Environmentalists are urging Congress to support legislation to permanently ban mining claims on public land surrounding the Grand Canyon. Under the mining law of 1872, more than one thousand uranium mining claims have been staked just outside park boundaries.

H.R. 644, authored by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), chair of the House National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee, would protect approximately one million acres of U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands surrounding Grand Canyon National Park from new mining claims. The bill would make a permanent moratorium on claim staking called for in July by U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

As the initial public comment period for the Department of Interior's environmental review of the withdrawal proposal ended Oct. 30, 98,355 messages had been received in support. Called for by Grijalva and Representative Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, along with Pew and other conservation groups, the withdrawal is a response to federal data that show thousands of mining claims within five miles of Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Arches and other national parks.