WASHINGTON — A little-used regulation that helped protect the quality of the Colorado River, a 
drinking water source for many in Arizona, Nevada and California, is expected to be eliminated on December 5 by the Bureau of Land Management, an agency within the Department of the Interior, according to a December 5 article in The Arizona Republic.
The regulation, which is buried in Section 204 of the 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act, has for decades provided House and Senate natural-resources committees with the authority to take emergency action to protect federal land near the Grand Canyon if the canyon is threatened by mining and other extractive activities.
The rule change is one of many now being pushed through federal agencies at the last minute by the outgoing Bush administration.
“This last-minute change puts at risk the health of millions of citizens of the West,” US Rep. Raul M. Grijalva, a Democrat from Tucson, said in a statement. He added, “In my view, the Grand Canyon is one of those places that deserves extra protection from the impact of industrial activities.”
Environmentalists have expressed fear that uranium mining could adversely harm the national park and have a negative impact on the Colorado River, which flows through the Grand Canyon.
Grijalva is rumored to be a leading candidate to head the Interior Department in President-elect Barack Obama’s Cabinet, The Arizona Republic reported.
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