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by Marita K. Noon,
Executive Director
Citizens Alliance for Responsible Energy
A clean, green, cost-effective energy source has been dealt another blow, this time by the Congress that doesn’t get it.
Despite climbing poll numbers that indicate that Americans want more domestic energy sources, members of Congress voted to lock up one of our best and most easily accessible supplies. Using outdated data, designed to skew things in their favor, Representative Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) pushed a House Natural Resources Committee proposal that blocks access to domestic uranium resources, reduces its future availability, and increases prices for both uranium and electricity.
In response, Representative Don Young (R-Alaska) says, “At a time when Americans are spending more than $4.00 a gallon at the pump and many are looking at double digit rate increases in their energy bill next month, Democrats on the Natural Resources Committee are looking to further bleed Americans of their hard earned money.”
As was done recently with the New Mexico’s Mount Taylor uranium battle, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rahall (D-W.Va.) used an “emergency declaration” to block planned uranium mining. Parallel to Mount Taylor, this supposed “emergency” eliminated the public’s right to have its views represented.
The resolution directs the Secretary of the Interior to immediately withdraw 1,068,908 acres of federal land in Arizona where 1,100 mining claims have already been filed for some of the highest quality and most easily extractable uranium deposits in America – equaling a possible twenty percent of the total U.S. resource.
In New Mexico, mining permits are not within culturally significant locations. In Arizona, no uranium would be mined within the Grand Canyon national park. In each case, the uranium is in the general area and the proximity is being used as an excuse to scare the public.
Senator McCain is pushing for 45 new nuclear plants and most Americans are in favor of increasing clean nuclear power to meet our growing energy needs. Yet mining the natural resource needed for nuclear energy is blocked again.
Most American citizens do not realize that ninety percent of the uranium currently used in this country is imported – much of it from an increasingly unfriendly Russia. And, this is before we add the proposed new power plants. We need American uranium to provide America’s utilities with this clean energy source.
Another parallel to Mount Taylor is that these efforts to thwart solutions to our national energy crisis have constitutional issues.
The Mount Taylor decision may conflict with the State Constitution. The actions by the House Natural Resources Committee probably violate the U.S. Constitution. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands said, “It is a proposal that is clearly unconstitutional. It is resolution for an emergency that does not exist.”
Utilizing authority granted to the committee under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA), the resolution compels Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to withdraw the pockets of public land outside the park boundary from new uranium mining claims. Under FLPMA, Kempthorne and Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer will be notified that the committee is ordering the withdrawal of Interior and Forest Service lands, but Kempthorne would be responsible for discharging the declaration.
In the past, the FLPMA provision has been exercised by the committee with only mixed success, and the last time it was used resulted in some legal opinions that could weaken the committee’s case. Kempthorne would not necessarily have to comply with the order – which makes you wonder why these committee members want to go on record as being against energy development.
Likewise, regarding the Mount Taylor decision, Patrick Lyons, New Mexico’s Commissioner of Public Lands says, “Every New Mexico resident should be concerned about the way the committee handled its responsibility to disseminate correct information to the public.”
If we, the citizens, just sit back and complain to our neighbors or co-workers, nothing will change. Energy costs will be so high that we will hear increasing reports of people freezing to death this winter – despite supposed global warming. Congress is out of touch when it comes to the plight of American citizens. They are contributing to rising energy costs in the middle of difficult economic times. It is not just about gasoline at the pump. It is about natural gas and electricity in our homes – and this action will only exacerbate the situation.
We must applaud those who support increasing American energy supplies and chastise those like Rahall and Grijalva whose actions block access and increase costs. Speak up! Let them know what you think!
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