mining

3 Utah Counties, Oil Companies Sue Interior

Three petroleum companies and three Utah counties are suing the U.S. Interior Department, alleging that Secretary Ken Salazar broke the law in setting aside 77 disputed oil and gas lease parcels in the Beehive State.

The twin lawsuits, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, argue that federal mining law required the Bureau of Land Management to proceed with issuing leases to winning bidders after a Dec. 19 auction at the BLM's Utah headquarters.

Posted in conservation, mining

Activists Warn US Lawmakers of Uranium Mining Perils

WASHINGTON - A French physicist and a US actor have joined representatives of indigenous peoples from Africa, Australia and the United States to send US lawmakers a stark warning about the dangers of uranium mining.

"We want US lawmakers to understand that uranium mining is highly pollutant and that there is currently no scientific answer to the question of radioactive waste containment," Bruno Chareyron of France's CRIIRAD laboratory, which measures radioactivity in the environment, told AFP Friday.

Posted in Activism, Environment, Indigenous peoples, mining, nuclear power

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 26, 2009
5:48 PM

CONTACT: Beyond Nuclear
Linda Gunter, Media Director, 301.455.5655 (cell) 301.270.2209 (o)

Indigenous Leaders Call for End to Discriminatory and Deadly Uranium Mining

Radioactively contaminated air, water and land has led to genocide

TAKOMA PARK, Md. - February 26 - A group of activist leaders from indigenous communities, including Native American, Australian Aboriginal and Touareg from Niger - spoke out in Washington, DC today against the disproportionate discrimination against Native peoples caused by uranium mining. The group also included a prominent French nuclear scientist and the actor, James Cromwell. They called for an end to uranium mining and the nuclear power programs uranium fuels.

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Beyond Nuclear aims to educate and activate the public about the connections between nuclear power and nuclear weapons and the need to abandon both to safeguard our future. Beyond Nuclear advocates for an energy future that is sustainable, benign and democratic.

Beyond Nuclear Links:

Posted in Activism, genocide, Indigenous peoples, mining, nuclear power, pollution

US Environmentalists Hail Halt of Land Lease for Gas Drilling

WASHINGTON - US environmentalists have been celebrating after Interior Secretary Ken Salazar reversed a move by the previous administration to lease wilderness land in Utah to energy companies for exploration.

Salazar on Wednesday ordered the Bureau of Land Management "not to accept the bids on 77 parcels" that, he said, the Bush administration had rushed to sell off in its dying days in office.

Posted in conservation, Energy, Environment, mining

Monkey-Wrencher Thrilled That Interior Boss Is Scrapping Utah Lease Sale

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will cancel the results of a chaotic Utah oil- and gas-lease sale that drew protests from conservationists, outdoors enthusiasts, the National Park Service and President Barack Obama's transition team chief.

The move drew quick congratulations from members of Congress who had criticized the sale the U.S. Bureau of Land Management conducted Dec. 19 in Salt Lake City.

Posted in conservation, drilling, Environment, mining

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 4, 2009
2:52 PM

CONTACT: Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Erin Allweiss, NRDC, 202-513-6254, or cell: 202-277-8370

Bold Action by Department of Interior Halts Leasing of Utah Wilderness

Robert Redford and Environmental Groups Support Critical Step in Land Protection

WASHINGTON - February 4 - More than 100,000 acres of Utah wilderness will be protected from oil and gas drilling after the Department of Interior announced today that it will cancel 77 leases issued under the Bush administration. This is among the first actions taken by the Obama administration to protect America's wild lands. Since December, a coalition of environmental groups - led by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), Earthjustice, and the Wilderness Society - have been working to protect these public lands.

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The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has 1.2 million members and online activists, served from offices in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Beijing.

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Links:

Posted in conservation, drilling, Environment, mining

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 22, 2009
1:36 PM

CONTACT: Center for Biological Diversity
Roger Clark, Grand Canyon Trust, (928) 774-7488
Taylor McKinnon, Center for Biological Diversity, (928) 310-6713
Sandy Bahr, Sierra Club, (602) 999-5790

Legislation Introduced to Protect Grand Canyon From Uranium Threat and Override Bush Midnight Regulation

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - January 22 - Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) today reintroduced the Grand Canyon Watersheds Protection Act, legislation originally introduced in 2008 prohibiting new uranium claims, exploration, and resulting mining across 1 million acres of public-lands watersheds surrounding Grand Canyon National Park.

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At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature - to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law, and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters, and climate that species need to survive.

Center for Biological Diversity Links:

Posted in conservation, Environment, mining, pollution

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 19, 2009
9:11 AM

CONTACT: Ecojustice
Justin Duncan or Marlene Cashin, Ecojustice (416) 368-7533 ext.22 or ext. 31
John Jackson, Great Lakes United, (519) 744-7503 or 519-591-7503 (cell)
Jamie Kneen, MiningWatch Canada (613) 569-3439

Canada's Toxic Mine Tailings Secret Goes to Court

Information on toxic pollution from mines being hidden from public

TORONTO - January 19 - Canada's Federal Court will be hearing a lawsuit today against the Minister of the Environment for failing to ensure that Canada's mining industry publicly reports the hundreds of millions of kilograms of toxic pollution it generates each year.

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Posted in Environment, mining, pollution

Gold Mine Wants Court to OK Dumping Waste in Lake

WASHINGTON - A lawyer representing an Alaska gold mine urged the Supreme Court on Monday to uphold the mine owner's permit even though he acknowledged that the company's plan to dump metal waste into a nearby lake would kill all aquatic life.

But mining company lawyer Theodore Olson told justices that the waste is more accurately defined as "fill." And, after a decade or more of mining, he said, the lake could be restocked with no permanent harm to the environment.

Posted in Environment, mining, pollution, water

Open-Pit Mine Continues to Swallow City

CERRO DE PASCO, Peru - An immense open-pit mine located 4380 metres above sea level is swallowing up the centre of the city of Cerro de Pasco in Peru's central highlands, while the damages, in the form of toxic waste, spread to nearby villages.

The government just signed a new law to relocate part of the local population, who for decades have suffered from the lead dust, dynamite explosions and toxic gases generated by the mining of zinc, lead and silver.

Posted in Health, mining, pollution, Peru

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