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In a July 31 story about a lawsuit over uranium mining, The Associated Press erroneously described the upsurge in requests submitted to the federal Bureau of Land Management involving uranium reserves on federal land in Colorado controlled by the BLM. The 10,730 requests submitted to the BLM in 2007, 5,205 in 2006 and 120 in 2003 were claims to permit individuals or companies to use a parcel of federal land to explore for uranium and possibly build a mine. These were not applications to begin development of mines.

The Bureau of Land Management has authorized several new uranium exploration permits near the Grand Canyon despite a congressional resolution last year barring new claims near the national park. According to documents (pdf) released yesterday by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Grand Canyon Trust, BLM on April 27 authorized Quaterra Alaska Inc. to conduct eight uranium mine exploration operations at five separate projects north of Grand Canyon National Park and west of the Kaibab Plateau.

Environmental groups have given notice that they'll sue the federal Bureau of Land Management over its decision to allow a uranium mine to reopen near the Grand Canyon. Canadian mining company Denison Mines Corp. says it could reopen its mine about 20 miles north of the canyon by the end of the year. Dennison received the final state permit it needed last week. The BLM says Denison has an approved mine plan and should be allowed to resume operations after closing the site about 20 years ago. But the Center for Biological Diversity, the Grand Canyon Trust and the Sierra Club argue that the BLM is relying on an old environmental analysis and isn't considering potential impacts on endangered species. The notice the groups filed Tuesday says they plan to file a lawsuit in 60 days.

could protect public lands from resource development has conservation groups saying the BLM is trying to accommodate industry. The immediate impact of the change, if approved, could be a denial of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne's authority to stop uranium exploration on 1 million acres of public lands near the Grand Canyon by declaring an "emergency withdrawal" of that land.

Ruling favors government whistleblower who pointed out public health dangers at mine Earle Dixon was a Bureau of Land Management project supervisor overseeing the cleanup of a radioactive former copper mine in Northern Nevada when he began speaking out about what he perceived as potential public health and safety hazards that were far worse than state and federal agencies were willing to admit. The BLM did not take kindly to Dixon's opinions and fired him in October 2004.

The final environmental assessment for the Whirlwind uranium mine near Gateway is expected to be signed early this week, said an official from the Bureau of Land Management. "We are just on the verge of releasing that final EA," said Dave Lehman of the BLM.

"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. "

The Bureau of Land Management inked an approval for expanded uranium mining in the Big Gypsum Valley last Friday, agreeing to a proposal brought forth from Denison Mines Corporation, a Canadian company. New activities at the Sunday Mining complex - which lies near Naturita - will include the expansion of waste rock areas and the addition of vent holes along with access roads and additional drilling. The existing land disturbance at the complex is about 80 acres; the proposed new surface disturbance would affect about 20 additional acres of public land in the area. According to the BLM, the Denison Mines Corporation acquired the entire mining complex - it was multiple mines before - and will run it as one operation.

The federal Bureau of Land Management has agreed to Noble Energy's plan to drill 79 natural-gas wells in western Colorado near the site of an underground nuclear blast 40 years ago, according to a news report Monday. The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reported that Noble Energy will drill the wells over the next three to five years, and that gas produced by the wells will be tested for radioactivity. In 1969, a federal test called Project Rulison was conducted to determine if nuclear blasts could be used to retrieve natural gas deep underground. A nuclear device was set off about 8,400 feet underground near Rulison, Colo.

The federal Bureau of Land Management has agreed to Noble Energy's plan to drill 79 natural-gas wells in western Colorado near the site of an underground nuclear blast 40 years ago, according to a news report Monday. The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reported that Noble Energy will drill the wells over the next three to five years, and that gas produced by the wells will be tested for radioactivity. In 1969, a federal test called Project Rulison was conducted to determine if nuclear blasts could be used to retrieve natural gas deep underground. A nuclear device was set off about 8,400 feet underground near Rulison, Colo.

"Denison Mines President Ron Hochstein said uranium mining has returned to northern Arizona for the first time in nearly 20 years. Hochstein said while environmental groups attempted to stop the uranium mining in Mohave County, Ariz., with a lawsuit last September, his company obtained permission from state and Bureau of Land Management officials to mine for high-grade ore, The (Flagstaff) Arizona Daily Sun said Wednesday. "They're challenging the permits, but the BLM and state have given us all the permits we need to operate," Hochstein insists."

The Bureau of Land Management, an agency within the Department of the Interior, in early December eliminated a regulation that gave two congressional committees the power to require the secretary of interior to set aside public lands from uranium mining and other extractive activities. The action, coupled with renewed federal interest in uranium mining, is causing concern for some Western tribes. In effect, the Bush administration's decision could open up public lands in and around the Grand Canyon to uranium mining. The aftereffects of such developments could have devastating effects on the health of tribes in and around the Grand Canyon, according to environmentalists and health and legal experts.

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 Salt Lake Tribune recently editorialized in support of protecting more of Utah's incredible rivers as Wild and Scenic Rivers. As the main advocate for Wild and Scenic Rivers in Utah, the Utah Rivers Council wholeheartedly agrees. However, the recently finalized Bureau of Land Management plans may be a good beginning for a few rivers, as The Tribune states, but they are also a death trap for the majority of Utah's rivers.

Federal officials have approved the reopening and combining of two reclaimed underground uranium mines on the Utah-Colorado line. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Moab and Grand Junction, Colo., announced late Friday afternoon that Lakewood, Colo.-based Energy Fuels Resources would combine the Urantah Decline and Packrat Mine into an operation called the Whirlwind Mine. Earlier the agency released an environmental assessment that showed the mine would have no significant impact.

Two environmental groups have asked federal land managers to reconsider their approval of Utah's first new uranium mine in three decades. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and Uranium Watch oppose the Daneros Mine, located about 120 miles from Natural Bridges National Monument in southeastern Utah. The groups also want the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to stop Australia-based White Canyon Uranium from mining there until the agency's Utah director, Selma Sierra, determines whether the mine's environmental impact was sufficiently studied. "There are a lot of issues associated with uranium mining that were not adequately assessed before the permits were issued," said Liz Thomas, a lawyer for SUWA.

Public Land Order No. 7734; Withdrawal and Transfer of Jurisdiction of Public Land for the Department of Energy Crescent Junction Uranium Mill Tailings Repository; Utah AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior. ACTION: Public Land Order. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: This order withdraws approximately 936 acres of public land from the United States mining and mineral leasing laws and transfers jurisdiction to the Department of Energy for a period of 20 years for ancillary facilities at its Crescent Junction Uranium Mill Tailings Repository.