Mohave Daily News: Local

FLAGSTAFF - Protecting public health and the state's most treasured natural wonder should take priority over the possible profits from mining uranium near the Grand Canyon, tribal leaders, members of Congress and conservationists said Friday.

Citing the effects on the environment and people from decades of uranium drilling on their reservations, leaders of the Navajo, Hopi and other tribes spoke at a field hearing of the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands.

“The remnants of uranium activity continue to pollute our land, our water and our lives,' said Joe Shirley, president of the Navajo Nation. “It would be unforgivable to allow this Š to continue for another generation.”

Tribal leaders registered their support for a resolution introduced by Rep. Raul M. Grijalva, R-Ariz., chairman of the subcommittee, which would withdraw about 1 million acres near Grand Canyon National Park from future mining and exploration.

Despite promises from mining companies that there is no risk to the public from exploratory drilling, Shirley said his tribe opposes it because there is no way to predict contamination. He blamed drilling on his reservation for high instances of cancer and diabetes among Navajos.

“We are doing everything we can to speak out and do something about it,” Shirley said.

Kaibab Paiute Chairwoman Ona Segundo said drilling near the canyon would violate what her tribe considers sacred land.

“We are taught to respect and pray for the earth,” Segundo said. “We are taught there are reasons why resources are buried. When people dig up these items they release a spirit from the earth that causes illness and other hardship for our people.”

About 250 people packed Flagstaff City Hall for the hearing led by Grijalva. Fourteen spoke, most of them supporting Grijalva's HR 5583, which he dubbed the Grand Canyon Watersheds Protection Act of 2008.

The legislation is a response to an increase in requests to conduct exploratory drilling within five miles of the park in response to skyrocketing demand for uranium. According to Grijalva, in 2003 there were 10 permits requested for mining operations near the canyon; now there are more than 1,000.

“That has to be of some concern to everybody,” Grijalva said. “We're not talking about some little ravine or some wash somewhere in which the potential for mining on federal land would occur where the significance would be minimal. We're talking about the Grand Canyon.”

Grijalva's bill, HR 5583, is stalled in the U.S. Senate. It would permanently withdraw 628,886 acres of land near Kanab Creek, 112,655 acres in House Rock Valley and 327,367 acres in the Tusayan district of the Kaibab National Forest from being mined for any materials.

The Kaibab National Forest approved VANE Materials' proposal for exploratory uranium drilling last December. Two of the projected drilling sites are located within three miles of the Grand Canyon National Park's South Rim.

Kris Hefton, CEO of VANE Materials, asked the committee to judge the mining industry on current performance rather than past mismanagement. He said there is no significant pollution risk to the watershed.