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Flagstaff, Az. - Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., chairman of the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands, announced Thursday that the House Committee on Natural Resources, chaired by Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., introduced an emergency resolution to prevent uranium mining near Grand Canyon National Park.

Dirt and rock taken from an old uranium mining site, and used for fill dirt, has been removed from private properties south of Tusayan and at Grand Canyon Village. The Bureau of Reclamation says its contractor excavated materials from two private residences south of Valle, from a Grand Canyon sanitary plant, from a business near the airport at Valle and from a South Rim trailer park. The Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency said it wasn't consulted about the clean up. Agency director Aubrey Godwin said his agency would have advised nearby residents to stay indoors last week, during the removal, because of blowing winds. Bureau of Reclamation spokesman Peter Soeth called the fill materials' radiation level normal for the region. He said all but one of the six sites, to which it was hauled, had average readings for radioactivity upon first inspection.

"Throughout the Senate debate on the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) one of the central issues has been funding for nuclear weapons. Earlier this year, President Obama asked Congress for the largest nuclear weapons budget in history. However, Republicans, led by Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), continually question whether the nuclear weapons stockpile and its supporting industrial infrastructure are adequately funded. With the release of a new government report, it appears that both Senate Republicans and the administration may lack sufficient information for either side to determine how much money is actually needed for long term maintenance of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report titled "Actions Needed to Identify Total Costs of Weapons Complex Infrastructure and Production Capabilities" detailing the federal government's loose budgeting and accounting practices for nuclear weapons programs. According to GAO, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which is responsible for maintaining the U.S. nuclear stockpile, determines its future budgets by simply looking at each of its program's prior year budget and then adds or subtracts money based on programmatic changes. This means, rather than looking at what programs actually cost in any given year, NNSA simply assumes that it is working with the right numbers. "

"A nuke in every garage" is the GOP nominee's energy and climate plan. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) made a stunning statement on the radio show of climate change denier Glenn Beck this week:

If you've wondered how life would be different if John McCain had won the 2008 presidential election, here's one example of McCain supporting a policy that Barack Obama opposes. At the urging of President Obama, members of the U.S. Senate are trying to craft a plan that would require utility companies to generate 15% of their power from renewable energy sources by 2021. During debate this week over what a Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) would encompass, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) tried to push through an amendment that would classify nuclear power as a renewable energy. "Reduced greenhouse gas emissions, have cleaner sources of energy and diversity: I certainly think nuclear power meets all of those definitions," McCain told his colleagues, who rejected his proposal.

Title of article now represents the minimum percentage that the radiation found in Hawaii is over EPA standards. New EPA milk samples in Hawaii show radiation in milk at 800% above limits for Cs-134, 633% above limits for Cs-137 and 600% above EPA maximum for I-131 for a total of 2033%, or 20.33 times, above the federal drinking water limits. New readings have also been posted for Phoenix AZ with milk being above the federal limit and Los Angeles with milk being slightly below the limit for Iodine. Montpelier VT milk has tested positive for radioactive CS-137, above about 2/3rds the EPA maximum and Spokane WA milk testing less than half the limit for i-131.

"Putting a lid on it takes some time and patience. In this case, crews are transporting a 150-ton nuclear reactor lid from the Port of Long Beach to a plant near Phoenix. The lid, escorted by the California Highway Patrol, left the port last Tuesday. It's expected to arrive in the Coachella Valley by Wednesday night. The lid's transport vehicle travels at about 5 mph. Once in the Coachella Valley, crews will have to maneuver around a road sign near the Highway 111-10 Freeway interchange. The transport vehicle will cross from eastbound to westbound lanes and exit the interstate on the Highway 111 on-ramp."

"The Board of Directors of Pinnacle West Capital Corporation (NYSE: PNW) announced today that Dr. Dale E. Klein has been elected to the Pinnacle West Board of Directors. He also has joined the Board of Pinnacle West's principal subsidiary, Arizona Public Service Company. Dr. Klein, 62, served as Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission from July 2006 to May 2009, and thereafter as a Commissioner until March 30, 2010. Prior to his service on the NRC, Dr. Klein was Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs from November 2001 to July 2006. Before embarking on his government service, Dr. Klein held a variety of teaching and leadership positions at the College of Engineering of the University of Texas at Austin, with a focus on the University's nuclear program. Since leaving the NRC, he has returned to the University as Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Associate Vice President for Research, and Associate Director of the University's Energy Institute. "

"Conservationists are challenging a federal court decision that denied their request to halt uranium mining north of the Grand Canyon. Three conservation groups and two American Indian tribes filed an appeal last week to the June 17 decision. Denison Mines Corp. operates a uranium mine 6 miles north of Grand Canyon National Park on U.S. Bureau of Land Management land. Environmentalists sued the BLM last year, alleging Denison's mine plan and environmental analyses are outdated. They filed for a preliminary injunction earlier this year to stop the mining operation until the lawsuit is heard. "

Congressman Raul Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat, has reintroduced legislation prohibiting new uranium claims, exploration, and mining across one million acres of public lands watersheds surrounding Grand Canyon National Park. The lands covered by the bill are the last remaining public lands not protected from new uranium development around the park, which extends for 277 miles along the Colorado River in Arizona and receives some five million visitors a year.

