Iconic locations in the western United States such as the Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Canyon risk being intensively mined, according to a new study conducted by a Washington DC based non-profit research group.
London, Aug 19 : Iconic locations in the western United States such as the Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Canyon risk being intensively mined, according to a new study conducted by a Washington DC based non-profit research group.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) cited data from the US Bureau of Land Management to identify 2900 new mining claims that have been staked within five miles of national parks since 2003.
"This is a modern-day land rush," said Dusty Horwitt, one of the authors of the report.
Horwitt said, though mining is prohibited within national parks, nearby activity could damage ecosystems inside the protected areas.
At Bingham mine in Utah, sulphates and heavy metals have escaped and now pollute 72 square miles of groundwater. Mining companies have also been known to use cyanide to extract metals such as gold from rocks, which has been known to leak into nearby watercourses, he said.
He said rising metal prices have sparked a new wave of exploration by mining companies, which has led to a rise in the number of plots of land staked out by them, known as claims.
Claims rose from 207,540 in January 2003 to 376,493 in July 2007, Horwitt said, adding that many of these are close to treasured locations.
Since 2003, more than 800 claims, mostly for uranium, have been staked within five miles of the Grand Canyon, for example, Horwitt said.
Horwitt said, as of now, the EWG and groups representing climbers and hikers are calling on the US Congress to factor environmental concerns into its ongoing attempt to rewrite mining laws, some of which date back to1872.
"Central to reforms, should be legislation that prohibits mining close to national parks and allows land managers elsewhere to consider the environmental risks before granting claims," he said in the report.
"It is high time the laws were modernised. We need to ensure that wild and scenic areas are off-limits," New Scientist quoted Jane Danowitz, director of the Pew Campaign for Responsible Mining in Washington DC, as saying.
ANI