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Sierra Club Lawsuits

Settlement Saves Grand Canyon from Uranium Drilling

Case Updates:

September 29, 2008

On September 25, 2008, Sierra Club, along with the Center for Biological Diversity and the Grand Canyon Trust, achieved a major victory in settling our challenge to the Forest Service’s plan to allow uranium mining in the Kaibab National Forest. Just a few miles from Grand Canyon National Park, this mining would have destroyed the pristine environment surrounding the Park and threatened to contaminate the Colorado River, the source of drinking water for tens of millions of Americans. The settlement requires the Forest Service and the VANE Mineral mining firm to withdraw all current applications and approvals for exploratory drilling in the forest. It then requires the Forest Service and mining companies to prepare an environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act as part of any future permit applications. Finally, it is unlikely that any mining will be allowed thanks to a resolution passed by the House Natural Resources Committee in June which protects these and other areas of public lands around the Grand Canyon National Park from future uranium development. Our thanks to attorneys Marc Fink for the Center for Biological Diversity and Neil Levine for the Grand Canyon Trust, and our community activists including Sandy Bahr, Sierra Club’s Arizona Chapter Chair, for this major step toward protecting the Grand Canyon, the Colorado River and the surrounding communities.

Details and Documents:

To view the settlement click here.

Click here for more information about Sierra Club action on this case.

News Articles:

Settlement Blocks Uranium Project near Grand Canyon
September 26, 2008 by Eric Bontrager, E&E News