Uranium industry asks Supreme Court to review Grand Canyon mining ban
Source: The Hill
BY MIRANDA GREEN - 03/12/18 01:50 PM EDT
Two industry leaders in uranium mining are challenging the Interior Department's authority to place a 20-year mining ban on 1 million acres of public land next to the Grand Canyon.
The American Exploration and Mining Association (AEMA) and the National Mining Association submitted a request to the Supreme Court last Friday, asking for a review of the Obama-era blanket mining ban that prohibits uranium mining on public lands next to the national monument.
In the AEMA's petition to the court, the group brought into question whether Congress, when establishing the Federal Land Policy and Management Act in 1976, intended to give Interior and its secretary "unfettered power to make large-tract withdrawals."
In 2012, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar instituted the ban on the lands in part because the neighboring Havasupai Tribe relies on groundwater from the area to survive. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the mining groups in December, upholding the ban on mining
Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/377956-uranium-industry-takes-challenge-of-grand-canyon-mining-ban-to
= new reply since forum marked as read
