Say No to Uranium Mining in Bears Ears

From PennEnvironment (http://www.pennenvironment.org):

When the administration decided to shrink the borders of Bears Ears National Monument, a lot of people suspected they were planning to sell the newly unprotected land off for mining.

When news came out that a mining company had long been lobbying for access to the area’s uranium deposit, it all looked even worse.¹

Now, our suspicions are confirmed: Last month, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a draft plan that would open the land that used to be part of Bears Ears up for mineral development such as uranium mining.²

Go to https://pennenvironment.webaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=28425 to tell the Bureau of Land Management: Keep uranium mining away from Bears Ears.

Uranium mining is a dirty, dangerous process. Workers are still cleaning up 16 million tons of radioactive sludge at the site of one of the nation’s first uranium mines near Moab, Utah.³

The land around Bears Ears already carries the scars of hundreds of uranium mines. Wells, springs and drinking water are still contaminated.⁴

The BLM is now accepting public comments on its plans for Bears Ears. This is the last, best chance for us to stand up for the irreplaceable natural treasure that is Bears Ears.

Submit your public comment today: Say no to uranium mining and other destructive development in Bears Ears.

The high desert ecosystem of Bears Ears is home to big horn sheep and black bears — as well as more than 100,000 archaeological sites, including cliff dwellings and rock art. It’s sacred to the Native Americans who have lived there for centuries.⁵ It would be a tragic waste for all of us to let it get torn up and poisoned by uranium mining.

Tell the BLM: No destructive development at Bears Ears.

1. ---

   Juliet Eilperin, “Uranium firm urged Trump officials to shrink Bears Ears,” The Denver Post, December 8, 2017.

2. Cassidy Randall, “US poised to allow more mining on land Trump removed from monuments,” The Guardian, August 16, 2018.
3. “Grand Canyon at Risk: Uranium Mining Threatens a National Treasure,” Environment America Research & Policy Center, June 6, 2018.
4. Juliet Eilperin, “Uranium firm urged Trump officials to shrink Bears Ears,” The Denver Post, December 8, 2017.
5. Carolyn Gramling, “Science and politics collide over Bears Ears and other national monuments,” Science, April 27, 2017.