State Issues
LHC Chamber Part of Campaign to Withdraw Potentially Disastrous Ozone Standards
Mohave County Chambers Coalition Sends Letter to Congress Supporting Uranium Mining in Region
The Mohave County Chambers Coalition that includes the Lake Havasu Area Chamber of Commerce, sent a letter to Congress earlier this summer as part of an effort to allow uranium mining to continue in north-central Mohave County and south-central counties in Utah. The letter was delivered electronically to all members of Congress and also hand-carried to Washington D. C. by Dist. 3 Mohave County Supervisor Buster Johnson. The moratorium on mining could mean an economic loss of over 1,000 new jobs and millions of dollars. Following is the letter:
July 14, 2011
The US House of Representatives
E. Capitol St., NE and 1st St., NE
Washington, DC 20002
Honorable Members of Congress:
We are writing on behalf of the Mohave County Chamber of Commerce Coalition (MCCC) with members from Lake Havasu City, Bullhead City and Kingman, Arizona. MCCC is very concerned with the withdrawal of over 1 million acres of public lands and National Forest Systems lands in Mohave and Coconino Counties in our state with the 2-year temporary segregation on all new mining claims imposed by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in July, 2009.
It is our understanding the purpose of this action was to have time to study the Grand Canyon watershed for any potentially adverse effects of mineral exploration and mining (Federal Register Notice, July 21, 2009). Mohave County officials and residents are proud and protective of the Grand Canyon, and we consider it part of our backyard. We do not and have never supported any action detrimental to the canyon or that would adversely affect Colorado River waters or the watershed.
During its meeting this week, the Coalition voted to oppose any further federal withdrawal of lands in northwestern Arizona outside of the Arizona Wilderness Act of 1984. MCCC supports an alternative contained within the Northern Arizona Proposed Withdrawal Draft Environmental Impact Statement issued in February of this year that promotes the continuation of responsible uranium exploration and mining activities in this region of our state known on similar U.S. Forest lands as the Arizona Strip.
Recently the Bureau of Land Management and Secretary Salazar have provided an “emergency” 6-month extension to the original 2-year period. We believe no facts exist to justify an emergency since there is no real data or scientific evidence to support the existence of an emergency situation.
An independent analysis completed by Tetra Tech, that measured the impact of the withdrawal of the 1 million acres, resulted in the following conservative estimate of benefits that could be realized in Northern Arizona and southern Utah over a 42-year period:
- 1,078 new jobs in the project area
- $2 billion in federal and state corporate income taxes
- $9.5 million in claims payments and fees to local governments
- Increased property taxes for local governments
- Increased business for regional and national mining support vendors
- Increased state and local sales taxes
- $168 million in state severance taxes
- $1.6 billion to trucking firms transporting ore
In this time of economic uncertainty, we urge you to consider the impact this could have on not only our county, but our state and our nation. There is no human survival without economic strength. This campaign against uranium mining is not substantiated by any facts – there is no evidence to prove mining in this region has polluted the Colorado River and in fact, removing the ore through mining will remove any chance of pollution in the future once it erodes.
We have also learned that Secretary Salazar feels that foreign investment in the mining industry should not be encouraged or allowed – there are foreign investments in every industry in our country already and with close monitoring and regulation this should not be of concern.
The Coalition requests the segregation be halted so that we can work to improve the economic conditions in our region through the gain of jobs for our residents, taxes for our governmental entities and so that this precious commodity may be mined to assist with the growing energy demands of our nation.
Please do not hesitate to contact any of us with questions.
Lisa Krueger Pam Wilkinson Chris Barton
Lake Havasu Area Kingman Area Bullhead Area
Chamber of Commerce Chamber of Commerce Chamber of Commerce