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Deseret News | Suit challenges Utah company mining near Grand Canyon
A coalition of environmental groups filed a federal lawsuit Monday challenging a Utah company's plans to begin uranium mining operations within 10 miles of Grand Canyon National Park.
The Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Grand Canyon Trust claim the Bureau of Land Management is using an old environmental assessment from 1988 in allowing Denison Mines to begin operations at the "Arizona 1" mine.
"The Bureau of Land Management's refusal to redo outdated environmental reviews is as illegal as it is unethical," said Taylor McKinnon, public lands campaigns director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "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."
Salazar flooded with support for ban on Grand Canyon uranium mining « Colorado Independent
In 2003, there were a mere 100 mining claims in the million or so acres of public land surrounding Grand Canyon National Park. Now there are more than 8,500 – mostly for uranium – with more than 1,100 claims less than five miles from arguably America’s most iconic national park.
Late last week, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar received nearly 100,000 public comments supporting a permanent ban on new mining claims on the 1 million acres of national forest and Bureau of Land Management land surrounding the park.
ken salazar
And H.R. 644, floated by House National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee chairman Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Arizona) and cosponsored by 40 House members — including Colorado Rep. Jared Polis (D-Boulder) — would make permanent a temporary moratorium Salazar imposed in July.
The Associated Press: Ariz. governor opposes halt on new mining claims
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer objects to a ban on filing new mining claims on nearly 1 million acres of federal land in northern Arizona for two years while a permanent prohibition is under study.
Most of the Bureau of Land Management and National Forest land covered by a July order is in the Arizona Strip located north of Grand Canyon National Park. The rest is located south of the canyon.
There's been a flurry of new mining claims, including for uranium.
Brewer sent Salazar a letter Friday saying adequate environmental protections are in place and that modern-day mining exploration creates "minimal impact to the land."
She also says economic impacts, energy independence and national security considerations support continued exploration.
Arizona Rep. Giffords authors U.S. Solar Roadmap bill as CA plows ahead
In continued efforts to promote clean energy, U.S. House Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) has introduced the Solar Technology Roadmap Act, which is now on its way to the full House after achieving commendable bipartisan support after short deliberation in the Science and Technology Committee. Giffords’ bill would designate the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as the leading organization for developing a strategic plan to direct solar energy research and its deployment into the commercial sector. The legislation would also allocate $2.25 billion for solar research over the next five years, which is a far cry from the pro-oil Bush administration that pillaged funding for renewables.
Kingman Daily Miner - Supervisors support a nuclear plant here
Could nuclear power be an option for Mohave County? At least two county supervisors think so.
"Why not? As long as it provides a big enough benefit to the residents of the county and it didn't draw water from an aquifer," said Supervisor Gary Watson.
A nuclear plant, if done right, could provide much-needed jobs and tax revenues for the county, he said.
Arizona utility explores ties with proposed Utah nuke plant - Salt Lake Tribune
A small Arizona electric utility formally has expressed interest in a nuclear power plant proposed for Utah.
General Manager Bryan Hill said a memorandum of understanding between his 8,000-customer utility and Blue Castle Holdings Inc. "basically says Page is interested in this project," a 3,000-megawatt plant proposed off of Interstate 70 near Green River.
Hill noted that his utility has not committed any funds to become an equity owner. "At this point, it's exploratory."
Page relies largely on hydropower from nearby Glen Canyon Dam and supplements that with government-purchased power on the spot market. Another 30 megawatts of base-load electricity will be needed in the next decade.
azdailysun: Tuba dump finally getting feds' attention
The EPA will drill test holes looking for uranium-contaminated waste that villagers fear is a threat to their downstream springs.
A dump near Tuba City that has been leaching low levels of radioactive waste into the shallow aquifer finally is getting some federal attention, if not an actual cleanup yet.
The Environmental Protection Agency plans to fence off a remaining section of an old dump, near two Hopi villages, and test for hot spots of radioactivity close by. This includes one area where the agency says uranium levels in the water exceed what's federally considered safe for drinking water by eight times.
Local villagers who believe their downstream springs are threatened have long sought a total excavation of the dump.
Uranium-related waste found in the testing will be removed with heavy equipment beginning in October, and 263 new testing holes will be dug to search for more.
Northern Ariz. tribes united against uranium mines - KIFI - Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Jackson WY - Weather News Sports-
The Hualapai (WAHL'-uh-peye) Tribe has renewed a ban on uranium mining on its land near the Grand Canyon, joining other American Indian tribes in opposing what they see as a threat to their environment and their culture.