Environmental groups are re-introducing legislation to put a little more than 1 million acres of federal land on the Colorado Plateau off-limits to most new uranium mining. The measure would not impact existing claims where miners have proven they have viable deposits, but is a response to renewed uranium mining interest in the region, spurred by rising prices. U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Tucson, reintroduced the legislation Thursday, along with U.S. Rep. Ed Pastor of Arizona.

A case initially cast as a potential threat to national security ended Tuesday with a 15-month prison term for a former Palo Verde engineer who took nuclear-plant software to Iran. Mohammad Alavi, 51, was sentenced on charges of illegally accessing a computer and transporting stolen property as part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. The U.S. Attorney's Office originally sought to put Alavi behind bars for as long as 10 years for multiple charges, including violating a U.S. trade embargo with Iran.

First came the 11th-hour bid to relax clean air standards for power plants near the nation's national parks, then a battle backing power plants over nearby aquatic life that wound up before the Supreme Court, and now the Bush administration is pushing for a rule to block Congress from limiting uranium mining near the Grand Canyon. What's next, a Taco Bell atop Mount Rushmore? The latest bid by the lame-duck Bush administration to roll back environmental regulations was announced late last week when U.S. Interior Department officials said they would move forward with a rule that would eliminate a provision that directs the Bureau of Land Management to withdraw lands from possible mining when Congress declares emergency conditions exist. The new rule would fly in the face of a June 25 emergency congressional resolution that required the Interior Department to withdraw a million acres of federal lands near Grand Canyon National Park from the permitting process for uranium mining.

After decades of delay, the U.S. Forest Service is seeking public comments about a slow-motion contamination risk - the radioactive dirt piles left over from now-abandoned uranium mines in the Young Ranger District along popular Workman Creek in the Sierra Anchas. During the boom years of uranium mining in the 1950s and 1970s, mining companies dug "dozens" of mine shafts following veins of the naturally occurring, radioactive mineral. Most of the once-sealed mine shafts are now open after vandals pried loose the timbers and tore down the warning signs. The mine shafts still have radiation levels that could cause cancer and other health problems.

The Bush administration is trying to make it tougher for Congress to block mining and oil and gas drilling on public lands. The Bureau of Land Management, which manages 258 million acres of federal property, stripped from its regulations Thursday a provision that gives two congressional committees the power to compel the Interior secretary to temporarily place public land off limits to mining and oil and gas development. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., and top candidate for Interior secretary under President-elect Barack Obama, attempted to employ the little-used provision for the first time in more than 20 years earlier this year in an effort to halt uranium mining near the Grand Canyon.

The renewal applications for the operating license for the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Arizona is available for public review, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said on Wednesday. The three units at Palo Verde can together make about 4,000 megawatts of electricity, making it the biggest nuclear power plant in the United States. The license extensions, if granted, would allow each unit to operate for another 20 years beyond their current expiration dates, which are in 2025 for Unit 1, 2026 for Unit 2, and 2027 for Unit 3.

When the House Natural Resources Committee voted in June to ban approval of new mining claims adjacent to Grand Canyon National Park, we commented that ore operations should undergo the same environmental scrutiny as is required for coal, oil and gas exploration projects. Since then Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, who is certainly no friend of the environment, and his Bureau of Land Management have ignored Congress and continued to process mining claims near the canyon. Such contempt for the legislative process is offensive, particularly in this case.

Environmental groups who sued the U.S. Forest Service to force full environmental reviews of a uranium exploration project near the Grand Canyon say the government has agreed to do the studies. A federal judge in Phoenix had barred VANE Minerals Group from drilling 39 test holes at seven sites on the Kaibab National Forest in April. U.S. District Judge Mary Murguia's order did not permanently stop the exploration, but she indicated that the environmental groups were likely to prevail after a full hearing.

Uranium leaks discovered in the groundwater have come closer to contaminating the entire supply of drinking water for two villages in the Hopi reservation. A series of studies conducted by consultants of the Hopi tribe and Navajo Nation show uranium contamination within 100 feet of water supply wells that provide all the drinking water to the village of Lower Moencopi.

Conservation groups are challenging Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne today, saying he is allowing uranium exploration near the Colorado River and Grand Canyon National Park contrary to a congressional resolution passed in June. Congress on June 25 prohibited uranium mining activity across 1 million acres of public lands in watersheds leading to the Colorado River that surround the Grand Canyon.