Thank you very much for being here today at this wonderful American location. Today’s
announcement really is about two things. The first is for all of us who are from the west
and recognize the importance of water. Water truly is the life blood of our communities,
it’s the life blood of our economies, and it’s the life blood of who we are. So the
steps we are announcing today is about the protection of that life blood. The second
is this is also an announcement about jobs and tourism. We know that that the millions
of visitors that come here to the Grand Canyon every year and come to all of our national
parks and our wildlife refuges and our great natural wonders throughout this country really
add an incredible amount to the economy of the United States. Even as I was walking in
this morning meeting a young man who is here from the UK who has come here to visit as
do the millions of visitors to the Grand Canyon every year. They create over seven and half
million jobs a year for the United States so we need to keep in mind that tourism and
our natural wonders are very much part of the good economics of our country. One hundred
and forty-two years ago, John Wesley Powell and his crew became the first explorers ever
known to successfully steer their way through the rocks and gorges, the rapids and whirlpools,
of America's greatest natural wonder: the Grand Canyon. Powell came here to read the
story of our planet in the layers of the canyon walls. He came to study the forces that shaped
this land, pebble after pebble, flood after flood, over 2 billion years. To be here for
John Wesley Powell or for any of us is to be overwhelmed and humbled by the scale of
geologic time. The minutes, hours, and days by which we measure our lives are hardly an
instant in the life of these canyons. Yet, all of us by the decisions we make in our
short time here can alter the grandeur of this place. Our ancestors understood this.
Time and again, the tribal communities who have inhabited this land, people like John
Wesley Powell, Theodore Roosevelt, and Stephen Mather, helped us choose the protection of
the ancient over the pressures of the now. As Teddy Roosevelt famously implored from
this very place: Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work
on it, and man can only mar it. That courage, that wisdom, that patience is why we have
Grand Canyon National Park today. Why we have iconic places like Yosemite and Yellowstone,
and wild and untrammeled forests and public lands for all Americans to enjoy and explore.
Our ancestors for sure could not have known that one day the Grand Canyon would attract
more than 4 million visitors a year. That hunting, fishing, tourism, and outdoor recreation
would generate an estimated $3.5 billion dollars just in this area alone. Or that millions
of Americans living in cities like Phoenix and Los Angeles would rely on this water,
on this river, and on this canyon for clean, healthy drinking water and water supplies
for agriculture. And many Tribes in the area see their history and their culture woven
throughout the landscape of this Grand Canyon. Like our ancestors, we do not know how future
Americans will enjoy, experience, and benefit from this place. And that's one of the many
reasons why wisdom, caution, and science should guide our protection of the Grand Canyon.
In this moment, we face a choice. We face a choice that could profoundly affect the
Grand Canyon in ways that we do not yet understand. Some of the lands near the Grand Canyon contain
uranium resources that have helped meet our energy needs. Over the past 20 years, eight
uranium mines have operated in the area and one study has shown that a possible additional
eight to eleven mines might be developed in the area under already valid existing rights.
The question for us, though, is not whether to stop cautious and moderate uranium development,
but whether to allow further expansion of uranium mining in this area and the establishment
of location of what would be thousands of uranium mining claims at this point. The Bureau
of Land Management, under the outstanding leadership of Director Bob Abbey, has been
carefully studying this question since July of 2009, when I initiated a two-year closure
of the area to new uranium mining claims. BLM, in coordination with other agencies,
the States, Counties, Tribes, and other partners published a draft environmental impact statement
that examined whether to implement a twenty year mineral withdrawal, subject to valid
existing rights, for certain areas around the Grand Canyon. The options they considered
were no withdrawal which would allow new hard rock mining claims to be filed, a partial
withdrawal of approximately 300,000 acres, an alternative partial withdrawal of 650,000
acres, and a full withdrawal of approximately 1 million acres. The BLM received nearly 300,000
comments on this draft EIS. And now the time has now come to respond to those comments
and identify a preferred alternative for a final environmental impact statement that
the agency will complete by this fall. Based on the analysis that has been done and the
public comments that have been received, in particular among the water users that recognize
that the Colorado River is the life blood of their communities, I am directing two steps
to be taken today. First, I am ordering a temporary emergency withdrawal through December
20, 2011 of the full one million acres we are studying for the potential long-term withdrawal,
subject to valid existing rights. This emergency six-month withdrawal will ensure that no new
mining claims can be filed after the current two-year segregation expires on July 20th.
