**Corbin Newman**

**Southwestern Regional Forester**

**U.S. Forest Service**

**United States Department of Agriculture**

**Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands**

**Committee on Natural Resources**

**United States House of Representatives**

**Concerning**

**Proposed Uranium Mining Near the Grand Canyon**

**March 28, 2008**

**Flagstaff, Arizona**

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the
opportunity to present the Department's views regarding exploration
drilling of uranium deposits on the Tusayan Ranger District of the
Kaibab National Forest, south of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona.

For geographic reference, the Tusayan Ranger District of the Kaibab
National Forest, in northern Arizona, shares a boundary with the Grand
Canyon National Park. The District's northern boundary is the Park's
southern boundary. However, the Forest Service mission is different than
that of the National Park Service. The District is managed for a variety
of uses such as livestock grazing, recreation, minerals and timber
harvesting.

**Forest Service policy for administering the 1872 Mining Law**

The 1872 Mining Law and its amendments confer a statutory right upon the
public to enter upon National Forest System lands reserved from the
public domain to search for and develop locatable minerals and engage in
activities reasonably incident for such uses. However, pursuant to the
Organic Administration Act of 1897, the Forest Service can adopt
regulations governing those operations providing that the regulations do
not prohibit the public from prospecting, developing, or mining valuable
deposits of locatable minerals. The Forest Service adopted regulations
(36 CFR part 228, subpart A) in 1974 (revised in 1981) which provide
permissible rules and procedures for using the surface of National
Forest System lands in connection with locatable mineral operations
authorized by the 1872 Mining Law.

Operations covered by these regulations include all prospecting,
exploration, development, mining or processing of locatable minerals and
all uses reasonably incident thereto on National Forest System lands
subject to the 1872 Mining Law, regardless of whether such operations
take place within or outside the boundaries of a mining claim. The
regulations require that all locatable mineral operations must be
conducted to minimize, prevent or mitigate adverse environmental impacts
to surface resources. At the earliest practicable time, prospectors and
miners also are required to reclaim National Forest System lands on
which locatable mineral operations are conducted. All prospectors and
miners whose proposed operations might cause significant disturbance of
surface resources are required to submit a notice of intent to conduct
operations to the Forest Service. All prospectors and miners whose
proposed operations will likely cause significant disturbance of surface
resources must submit and obtain Forest Service approval of a plan of
operations. In evaluating a proposed plan of operation, the Forest
Service considers the environmental effects of the mineral operation,
including whether the proposed operation represents part of a
well-planned, logically sequenced mineral operation. Hardrock mineral
exploration and development on NFS Lands authorized by the 1872 Mining
Law, as amended, must also comply with applicable federal and state
laws, regulations and rules. This includes federal environmental
statutes that authorize the use, and protect surface and ground water,
air, cultural resources, threatened and endangered wildlife, as well as
those which regulate transport, storage, use and disposal of fuel,
chemicals and other hazardous materials. Reasonable conditions, which
are required to ensure that environmental impacts to surface resources
are minimized without materially interfering with the proposed
operations, are set forth in the approved plan of operations.

The Forest Service Minerals Program Policy signed by Forest Service
Chief Jack Ward Thomas in 1995 states that the Forest Service will
"foster and encourage private enterprise in the development of
economically sound and stable industries, and in the orderly and
economic development of domestic resources to help assure satisfaction
of industry, security, and environmental needs." This national policy
was affirmed by Chief Dale Bosworth in 2004.

**Mining on the Kaibab National Forest**

According to historians, mining in the south Kaibab area for mineral
resources, particularly copper, became important in the late 1800s.
However, transportation and processing costs, due to the low value of
the ore and the geographic location of the south Kaibab area, far
exceeded the value of the minerals, and most mines closed around the
turn of the 20^th^ century. The South Rim of the Grand Canyon, within
the current National Park boundaries, was the site of several ore
discoveries. Relatively well known is the Orphan Mine, within Grand
Canyon National Park, which was originally mined in the early 1900s for
copper and other metals. The Anita Mine on the Kaibab National Forest is
a historic remnant of a larger copper mining operation in the south
Kaibab area. Quarrying for cinders, sandstone, and limestone became
prominent after the turn of the 20^th^ century. Both of these mines are
eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places based
on their age and historical context.

During the 1950s, uranium deposits were discovered at the Orphan Mine
and also on the Tusayan Ranger District. In the 1980s, the U.S.
Geological Survey began studying the uranium deposits of the area and
produced maps identifying favorable target locations for uranium
deposits. These deposits consist of pipe-shaped breccia bodies generally
no more than 300 feet in diameter that can extend 2000 feet below the
surface. Uranium mineralization is restricted to the near-vertical
breccia pipes. One uranium mine site, Canyon Mine, was developed on the
Kaibab National Forest, starting operations in 1986. However, before the
mine actually went into operation, the market price of uranium dipped
and the company decided to suspend operations.

In the last several years a dramatic increase in the price of uranium
has led to renewed interest in exploration for uranium deposits.
According to the Bureau of Land Management, there are currently over
2,000 mining claims for a variety of locatable minerals on the Tusayan
Ranger District.

**Kaibab National Forest Land Management Plan**

Current management direction for minerals in the Kaibab National Forest
Land Management Plan (LMP) is to administer the law and regulations to
minimize adverse surface resource impacts and support sound energy and
minerals exploration and development.

The uranium exploratory drilling operations and locations, which were
approved on December 20, 2007, are within LMP Management Areas 8, 9 and
10. The Canyon Mine site is within Management Area 10. The management
area emphasis for Areas 8 and 9 is for moderate commodity and
non-commodity activities with no timber harvesting activities. The
emphasis for management in Area 10 is for high non-commodity activities
and low-moderate commodity activities.

