6:00 p.m. Welcome and Introduction

Dr. Heidi Wayment, Director of NAU’s Compassion Project and Psychology

Department Chair

Cynthia Haros, Philosophy in the Public Interest

6:15: Dr. Matthew Goodwin, NAU Philosophy Department

What are good reasons to allow uranium mining near the Grand Canyon?

What are good reasons to prohibit uranium mining near the Grand Canyon?

Should uranium mining be permitted within 25 miles of the Grand Canyon?

7:20: Recap of discussion

Uranium Mining at the Grand Canyon

Date: Tuesday, March 12, 6:00 p.m.

Location: Museum of Northern Arizona

Facilitated by: Dr. Matthew Goodwin, NAU Philosophy Department

Additional support provided by NAU’s College

of Arts and Letters, Franke College of

Business, McKenzie Endowment for

Democracy and the Richard Wood Fund.

Contact Philosophy in the

Public Interest:

Visit: nau.edu/ppi

Email: nau.ppi@nau.edu

Call: 928-523-8339

Find us on Facebook:

facebook.com/nau.ppi

Follow Us on Twitter:

twitter.com/ppi_nau

Hot Topics Café, March 12, 2013

The General Mining

Law of 1872

“Allows citizens of the Unit-

ed States the opportunity to

explore for, discover, and

purchase certain valuable

mineral deposits on those

Federal lands that are open

for mining claim location

and patent.

(www.blm.gov) Arizona 1 Mine, the only uranium mine currently

operating in Arizona, on the Kanab Plateau of the Grand

The Federal Land Policy and Management Act requires that public lands be man-aged “in a manner which recognizes the need for do-mestic sources of minerals, food, timber, and fiber from the public lands” while also protecting “the quality of scientific, scenic, historical, ecological, environmental, air and atmospheric, water resource, and archeological values.”

2012 Public Land Order No. 7787; Withdrawal of Public and National Forest System (www.doi.gov)

This order withdraws approximately 1,006,545 acres of public and National Forest System lands from location and entry under the Mining Law of 1872, subject to valid existing rights, for a period of 20 years in order to protect the Grand Canyon Watershed from adverse effects of locatable mineral exploration and development.

Museum of Northern Arizona

Companies Mining in Arizona

Mohave County

Arizona 1, Denison – Energy Fuels, Inc (Canada)

Artillery Creek, Continental Resources Group, Inc. - Green Energy Fields, Inc

EZ mine, Denison – Energy Fuels, Inc. (Canada)

Pinenut mine, Denison – Energy Fuels, Inc.(Canada)

Coconino County

Canyon mine, Energy Fuels, Inc. (Canada)

Wate Property, Wate Mining Company, LLC – Energy Metals Corporation (Canada) and Vane Minerals plc (U.K.)

Cleanup costs

In 1998, DOE testified to Congress that it would cost approximately $2.3 billion (in 1998 dollars) to clean up the uranium processing facilities nationwide

There are 11 cleanup sites where the ore is chemically altered in a mill or in situ mining in Wyoming, New Mexico, and Nebraska. Of those 11 sites, only 5 have an estimated clean-up cost: over $80 million. A 2006 EPA report identified 15,000 uranium mine locations in 14 western states and estimated it will cost an average of $13 million each to clean up

The estimated cleanup costs at 22 federal cold war nuclear weapons plants have escalated from $180 billion to $240 billion.

www.eia.gov/uranium/production/quarterly

Sources

http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wo/MINERALS__REALTY__AND_RESOURCE_PROTECTION_/energy.Par.28664.File.dat/MiningClaims.pdf http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/az/pdfs/withdraw/feis.Par.24671.File.dat/NAZ_WLDL_PLO_1_5_2012.pdf www.eia.gov/uranium/production/quarterly http://www.epa.gov/radiation/radionuclides/uranium.html#change http://www.epa.gov/region9/superfund/navajo-nation/pdf/2013-01-navajo-5year-plan-progress.pdf http://www.epa.gov/rpdweb00/docs/tenorm/402-r-08-005-volii/402-r-08-005-v2-appiv.pdf http://www.wise-uranium.org/uousa.html#AZ http://www.grandcanyontrust.org/grand-canyon/uranium_issues.php Carl Mayer and George Riley, Public Domain, Private Dominion: A History of Public Mineral Policy in America, San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1985). http://www.swlaw.com/assets/pdf/news/2012/05/01/NorthernAZPublicLandWithdrawal_Chandley_Payne.pdf

This informational handout was prepared by Dr. Matthew Goodwin with the assistance of his students in PHI 331,

Environmental Ethics.

