The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is moving towards approval of a massive open-pit coal mine next to a wilderness jewel, Bryce Canyon National Park. BLM proposes to approve the expansion of the existing Alton mine from 635 acres to 3,576 acres, the majority of mining operations to take place on public lands. BLM is ignoring the damaging repercussions of mining operations shown in its own draft environmental study. The expanded mine would include areas within 10 miles of Bryce. The Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have expressed serious concerns about the mine proposal. The National Park Service has strongly recommended the project not go forward.
Alton Coal's mine would pollute the region's water and air, flood Bryce Canyon's world-famous dark night skies with light, destroy habitats, disrupt wildlife, create noise disruptions, and generate toxic coal dust from hundreds of trucks. The local tourism industry, the main source of employment in the area, fears great loss of jobs. Arizona’s Hopi Indian tribe considers 119 archaeological sites here part of its heritage; 81 of them would be partly or completely removed by mining.
In addition, burning coal is a major source of global greenhouse gas emissions, which experts say are now growing faster than previous worst case scenarios. The mine would also release methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide. There are indications that much of the coal will be hauled to a West Coast port for shipping, possibly overseas.
- Write to Secretary Ken Salazar of the Deptartment of the Interior which oversees this process. Tell him to reject the permitting of this destructive mine. The Obama administration’s commitment to clean energy development on public lands must be kept. Such a rejection has never happened to a coal mine before. The time has come!
Tel: 202 208-6416
email: [email protected]
website form: www.doi.gov/feedback.cfm
Mail:
Secretary Ken Salazar
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20240
Photo credit: Bryce Canyon, July 2007, Ryan Thacker
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