President Joe Biden is likely to announce the creation of new national monument to protect about 1 million acres of land around the Grand Canyon from uranium mining as soon as next week, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Senior officials in the Biden administration have been speaking in recent weeks with Native tribes, environmental groups and members of the Arizona congressional delegation, and some of those people have been told to prepare for “a possible announcement” when Biden visits Arizona next week. The three people familiar with the matter asked not to be identified in order to discuss internal deliberations.
Abdullah Hasan, a White House spokesperson, said final decisions about the monument designation had not been made. But he added, “I can tell you that President Biden has conserved more land and water in his first year than any president since JFK, and his climate protection record is unmatched.”
The area in question is already off limits to uranium mining, a designation made by President Barack Obama in 2011. But those protections are set to expire in 2032. If Biden were to designate the land as a national monument, those conditions would be permanent. The expected announcement was first reported by The Washington Post.
Ashley Burke, a spokesperson for the National Mining Association, which represents U.S. mining companies, said a moratorium on uranium development around the Grand Canyon would hurt the economy and force the United States to import the metal.
“If any doubts remained about the Biden administration’s stance on domestic mining, this unwarranted withdrawal puts them to rest,” Burke said in a statement. “By continuing to block mineral-rich lands from responsible mining, this administration is imperiling our supply chains, robbing U.S. communities of high-paying jobs and community-supporting revenues, and enriching our adversaries.”
Native tribes have long lobbied for the government to permanently protect the area from uranium mining that they say would damage the Colorado River watershed as well as areas with great cultural meaning for Native Americans.
Environmental advocates applauded the possibility of the new monument.
“With unparalleled cultural, historic, ecological, recreational and economic value, this designation honors the ancestral homelands of the original stewards,” Camilla Simon, executive director of Hispanics Enjoying Camping, Hunting and the Outdoors, a nonprofit group, said in a statement.
Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., has sponsored legislation to create such a monument since the Obama administration. He reintroduced a bill this year with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., to designate nearly 1.2 million acres as the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument.
Baaj Nwaavjo means “where tribes roam” for the Havasupai Tribe and I’tah Kukveni means “our footprints” for the Hopi Tribe.
“We know this place intimately,” Edmond Tilousi, vice chair of the Havasupai Tribe, said when Grijalva reintroduced his legislation. The Havasupai have lived in the Grand Canyon more than 800 years.
“We simply cannot live without these clean waters,” Tilousi said.
Creating a monument would be the latest in a string of moves to protect land sacred to Native Americans, an effort spearheaded by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American Cabinet secretary. The new protections follow decades of tribal requests.
This year, Biden created a national monument, Spirit Mountain, in Nevada, insulating from development a half-million acres revered by Native Americans. He also restored and expanded protections for Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah, sites sacred to Native Americans that had been opened to mining and drilling by the Trump administration.
In June, the Biden administration banned drilling for 20 years around Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, one of the nation’s oldest and most culturally significant Native American sites.
In May Haaland traveled to Arizona at Grijalva’s invitation to visit the proposed site of the monument that Biden is expected to create to meet with tribal and environmental supporters. The meetings were not open to the public, and Haaland has not indicated whether the administration intends to support the monument.
Arizona is on the front line of climate change as the Colorado River, a crucial source of water, runs dangerously low and record-breaking heat waves scorch the state. It also is a swing state that is likely to become a key battleground in the 2024 presidential election.
During his trip there, Biden is expected to highlight the ways his administration has addressed climate change, including new measures to protect workers from extreme heat. He also will discuss the Inflation Reduction Act, a law Biden signed last year to inject $370 billion in tax incentives into wind, solar and other renewable energy.
The administration has credited the law with delivering billions of dollars in planned factories and jobs to Arizona. This year Kore Power, a battery technology operator, secured an $850 million loan to build a factory in Arizona that is expected to employ 1,250 people.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
