It would be far more productive for tough regulation to be put in place and funded to ensure that the mining proposals could meet, would meet, and in operation continue to meet, environmental preservation requirements.

There is nothing automatically evil about uranium mining, particularly the ground-freeze in-situ techniques which - hello? - do NOT require tons of rock to be crushed. Uranium is neither wildly toxic (lead is a good comparison) nor particularly radioactive. But they should still be subject to heightened oversight and prequalification in vulnerable ecosystems. Whether the Grand Canyon qualifies (it's scenic, yes, but is it delicate?) I cannot say.

And - jabailo - "only water and air" - what's the energy source?