TESTIMONY TO Representative Grijalva's Subcommittee and the Subcommittee
on Energy and Mineral Resources regarding URANIUM MINING ISSUES IN
NORTHERN ARIZONA

Lawrence E. Stevens, PhD

P.O. Box 1594

Flagstaff, AZ 86002

\(928\) 774-4923 TEL

\(928\) 380-7724 Mobile

<farvana@aol.com>

25 March 2008

I am a 35-year resident of northern Arizona and am an ecologist. I run a
small ecological consulting firm in Flagstaff called Stevens Ecological
Consulting, LLC. I primarily work on ecosystem management and
restoration, with an emphasis on improving understanding of biodiversity
and ecosystem health, and applying that information to sustain and
enhance native species and natural ecosystems. In particular over the
past decade, I have focused my professional attention on springs and
riparian areas management, and have published numerous peer-reviewed
scientific articles on the status and conservation of water-related
resources in the Southwest and the nation. I also am the voluntary
Curator of Ecology and Conservation for the Museum of Northern Arizona,
and the Senior Scientist for the Grand Canyon Wildlands Council, Inc.,
an ecosystem conservation organization based in Flagstaff. With this
background, I consider myself qualified to comment on the need for
adequate planning of mineral resource extraction here on the southern
Colorado Plateau.

Representative Grijalva recently introduced H.R. 5583, the Grand Canyon
Watersheds Protection Act of 2008, proposing to withdraw approximately
one million acres near the Grand Canyon from mineral exploration. I see
this legislation as being necessary to better protect our northern
Arizona ecosystems from runaway exploitation of the region's mineral
resources. Here I provide testimony in support of this legislation, and
against the Forest Service's proposal to expand uranium mining on public
lands in this region.

The Grand Canyon ecoregion is revered as one of the world's greatest
scenic landscapes, supporting numerous national parks, wilderness areas,
more than 70 ecosystems, 2000 plant species, and an enormous diversity
of native animals, including many rare and endangered species. The
region deserves to be protected in its natural state for all Americans
and for future generations. Opening the landscape to widespread uranium
mining will degrade this landscape and future life here.

Uranium pollution through contamination of groundwater and dust is
widely known to be dangerous to humans and natural ecosystems. Many
residents of in this area were down-winders, who suffered high rates of
cancers related to above-ground nuclear testing in the 1950's. There
likely were significant downwind impacts on the natural ecosystems of
the Grand Canyon region; however, such impacts have received inadequate
study here. Additional uranium mining activities are likely to bolster
radiation levels, and are likely to degrade the quality of all life here
on the southern Colorado Plateau.

Groundwater in this region is directed from areas of infiltration
through fractures and faults, and emerges in springs, particularly in
and along the rims of Grand Canyon and its numerous tributaries.
Groundwater residence time ranges from seasonal, to more than 3000
years, according to recent U.S. Geological Survey research in Grand
Canyon. Mining activities are likely to contaminate groundwater or
create surface pollution that may be transferred into these groundwater
aquifers. Such contamination may affect water quality in springs that
are essential resources for fish and wildlife, backpackers, and water
quality in the Colorado River, and the impacts of uranium mining on the
region's groundwater and springs may persist for thousands of years..
The ecological uncertainties involved in groundwater flow in this region
are many, and the precautionary principle should be invoked as a
management strategy: do the least damage to irreplaceable resources in
the Grand Canyon region.

Uranium mining already has occurred in this region, and the area has
many potential uranium mining sites, with several claims under
consideration for exploration, and more than 1200 breccia pipes
discovered in the region by the U.S. Geological Survey thus far.
Allowing uranium mining exploration to start up will mean that these,
and potentially many other uranium mines in the region will be opened.
The precedent of opening several new mines makes it very difficult to
dissuade the mineral extraction industry from proposing and opening
additional mines. Therefore, it would be better to limit uranium
exploration and mining immediately, before a mining boom occurs that
results in gradual, long-term degradation of the Grand Canyon region.

The impacts of uranium mining are several, including:

1)  release of contaminated dust;

2)  groundwater contamination, resulting in reduced capability of
    aquifers to provide clean water to springs, streams, and wells, from
    which most of our community water supplies are derived.

3)  piling uranium rich material on site, which many contaminate surface
    waters during rainstorms, and may deliver radioactive materials into
    the two largest reservoirs in the coterminous United States (Lakes
    Powell and Mead) ;

4)  construction and maintenance of additional roads, that fragment the
    landscape, interrupt wildlife movement, and create additional dust
    problems;

5)  on- or off-site ore processing that creates additional point and
    non-point source radiation pollution;

6)  site clean-up, which rarely if ever recreates ecosystems with
    equivalent health and capacity.

Previous uranium mining in the Grand Canyon ecoregion has been
disastrous: the Church Rock and Hack Canyon uranium mining accidents
took place in tributaries of Grand Canyon in the 1970's, the latter
resulting in livestock and human injury and death. These were the two
largest radioactive spills in our nation's history of peacetime nuclear
energy production. Uranium mining in this region should be stopped
before it is started, to prevent future environmental and societal
disasters.

The above uranium mining accidents occurred despite mining inspection
regulations under the auspices of the 1872 Mining Act, one of the our
country's most fiscally and environmentally irresponsible pieces of
legislation, an Act that should be revised at your earliest opportunity
to better protect our nation's environmental and financial resources.

For these reasons, and with all due respect, I laud this approach to
protecting our water, air, natural ecosystems and native species here in
the Grand Canyon ecoregion. I urge both Congress and the Senate to
ratify the proposed legislation, and help keep this region healthy and
sustainable for American citizens, our children, and future generations.

Respectively,

Lawrence E. Stevens, PhD