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Mining Companies Appeal Ban To Supreme Court

The mining industry filed two petitions Friday with the U.S. Supreme Court asking for review of a ban on uranium mining on land surrounding Grand Canyon National Park. 

In 2012 the Obama administration blocked new mining claims on 1 million acres of land surrounding Grand Canyon National Park. The Grand Canyon Trust’s Amber Reimondo said the area’s land and water are too precious to mine.

“It is absolutely a risk to the national park,” Reimondo said. “Groundwater is connected to surface water. If contamination were to find its way into the Redwall Muav aquifer it would directly impact the sole water supply for the Havasupai Tribe.”

Mining companies say the technology they use protects the watershed. But scientists say more studies need to be done.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recently supported the mineral withdrawal on land outside Yellowstone National Park.

Laurel Morales was a Fronteras Desk senior field correspondent in Flagstaff from 2011 to 2020.