Thank you for taking emergency action to withdraw nearly one million acres around Grand Canyon National Park from new mining claims.

The Grand Canyon is a timeless national treasure. It offers hundreds of recreational opportunities for visitors, provides drinking water for more than 25 million Americans, and is home to 25 threatened and endangered animal species. Hard rock mining of gold and uranium in the areas surrounding the Canyon can leak toxic chemicals into the Colorado River and the environment, poisoning the water supply and wreaking havoc on the landscape.

Please continue your efforts to protect our drinking water, the environment, and this treasured national park by withdrawing the land around the Grand Canyon from new mining claims for twenty years. Please also prevent the development of existing claims, and work with Congress to permanently protect this and other iconic American landscapes by reforming the 1872 Mining Law.

Please consider this an official comment on the "Notice of Proposed Withdrawal" that appeared in the Federal Register on July 21, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 138).