Management Areas 8 and 9 have moderate to high potential for uranium.
Direction for mineral management in Areas 8 and 9 is to protect surface
resources and other environmental values through intensive management of
prospecting, exploration and development of mineral resources; protect
habitat of threatened and endangered and sensitive plant and animal
species, important recreation sites and facilities, and heritage
resources nominated or posted to the National Register; and protect
visually sensitive road corridors and important wildlife habitat.

Management Area 10 has moderate potential for uranium. Copper and other
minerals may be found in association with uranium deposits. Specific
guidelines developed for this area include: (1) evaluating
transportation for mineral development; (2) imposing timing, visual, and
heritage constraints to maintain wildlife habitat components and visual
and special resource objectives; and (3) incorporating mitigation to
limit surface use in locatable mineral plans of operations for
exploration.

**VANE Minerals Uranium Exploration Drilling Project**

VANE Minerals, LLC, submitted a proposal for exploratory drilling in
2006. No actual mining was proposed. Discussions then began with the
company concerning the environmental analysis, under the National
Environmental Policy Act and other applicable laws, which would be
required before approval for exploratory drilling could be given. VANE
Minerals, LLC, chose to contract the specialist reports (i.e.,
archaeology, wildlife, plants, soil and water) needed for the
environmental analysis. Forest Service specialists then reviewed and
approved these reports. Approval of the specialist reports was based on
meeting applicable laws, Forest Service manual and handbook direction,
following Kaibab LMP direction and using the best available science.

The Forest Supervisor initiated government-to-government consultation in
January of 2007 with the Hopi Tribe, the Navajo Nation, the Havasupai
Tribe, the Hualapai Tribe and the Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe. Several
follow-up government-to-government consultation meetings were conducted
to discuss tribal concerns. Due to these tribal concerns, VANE Minerals
made the decision to drop three proposed drilling locations from their
original proposal.

In March 2007, a public scoping letter was sent to 30 affected and
interested individuals, agencies, and interest groups. A legal notice
was published in the local newspaper (Arizona Daily Sun), and a news
release was sent to over 300 local and regional media outlets at
approximately the same time that the scoping letter was sent out. The
Kaibab National Forest webpage also contained information concerning
this proposal.

Sixteen comments were received during a 30-day scoping period. Six of
those were requests for additional information. Many of the other
comments did not support uranium exploration on National Forest Lands,
or did not support the exploration activity because it could lead to the
mining of uranium. Based on review and analysis of the project file,
including a finding that no extraordinary circumstances existed, the
Tusayan District Ranger determined that the analysis could be
categorically excluded from documentation in an Environmental Assessment
or Environmental Impact Statement. A Categorical Exclusion is defined by
the Council on Environmental Quality regulations as ". . . a category of
actions which do not individually or cumulatively have a significant
effect on the human environment and which have been found to have no
such effect in procedures adopted by a Federal agency . . . and for
which, therefore, neither an environmental assessment nor an
environmental impact statement is required." (40 CFR 1508.4). The
District Ranger determined that the proposed action qualified under
Forest Service Handbook 1909.15, section 31.2, category 8, which states,
"Short-term (one year or less) mineral, energy, or geophysical
investigations and their incidental support activities that may require
cross-country travel by vehicles and equipment, construction of less
than one mile of low standard road (Service Level D, FSH 7709.56), or
use and minor repair of existing roads."

The analysis of the exploratory drilling proposal included consideration
of effects on:

-   federally listed threatened and endangered species and their
    critical habitat, management indicator species, migratory birds, and
    Forest Service sensitive species;

-   floodplains, wetlands, and municipal watersheds;

-   native American religious or cultural sites, archaeological sites,
    and historic properties and areas and;

-   specially designated areas including wilderness areas, wilderness
    study areas, national recreation areas, inventoried roadless areas,
    and research natural areas.

At the time this proposal was being analyzed, there were no other
proposals for exploratory drilling on the Kaibab National Forest.

On December 20, 2007, the Tusayan District Ranger signed a Decision Memo
authorizing exploratory drilling at seven sites on the District. Final
plans of operation were signed in March, 2008, subject to twenty-one
mitigation measures designed to minimize or eliminate potential impacts.

VANE Minerals will use existing roads to access claim sites. The
drilling equipment will be composed of one 10-wheel truck-mounted drill
rig, one 10-wheel pipe truck, one 10-wheel air compressor or booster,
one backhoe, one 10-wheel water truck, and one or more 3/4 ton light
trucks to move personnel. A supply trailer and travel trailer may also
be required on the site.

Boreholes will be six inches in diameter with an eight-inch collar
diameter for surface casing. The drilling medium will be air or water.
Reclamation will consist of returning the drill cuttings to the open
borehole, with holes being plugged at the surface with concrete.
Disturbed areas will be revegetated. Mud pits will be covered with a
minimum of three feet of topsoil to ensure radioactivity levels are
returned to pre-drilling (background) levels. A number of other
mitigation measures will also be in effect to minimize potential
negative impacts to wildlife, prevent the spread of noxious weeds,
minimize risk of wildfire, and avoid cultural resource sites.

On March 12, 2008, a lawsuit was filed by the Center for Biological
Diversity, the Grand Canyon Trust and the Sierra Club, challenging the
District's authorization of Vane Minerals exploratory drilling. The
lawsuit alleges the authorization did not comply with the National
Environmental Policy Act and the Appeals Reform Act. I am not free to
discuss the specifics of that litigation.

Five additional proposals for exploratory drilling have recently been
submitted to the Kaibab National Forest. None of these proposals are for
actual mining operations.

Thank you for this opportunity to address the Subcommittee. I will be
pleased to answer any questions that you may have.