Subsequently, on March 6, the North-west Mining Association, represented by the Mountain States Legal Foundation, also filed a lawsuit against the Obama adminis-tration opposing the Arizona land with-drawals. “Secretary Salazar’s decision is particularly outrageous because one of his own agencies, the U.S. Geological Survey, estimates the withdrawn lands contain ura-nium that, if mined to capacity, would gen-erate electricity to power Los Angeles for 154 years,” William Perry Pendley of Mountain States Legal Foundation said.

The NMA/NEI lawsuit argues that Salazar “lacks legal authority to make with-drawals of public lands exceeding 5,000 acres,” that the land withdrawal is an “arbi-trary agency action” under the Admini-strative Procedure Act, and that it fails to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to take a “hard look” at the withdrawal’s consequences that the U.S. Supreme Court required in a unani-mous 1989 decision. The lawsuit also notes the Arizona Wilderness Act of 1984 states, “Congress does not intend that the designa-tion of wilderness areas in the State of Arizona lead to the creation of protective perimeters or buffer zones around each wilderness area.”

Richard Myers, NEI vice president for policy development, planning and supplier programs, said, “The proposed land with-drawal is not justified by information in the Interior Department’s environmental assessment. The proposed land withdrawal is designed to protect against situations and circumstances that no longer exist. It is a mistake to judge today’s uranium mining activities by practices and standards from 50 to 60 years ago. Yet that, apparently, is what the Interior Department has done in its final environmental impact statement.” Contrary to the assertions by the admin-istration, today’s environmental laws ensure that ore extraction and production at uranium mines have minimal environ-mental impact on the surrounding land, water and wildlife, Myers said.

“Uranium resources in the Arizona Strip represent some of the highest-grade ores located in the United States. These uranium resources are higher grade than 85% of the world’s uranium resources, according to the Interior Department’s final environmental impact statement. These resources represent as much as 375 mil-lion lb of uranium, approximately 40% of U.S. reserves and more than seven times current U.S. annual demand.