Trade groups representing the mining and nuclear power industries filed a lawsuit Monday that challenged a 20-year ban on new uranium mining claims for roughly 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon.
The Interior Department put the federal land off limits to new hard rock claims in a January decision that the Nuclear Energy Institute and the National Mining Association argue exceeded the department’s authority.
“It is a mistake to judge today’s uranium mining activities by practices and standards from 50 to 60 years ago. Yet that, apparently, is what the Interior Department has done in its final environmental impact statement,” NEI vice president Richard Myers said in a statement. The organizations argued the department violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to take a “hard look” at the decision’s consequences. The also argued the move represented an “arbitrary agency action.”
The decision affects three parcels north of Grand Canyon National Park. Four uranium mines have already been approved there, and according to the Interior Department, a total of 11 mines would be allowed to operate on the land after the ban on new claims takes effect.
According to the NEI, ores in the area now off limits to new claims are of a higher grade than 85 percent of the world’s uranium deposits. They are estimated to contain upward of 375 million pounds of uranium, which amounts to about 40 percent of U.S. reserves.