The tribal bans add to a temporary mining ban on nearly 1 million federally owned acres around the Grand Canyon. The combined actions mean uranium-bearing lands in northern Arizona open to companies hungry to open mines are growing scarce.
Much of the uranium in Arizona is in the northwest corner of the state. The high-grade ore used in nuclear energy and for medicine is especially attractive at a time when prices for uranium have risen.
But members of northern Arizona tribes say it's not worth putting their health, water and land at risk.
Associated Press: Groups say they'll sue to stop Grand Canyon mine
Environmental groups have given notice that they'll sue the federal Bureau of Land Management over its decision to allow a uranium mine to reopen near the Grand Canyon.
Canadian mining company Denison Mines Corp. says it could reopen its mine about 20 miles north of the canyon by the end of the year. Dennison received the final state permit it needed last week.
The BLM says Denison has an approved mine plan and should be allowed to resume operations after closing the site about 20 years ago.
But the Center for Biological Diversity, the Grand Canyon Trust and the Sierra Club argue that the BLM is relying on an old environmental analysis and isn't considering potential impacts on endangered species.
The notice the groups filed Tuesday says they plan to file a lawsuit in 60 days.
The Energy Daily: Ten-Year Probe Offers First View Of Los Alamos Releases
After 10 years of sifting through thousands of pages of classified records and overcoming secrecy obstacles at the nuclear weapons lab, independent investigators have provided the first rough estimates of radioactive and toxic releases from Los Alamos National Laboratory dating back to its earliest operations and the potential health impact of the nation’s first atomic bomb blast on ranchers and other nearby residents in New Mexico.
Investigators for the Los Alamos Historical Document Retrieval and Assessment (LAHDRA) project released a draft final report in late June that—while far from definitive in its conclusions—said there was persuasive evidence from spotty, decades-old emissions monitoring data that radioactive releases during Los Alamos’ early years were so significant that they could dwarf the cumulative releases from all of the Energy Department’s other early nuclear weapons production sites.
In particular, the researchers said that although the lab did not monitor emissions from many of its earliest plutonium processing facilities, fragmentary records—especially “industrial hygiene,” or worker safety, reports from 1955 and 1956—suggest plutonium releases in the late 1940s and early 1950s were much higher than has been acknowledged by the government to date.
Uranium mining could resume north of Canyon
Uranium mining could resume within the year at a site north of the Grand Canyon after state officials signed off on the last permit needed to restart operations.
The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality issued an air-quality permit Tuesday to Denison Mines for the Arizona 1 mine, about 35 miles south of Fredonia. The permit clears the way for Denison to extract uranium from the region for the first time in almost two decades.
Denison officials have said they could restart Arizona 1 within a year after the final permit is issued.
The prospect of new uranium mines on public lands near the national park has stirred opposition among conservation groups and Indian tribes, who say extracting the ore could contaminate groundwater and the Colorado River, which serves millions of people downstream.
Colorado Independent » Obama, McCain, Salazar put spotlight on Grand Canyon uranium-mining claims
What better way to take your mind off the huge hole the American economy is stuck in these days than to visit the biggest hole in the nation?
President Obama and his family will take a trip the Grand Canyon Sunday, just days ahead of a congressional junket to the site led by Obama’s GOP opponent for the White House last year, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
McCain will be joined by current Colorado Sen. Mark Udall and former Colorado senator and now Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, both Democrats, in the tour next week.
Salazar recently called a timeout on new uranium mining claims on public lands near Grand Canyon National Park while the administration weighs withdrawing up to 1 million acres of national forest from potential uranium mining and Congress considers revamping the 1872 mining law to provide hard-rock mining royalties and create a fund for mine pollution cleanups.
Contaminated dirt removed from N. AZ communities - Phoenix Arizona news, breaking news, local news, weather radar, traffic from ABC15 News | ABC15.com
Dirt and rock taken from an old uranium mining site, and used for fill dirt, has been removed from private properties south of Tusayan and at Grand Canyon Village.
The Bureau of Reclamation says its contractor excavated materials from two private residences south of Valle, from a Grand Canyon sanitary plant, from a business near the airport at Valle and from a South Rim trailer park.
The Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency said it wasn't consulted about the clean up.
Agency director Aubrey Godwin said his agency would have advised nearby residents to stay indoors last week, during the removal, because of blowing winds.
Bureau of Reclamation spokesman Peter Soeth called the fill materials' radiation level normal for the region.
He said all but one of the six sites, to which it was hauled, had average readings for radioactivity upon first inspection.
