Op-ed: Uranium mining in the greater Grand Canyon area does not make sense
Written by Ylenia Aguilar, board member of the Osborn School District in Central Phoenix and HCLC member.
Water is life, and nowhere is that more true than in the arid state of Arizona. The Colorado River carves a 336-mile path through our state, 217 miles of that careening in a frothy flow at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The river is the most essential body of water in the state.
We know that the water coursing through the river is decreasing, making it even more imperative that we take every measure possible to safeguard this lifeblood of Arizona and other states in the Southwest.
The communities and wildlife that live in the Grand Canyon depend on a clean and reliable watershed. The Grand Canyon is the homeland of several Native American tribes, including the Havasupai people. If their water supply is contaminated due to uranium mining, they will no longer be able to live in the place they have safeguarded and called home for hundreds of years. They have a deep cultural and spiritual connection to this land.
Past uranium-mining activities have had a severe toll across the Colorado Plateau, especially on Native American lands. In 2008, several U.S and Tribal government agencies identified 29 water sources with uranium levels that exceeded the drinking water standards in the Navajo Nation.
According to the Grand Canyon Trust, “Radioactive material mobilized by mining into the air, water, or soil can find its way into human bodies and, once there, the consequences are grim. Scientists have established a well-known connection between uranium exposure and cancer. Native American communities have been disproportionately made to pay the health price of uranium extraction.”
Besides its cultural, historical, and wildlife significance, the Grand Canyon is a vital and irreplaceable economic driver for Latinos, Native Americans, and numerous other Arizonans across the state serving the tourism and service industries.
Despite what the uranium mining industry claims, the real significant economic driver in the region is the tourism industry. Numbers don’t lie.
In fact, uranium mining on federal public lands near the Grand Canyon threatens the booming tourism industry in Northern Arizona, which supports over 18,000 jobs, contributes over 1.2 billion annually to local economies, and generates over $160 million in annual tax revenues.
As reported by the Grand Canyon Trust, “the owners of Canyon Mine estimate they will employ 60 people at peak operation and run out of ore to mine in 10 years. If the current ban was not in place and market prices were favorable, the mining industry could only support about 600 temporary jobs in northern Arizona.”
There is no need to extract uranium from one of the world's Seven Natural Wonders. The United States can obtain the majority of the uranium it needs from existing domestic and foreign suppliers and has enough enriched uranium stockpiled to meet military needs until 2060.
Given the significant cultural, environmental, and economic risks, uranium mining in the greater Grand Canyon area does not make sense.
And recently, Arizonans have clearly expressed that in a poll.
This summer, a survey among 600 Arizona voters shows strong bi-partisan support for a permanent ban on uranium mining in the Grand Canyon. A vast majority –95% of Democrats, 89% of Republicans, and 90% of Independents- agree that protecting Arizona’s clean water supply is vital. Two out of three poll participants support the ban.
We must continue that role to effect change that will last far beyond our own time as our forebears did before us. It is time to protect the greater Grand Canyon watershed from uranium mining permanently. Our congressional members must act now and pass the Grand Canyon Protection Act.