Second, based on the input and advice and guidance from Bureau of Land Management Director
Bob Abbey, National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis, United States Geological Services
Director Marcia McNutt, and the United States Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell, I am directing
the BLM to identify the full one million acre uranium withdrawal as the preferred alternative
in the final EIS. This alternative, if ultimately selected, will ensure that all public lands
adjacent to Grand Canyon National Park are protected from new hard rock mining claims,
all of which are in the watershed of the Grand Canyon. Now this remains an ongoing process.
Based on this direction, BLM will complete the environmental analysis of the preferred
alternative and other alternatives and publish a final environmental impact statement this
fall. I will then be ready to make a final decision on the potential 20-year mineral
withdrawal. Finally, I want to make a couple of things clear. First, I know some critics
will falsely claim that with a full one-million acre withdrawal from new hard rock mining
claims, we would somehow be denying all access to uranium resources. That, of course, is
not true. Uranium, like oil and gas, solar, wind, geothermal, and other resources, remains
a vital component of a responsible and comprehensive energy plan for our nation. We will continue
to develop uranium in northern Arizona, Wyoming and other places in the country. It is worth
noting again that we believe there are likely a number of valid existing rights in the proposed
withdrawal area even if the preferred alternative is ultimately selected as the final decision.
We expect continued development of those claims and the potential for new mines over the next
twenty years. But what we will not allow however is the location of additional mining claims.
In fact, cautious development with strong oversight could help us answer critical questions
about water quality and environmental impacts in the mining area. This science, derived
from experience, would help others decide what actions are necessary to protect the
Grand Canyon. Second, as we move through the final analysis toward a decision, let us be
reminded of what these canyons have taught us in the conservation arena for our nation
and our world and teach us even today. It is what John Wesley Powell and his crew experienced
here as they risked their lives more than a century ago. And it's what families sense
when they stand on this rim: as we stand here today as President Roosevelt stood here so
long ago. That our lives are fleeting instants when measured against the geologic time and
forces that forged this Grand Canyon. But our decisions, our actions, can alter billions,
billions of years in all its wonder and glory. So let us be cautious. Let us be patient.
Let us be humble. Now this decision that I have arrived at today is a decision which
I arrived at with long deliberation and input from the key leadership at the United States
of Department of Interior and United States Department of Agriculture. But I can say without
a doubt that one of the great leaders and ambassadors for making sure the conservation
agenda of the United States of America is one that is upheld day by day, week by week,
for generations to come and that is your congressman state of Arizona Raul Grijalva. We will recognize
him. Please stand Congressman. Thank you so much for your leadership and within the United
States Department of Agriculture, Secretary Tom Vilsack and Under Secretary Harris Sherman
together with Chief Tidwell from the U.S. Forest Service have been involved with us
as we have set aside these lands because a significant portion of the million acres are
administered by United States Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Forest Service. And
within my agency and they will speak in this order. I am always comforted and get great
guidance by making sure that I rely on the advice and wisdom of the best team I believe
ever assembled at the Department of Interior to lead the great agencies of our Department.
We will hear first from the Director of Bureau of Land Management Bob Abbey, who over sees
nearly two-hundred fifty million acres of America’s lands from many of the states
across the west and places like Alaska, but this is one of the very special places that
he administers. You will also hear from Director John Jarvis who oversees our nearly four-hundred
national park units and he is one of our outstanding leaders within the Department in making sure
we fulfill our mission to protect the natural resources of our country as well as to serve
as custodians of America’s history and we will hear from Doctor Marcia McNutt, who oversees
the Unites States Geological Survey with it ten thousand employees, which is the best
earth science agency, now over a hundred years old, who has is viewed upon by scientist around
the world as the best earth science agency on our earth. She has been involved in helping
us with the science and developing the science around this initiative. So I will turn it
over at this point to Director Bob Abbey. Thank you.