For Immediate Release
Contact: Trey Pollard, Sierra Club, (202) 495-3058
December
12, 2012
67,000+ Americans Ask
Secretary Salazar to Halt the Expansion of Strip Mining Near Bryce Canyon
(Washington, DC) – Today, the Sierra Club
delivered more than 67,000 petitions to the Department of the Interior, each
demanding that Alton Coal’s proposed strip mine expansion on the doorstep of
Utah’s beautiful Bryce Canyon National Park be stopped.
Alton’s proposed a nearly 3,500-acre expansion
of an existing surface mine that further threatens both local businesses and the
experiences enjoyed by the nearly 1.3 million visitors who travel to Bryce
Canyon National Park every year. Now, tens of thousands of
Americans are speaking out by calling on Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar
to stop the dirty, dangerous project.
Sierra Club Western Regional
Campaign Director Bill Corcoran Released the Following Statement in Response:
“More than a million Americans visit Bryce Canyon
every year to experience spectacular scenery, clean air, and beautiful views of
the night sky - not coal dust, bulldozers, and destruction. But that’s exactly
what they’d get if this dangerous strip mine expansion goes forward. Tens of
thousands are speaking up to defend Bryce Canyon because giving coal free rein
wouldn’t just bulldoze over our natural legacy, it would threaten businesses
and families in the area that rely on the revenue created by having one of the
nation’s most majestic parks in their backyard. In a region that is rapidly
transitioning to clean, renewable energy, doubling down on the dirty fuels of
the past does not make sense – especially when it threatens our local economies
and our special places .”
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