The “hot topics” in the Hot Topics Cafés are selected by NAU students that represent diverse constituencies and viewpoints. We thank our committee for their participation.

Hot Topics Café Community Committee

NAU's Philosophy in the Public Interest is non partisan,

and does not endorse any position with respect to the

issues we discuss. Philosophy in the Public Interest is a

neutral convener for civil discourse.

You are also invited to attend Hot Topics Cafés on the NAU

campus and in Sedona. Visit nau.edu/ppi for a schedule.

Flagstaff Sedona

Ex officio

Allan Affeldt Owner, La Posada; Founder, Winslow Arts Trust; Former Mayor, City of Winslow; Museum of Northern Arizona Board Member, Arizona Town Hall Board Member, Arizona Citizens for the Arts Board Member

Diana Arendt, County Chairwoman, Coconino County Republican Com-mittee

Joe Boles, Professor Emeritus, Northern Arizona University

Scott Deasy, Deacon of Epiphany Episcopal Church, semi-retired OB/GYN

Coral Evans, Flagstaff City Council

Jean Friedland, Compassion Project, Northern Arizona University

Patty Garcia Coconino Community College District Governing Board, Nuestras Raices, Raymond Educational Foundation Board

Ken Lamm, Flagstaff Community Foundation

Stephanie McKinney, Chair, Flagstaff 40

Marj McClanahan, Arizona Community Foundation, Flagstaff Communi-ty Foundation, Flagstaff Medical Center Certificate Holder, NAU Social and Behavioral Sciences Advisory Council, Museum of Northern Arizona Committee, Phi Beta Phi Financial Advisor, Arizona Society of CPAs

Jerry Nabours, Flagstaff Mayor

Wayne Ranney, Geologist, Author, Museum of Northern Arizona Board Member, Grand Canyon Historical Society, Flagstaff Festival of Science Board of Directors

Craig Van Slyke, Dean, NAU Franke College of Business

John Stark, General Manager, KNAU

Michael Vincent, Dean, Northern Arizona University College of Arts and Letters

Harriet Young, First Vice Chair of the Arizona Democratic Party,

Arizona Town Hall Member

Rob Adams, Mayor of Sedona

Carol Gandolfo, President, Verde Valley Republican Women

Jane Hausner, Executive Director, Verde Valley Sanctuary

Tom O’Halleran, Arizona Republican Senator 2007-2009; President, Keep Sedona Beautiful; Chair, Verde River Basin Parntership; Citizens Advisory Board, PBS

Alicia Magal, Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Sedona and the Verde Valley

John Neville, President, Sustainable Arizona, Lead, SEDI Sustainability in Education & Green Business Network

Judy Reddington, Northern Arizona University College of Arts and Letters Advisory Council; Museum of Northern Arizona Board Member, Philosophy in the Public Interest Advisory Board, Sedona Community Plan, Sedona International Film Festival Board Member

Steve Williamson, President, Democrats of the Red Rocks

Robert Breunig, Museum of Northern Arizona Kathy Farretta, Museum of Northern Arizona Andrea Houchard, Philosophy in the Public Interest Christopher Griffin, Philosophy Department Scott Sanicki, Sedona Public Library John Tannous, Coconino Center for the Arts Robin Weeks, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Yavapai College

Next Flagstaff Hot Topics Café

Education: a public or private good? Facilitated by: Dr. Lori Poloni-Staudinger,

NAU, Politics & International Affairs Department

Date: Tuesday, April 3, 2013 6:00 p.m.

Location: The Museum of Northern Arizona