Apache Junction, Ariz., July 11, 2011 -
The Pinal County Greens today named U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake the Arizona Asshole of the Month for trying to turn the Grand Canyon into a toxic waste dump.
"There are a lot of assholes in Arizona politics," said Pinal County Greens Co-Chair Richard Grayson. "But this month Jeff Flake deserves being named Arizona Asshole of the Month because he's deliberately trying to destroy our state's greatest natural wonder and spoil it for generations to come."
Grayson cited this New York Times editorial:The Obama administration has extended for six months a 2009 moratorium on new uranium mining claims on one million acres around the Grand Canyon. This is good news; even better is the promise from Ken Salazar, the interior secretary, that he will soon recommend a 20-year ban on new claims in the region. That is the maximum allowed under the 1872 mining law.
With uranium prices rising, the number of mining claims have jumped sharply over the last few years. There have been about 3,500 claims in the Grand Canyon-area alone. If developed, they would generate toxic wastes that would threaten the Colorado River — the source of drinking water for roughly 27 million people — the aquifer and the Grand Canyon ecosystem in general.
Mr. Salazar said he could not cancel valid existing claims, but there is likely to be little actual mining. The decision to “withdraw” the land from future claims creates new regulatory hurdles for existing claimants, who must demonstrate, among other things, that they had discovered actual mineral deposits before the 2009 moratorium. Only a handful have been able to do so.
There have been the usual complaints from mining lobbyists and their Congressional allies. Representative Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, has threatened to use the interior appropriations bill to block Mr. Salazar’s plan.
The moratorium will have little effect on the country’s uranium supply, most of which comes from Wyoming and New Mexico. It will protect a treasured national park and the drinking water for millions of people.
The Pinal County Greens, a group of members of the Arizona Green Party in Pinal County, said Flake had carried through his threat and has written a rider, Section 445, that if enacted, will block the Grand Canyon protection plan.
Pinal County Greens Co-Chair Grayson said that he thought the Republican U.S. Senate candidate would welcome the honor: "In wanting to destroy a treasured national park and the drinking water of millions, Jeff Flake is truly the Arizona asshole par excellence."
Grayson noted that for his Grand Canyon desecration plan, Flake had also recently been named "Worst Person in the World" by Keith Olbermann's Countdown.
