The chairman of the Mohave County Board of Supervisors called on the federal government Tuesday to revoke a recently imposed 20–year ban on uranium mining near the Grand Canyon.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday he is confident a 20–year ban on uranium mining near the Grand Canyon will hold up to an industry lawsuit challenging the January withdrawal of the land by federal officials.

I’m not an environmentalist and I don’t understand all of the environmental issues, but I do understand that we get 5 million people coming to the Grand Canyon every year. Tourism is not compatible with mining or with the mining trucks transporting uranium to be processed in Utah, and generally running the risk of despoiling this national treasure.

This is State Sen. James E. Babbitt, member of the pioneer northern Arizona family and uncle of former governor and former Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt.

A group of Republican lawmakers from Arizona and Utah is renewing an effort to open up 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon to new mining claims.

The Udall name has dominated Arizona’s political landscape and beyond for the better part of the 20th century, with Morris King Udall, affectionately known as Mo, the only member of the family to reach for the presidency of the United States — so far.

Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt is blasting as "radical" a Republican proposal to open up more than 50 million acres of public lands to logging and other development.

A proposal to reverse a federal ban on new mining claims near the Grand Canyon survived a committee vote Tuesday and could go to the full House as early as next week.

The Interior Department has extended a temporary ban on the filing of new mining claims near the Grand Canyon with an eye toward protecting 1 million acres and giving the federal government more time to study the economic and environmental effects of mining.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is scheduled to visit the Grand Canyon on Monday and could announce changes for mining claims near the park.