A Bill That Would Ban Mining Around The Grand Canyon Permanently Has Passed A House Committee

A Congressional committee is endorsing a bill that makes a ban filling new mining claims around the Grand Canyon permanent. The House Natural Resources Committee approved the measure Wednesday. The ban was put into play during the Obama Administration and would make over 15-hundred square miles outside the canyon off-limits to new hard rock mining claims until 2032. The House bill would make the ban permanent. Republicans have opposed the measure, saying mining would bring jobs and much-needed revenue to the region. There are currently no uranium mines open in Arizona, but one company has a mine ready to go south of the Grand Canyon in case uranium prices rise.