Wrote about the push to do uranium mining at Four Corners. Yuk.

From Washington Independent

The Grand Canyon National Park has already experienced uranium mining’s toxic byproducts from the abandoned Orphan Mine on the canyon's south rim, three miles from the celebrated El Tovar Hotel. (See Sidebar)  Nearly 40 years after the Orphan Mine closed, two major defense contractors that employ lobbyists with close ties to McCain, are refusing to cooperate with the National Park Service to clean up the mine. Meanwhile, the Orphan Mine, which has been declared a Superfund site, is leaching radioactive waste into a creek that feeds the Colorado River.

McCain’s Senate office and also his campaign staff did not return several phone calls and emails with a list of questions about uranium mining near the park and the clean up of the Orphan Mine. McCain's silence on the issue is regarded as a disappointment to many who cite him as a defender of the environment in general, and the Grand Canyon in particular.

Well, let's just say it. He is NOT a defender of the environment and he would be speaking out if he gave a hoot.

For example, McCain's support is considered necessary to pass The Grand Canyon Watersheds Protection Act. This bill, introduced last March by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), permanently withdraws 1 million acres of U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management holdings adjacent to the park from mineral development. The land includes some of the highest-grade uranium deposits in the U.S.