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Dear Friend,
Uranium mining rips up huge tracts of land to extract radioactive material for use in nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants.1
For the past two years, the Grand Canyon has been protected from these ravages. But now, the temporary mining moratorium is set to expire.
The Grand Canyon's fragile ecosystem, stunning beauty, and vital water supply are threatened by 1,100 new mining claims that have been filed within five miles of this priceless "crown jewel."
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is considering a 20-year ban on mining to protect the Grand Canyon's entire one-million acre watershed. But there are other proposals on the table, and industry lobbyists are encouraging BLM to open the floodgates for the uranium mining rush. It's essential that we urge the BLM to protect the Grand Canyon.
The high price of uranium makes its extraction extremely lucrative for mining companies, but shockingly, the practice is regulated by the antiquated 1872 Mining Law which has no environmental standards to limit the devastation and radioactive damage that results to wildlife, soil, ground and surface water. In fact, the law actually makes exploitative mining a priority over all other uses of public lands.
The legacy of mining in the Grand Canyon has already wrought lasting damage to surrounding areas and tribal communities, who have banned mining on all their lands.
If mining companies are allowed to move ahead with their new claims, the damage to the local wildlands and habitat would be extreme. And with the huge risk that polluted water will run into the Colorado river — which supplies water to cities including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix and Tucson — this mining literally poses a risk to the health of nearly 30 million people.2
It's tragic that, as we observe the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster this week, and as the Fukushima disaster continues to unfold in Japan, the thirst for nuclear energy and power would now threaten one of our most precious places, and millions of people who depend on it.
The two-year ban came as a result of intense public pressure to stop dangerous uranium mining. That's what we need to help show again. Please submit a public comment now.
Thank you for protecting one of our most precious places.
Elijah Zarlin, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets
CREDO Action from Working Assets
1. "Uranium Mining 101," EarthWorks Action
2. The Grand Canyon Uranium Rush," New York Times, March 8, 2011
2. The Grand Canyon Uranium Rush," New York Times, March 8, 2011
This week marked a grim anniversary: It's been a year since BP's oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, eventually leaking more than 200 million gallons of oil and unleashing the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. Thousands of birds, sea turtles and dolphins died -- and some are still washing up. Yet there have been no meaningful reforms to guarantee a similar spill will never happen again.
A year after the ocean was polluted with more than 2 million gallons of toxic oil dispersants to break up oil from BP's devastating Deepwater Horizon spill, the Center for Biological Diversity on Monday filed a notice of intent to sue the Environmental Protection Agency for authorizing the use of dispersants without analyzing their effects on endangered species and habitat. In fact, the dispersant most used by BP to combat the catastrophic Gulf spill is actually banned in England and much of Europe, but was used liberally in our waters without environmental analysis.
As we've been telling you over the past couple months, the Center for Biological Diversity is in an all-out fight against oil companies' attack on our hard-won legal victory to protect 120 million acres of "critical habitat" for the polar bear. Thanks to the generous support of more than 2,200 members, we were able to raise the funds to take the next critical step and keep the momentum going to protect these majestic animals and their habitat.
To help save one of the most magnificent sea turtles on Earth, the Center for Biological Diversity and allies this week sued the feds for failing to protect "critical habitat" for the Pacific leatherback. In response to a legal petition by the Center and partners, last year the National Marine Fisheries Service proposed to protect about 70,000 square miles (45 million acres) of ocean off California, Oregon and Washington for the sea turtle -- but missed its deadline to finalize the proposal. Meanwhile, leatherbacks continue to die on their epic 12,000-mile journey from Indonesia to the West Coast -- tangled in commercial fishing gear, poisoned by pollution, killed by poaching and facing many other threats.
Florida is on the verge of losing its last large, wild feline and the Southeast's only remaining large, wild cat: the stealthy, majestic Florida panther. To make sure this powerful hunter gets the roaming room it needs to survive, the Center for Biological Diversity this Wednesday appealed a court decision denying federal protections for the species' habitat. The cat's habitat has been under assault for decades, shrinking rapidly in the face of growing human population and sprawling development in South Florida. 
In defense of one of North America's most iconic animals, last Wednesday the Center for Biological Diversity and Western Watersheds Project filed a notice of intent to sue the feds for not protecting the imperiled plains bison. This species once roamed a wide swath of the continent by the millions, but slaughter, disease, habitat loss and other threats have reduced it to a fraction of what it once was. Today just a few conservation herds remain. Despite that, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in deciding whether the plains bison needs federal protection, is only considering the species' current range -- and not the fact that it's gone from most of its historic range. That's not good enough and won't give this shaggy beast the help it desperately needs to survive and recover.
The Miami blue butterfly has waited 27 years for Endangered Species Act protection. That's far too long. So last week the Center for Biological Diversity filed a notice of intent to sue to help this fast-declining insect. Though the species is on the brink of extinction due to urban sprawl, fire suppression, pesticides, severe weather and other threats, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service denied it a place on the endangered species list when the Center petitioned for emergency protection after it disappeared from Florida's Bahia State Park in January. Instead of protection, the feds granted the bright blue, inch-long butterfly a place on the "candidate list," which now includes 260 imperiled species whose protections have been put off indefinitely.
There was more troubling news this week about hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," which is a process where chemicals, water and sand are blasted into the earth to pry natural gas and oil from rock. On Tuesday night, a natural-gas well blew out in Bradford County, Penn., leaking thousands and thousands of gallons of fracking fluid through fields and farms and into a stream.
Would you laze in the shade of a black elm tree? Eat black lettuce in your salad or play soccer on black grass? New astrobiological research suggests that on a different world, green plants might not exist at all. They might even be black.
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