Push is on for mine cleanup funds to go to uranium sites - Salt Lake Tribune
The name Poison Canyon offers a hint of what's faced by those trying to clean up abandoned uranium mines in the West.
The area north of the village of Milan contains some of the 259 abandoned uranium sites in New Mexico that need cleanup. State officials are pressuring the federal government to direct more money to those areas because of their unique hazard of radioactivity.
"In this case, a pile of rocks is more than just a pile of rocks," said New Mexico Mining and Minerals Division Director Bill Brancard.
There are hundreds of thousands of safety issues at abandoned hardrock mines in 13 western states, according to the Government Accountability Office. Thousands of sites, many dating to the 19th century, also are considered environmentally damaged.
No new mining claims for 2 years near Grand Canyon - Salt Lake Tribune
Thousands of mining claims dot 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon, and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says his department has a responsibility to ensure those resources are developed in a way that protects communities, treasured landscapes and watersheds.
The Interior Department announced Monday that it is barring the filing of new mining claims, including for uranium, on the acreage for two years. Meanwhile, his department will study whether the land should be permanently withdrawn from mining activity.
Associated Press: Interior to halt uranium mining at Grand Canyon
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will announce Monday that his department is temporarily barring the filing of new uranium mining claims on about 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon, an Obama administration official said.
The land is being "segregated" for two years so that the department can study whether it should be permanently withdrawn from mining activity, said the official, who requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
The announcement comes ahead of Tuesday's congressional hearing on a bill to set aside more than 1 million acres of federal lands north and south of the canyon. The bill's sponsor, Democratic U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, and environmental groups had been looking to Salazar for temporary protections at the Grand Canyon while the legislation is pending.
Big traffic from large load -- nuclear reactor heads | Inland News | PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California
What's big and blue and tying up traffic? Three nuclear reactor heads being transported through the Inland area.
A truck carrying the equipment left Long Beach last week and will slowly make its way to Wintersburg, Ariz., via Highway 91 and Interstate 10.
Wednesday, the reactor heads were parked on the side of the 91 in Corona, near Serfas Club Drive.
"It is creating quite a traffic nightmare," said John Standiford, deputy director of the Riverside County Transportation Commission, who was stuck in traffic because of the reactors. "Everyone is stopping to see what is this thing."
The reactor heads, the main housing for the Palo Verde Nuclear Plant's three reactors, were made in Korea and shipped to the U.S.
Nuclear reactor part to go through Palm Springs area Friday | MyDesert.com | The Desert Sun
A nuclear reactor vessel closure head is now scheduled to make its way through parts of Palm Springs on Friday, which will cause some road closures during the evening hours.
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The piece is not dangerous, said Andrew Wierda, spokesman for Bigge Crane and Rigging, which is transporting the load.
Due to its height of 19 feet and its weight of 350,000 pounds, the equipment will be escorted by the California Highway Patrol, said Chris St. Cyr, variance load officer for the California Highway Patrol.
The piece is heading to the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant outside Phoenix, Wierda said.
It was supposed to be transported through the city Tuesday night through Wednesday morning, but there were some delays, St. Cyr said.
NRC - NRC Seeks Public Input on Environmental Review of Palo Verde Nuclear Plant License Renewal; Meetings June 25
Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold two public meetings on Thursday, June 25, in Tonopah and Avondale, Ariz., to discuss the agency’s environmental review of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, Units 1, 2 and 3, license renewal application.
The Palo Verde nuclear plants are pressurized-water reactors located in Maricopa County, Ariz., approximately 50 miles west of Phoenix. The current operating licenses for Palo Verde Units 1, 2 and 3 expire on June 1, 2025, April 24, 2026 and Nov. 25, 2027, respectively. Arizona Public Service Company submitted the application for renewal Dec. 11, 2008, and supplemented the application by letter dated April 14.
“This is the first of several opportunities for the Palo Verde community to let us know what issues the NRC should look at while we review the potential environmental impacts of renewing the license,” said David Wrona, a branch chief in the NRC’s Division of License Renewal. “We’ll consider all the comments and publish them in a ‘scoping summary’ as we move forward with our review.”
BLM authorizes Grand Canyon uranium exploration - NYTimes.com
The Bureau of Land Management has authorized several new uranium exploration permits near the Grand Canyon despite a congressional resolution last year barring new claims near the national park.
According to documents (pdf) released yesterday by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Grand Canyon Trust, BLM on April 27 authorized Quaterra Alaska Inc. to conduct eight uranium mine exploration operations at five separate projects north of Grand Canyon National Park and west of the Kaibab Plateau.
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