O'Halleran Blasts Proposed Plan to Expand Uranium Mining

Statement

Today, in response to the administration's release of new guidelines that seek to expand and deregulate uranium mining operations across the desert Southwest, including lands surrounding the Grand Canyon, Congressman Tom O'Halleran (AZ-01) issued the following statement:

"Revamping uranium mine operations on lands throughout northern Arizona, and near the Grand Canyon especially, puts more than just the natural beauty and cultural significance of this area at risk--it threatens the health of Arizonans, our water supply, and our state's tourism economy.

"Rates of cancer diagnoses among families living on the nearby Navajo Nation are extremely high when compared to the national average, and studies have shown that this is a direct result of uranium exposure from extensive mining in the area dating all the way back to the Cold War.

"With over 520 abandoned uranium mines from previous domestic mining still ravaging the Navajo Nation and northern Arizona to this day, we cannot turn a blind eye to past mining in the region and incentivize new mining on public lands without even fully remediating environmental and public health hazards already present.

"Additionally, forty million people rely on the Colorado River and local aquifers for their water supply. Uranium mining contamination in the area has the power to pollute this water source beyond repair.

"These new guidelines, which would only provide financial incentives to a handful of big uranium mining corporations, are the last thing our country needs right now. When we safely reopen our economies, we must be prioritizing areas like the Grand Canyon that bring in millions of yearly visitors and immense revenue to the area, not opening them up to dangerous contamination and environmental destruction."

In October 2019, the House of Representatives voted to pass the Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act, legislation O'Halleran helped introduce that would permanently ban uranium mining in and near the Grand Canyon.

BACKGROUND:

On April 23, the administration released the "Nuclear Fuel Working Group's Strategy To Restore American Nuclear Energy Leadership", guidelines to create a strategy for revamping national nuclear power efforts, including the expansion of dangerous uranium mining operations throughout the Southwest.

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