Conservation groups worried about the threat of uranium mining at one of the world's largest natural wonders have filed a lawsuit to defend the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, US.
Last year, British miner Vane Minerals was granted a licence to conduct exploratory uranium drilling on national forest lands along the park's southern boundary.
But the approval came without a public consultation or environmental review and now conservation groups are protesting the licence.
Speaking to the Environment News Service, a representative of the Center for Biological Diversity says the Grand Canyon was not the place for uranium development.
"Our national treasures deserve better than the calamity of an adjacent industrial zone," Taylor McKinnon says.
Filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club and Grand Canyon Trust, the lawsuit claims that the US Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act and two other laws when it approved uranium exploration in the area.
By Ozge Ibrahim
