It’s been more than two weeks since Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes sent a letter to the U.S. Forest Service, asking the federal agency to conduct another environmental impact study, or EIS, for the Pinyon Plain uranium mine near the Grand Canyon.
But there’s still no answer.
Since then, Mayes has been patiently waiting for a formal response from the Forest Service, which has told KJZZ News that it is still “reviewing the letter and its recommendations,” received earlier this month on Aug. 13.
“We really feel strongly that EIS is massively outdated. It’s almost 40 years old,” Mayes told KJZZ News. “Obviously, we want to wait and see what the Forest Service has to say, but we’re not going to back down on this one. So I’m eager to hear from them.”
A statement from the agency’s Southwestern Region, spanning more than 20 million acres of federal lands, also expressed that it “routinely reviews the latest available science related to mining in this region and, as a matter of law, is regularly ensuring that Energy Fuels Resources, Inc. is in compliance with their approved operation plan.”
“We do not support redoing the EIS,” said Energy Fuels Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Development Curtis Moore in a statement. “Energy Fuels continues to comply with all current approvals, regulations, and science to ensure protection of human health and the environment.”
On behalf of the mine’s operator, Moore also explained that while the EIS was initially authorized in 1986 as part of the permitting process for the then-Canyon Mine, that same study was reaffirmed by the Forest Service in 2012 and upheld by 9th Circuit Court of Appeals a decade later, following a prolonged legal battle with environmental advocates and the Havasupai Tribe.
But in her letter, Mayes cited concern over the risk that flooding poses on contamination to the remote Havasupai Tribe’s precious water supply.
Last weekend, their village of Supai dealt with severe flash flooding, forcing the Arizona National Guard to rescue more than 100 tribal members and tourists from inside the Grand Canyon amid evacuation orders.
