals to be taken from most western public lands almost for free and with few restrictions or cleanup requirements.
The Obama administration recently took emergency action to halt temporarily new claimstaking around Grand Canyon National Park. Now, its Department of Interior is asking the public whether mining should be prohibited on a long-term basis around the park's boundaries.
Thank the Obama administration for taking emergency action and offer your support for the proposed 20-year "withdrawal" of 1 million acres around Grand Canyon National Park from new mining claims. Ask Secretary Salazar to protect our parks and forests on a permanent basis by working with Congress to modernize the 1872 Mining Law.
Dear Secretary Salazar:
Thank you for taking emergency action to protect America's most iconic landmark, the Grand Canyon National Park and the valuable watershed and ecosystem that surround it from new mining. I ask you to make this protection long-term by withdrawing 1 million acres around its boundaries from new mining claims.
I also call on you, as a chief steward of our natural heritage, to play a leadership role in ensuring the Grand Canyon and other national parks and special places are protected from the harmful impacts of hardrock mining on a permanent basis through reform of the 1872 Mining Law. By modernizing this outdated statute, we can ensure America's most treasured lands will remain a legacy for generations to come.
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Please consider this as an official comment on the "Notice of Proposed Withdrawal" that appeared in the Federal Register on July 21, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 138).
