White House officials shared on Monday that President Joe Biden is getting ready to announce a new national monument that will preserve land around Grand Canyon National Park.
The news was shared by press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who said that Biden will call for the designation during his trip to northern Arizona on Tuesday.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who is also the first Native American Cabinet secretary, called Biden’s move “historic.”
“It will help protect lands that many tribes referred to as their eternal home, a place of healing and a source of spiritual sustenance,” Haaland said. “It will help ensure that indigenous peoples can continue to use these areas for religious ceremonies, hunting, and gathering of plants, medicines, and other materials, including some found nowhere else on Earth. It will protect objects of historic and scientific importance for the benefit of tribes, the public, and for future generations.”
The monument is a result of dozens of tribes in the area calling for the president to take action and protect the land from those who would try to mine in the area.
Advocates for mining are looking to file for uranium mining permits, though the legislation has restricted companies from filing for such permits for the last decade.
The new national monument will preserve an estimated 1,562 square miles for future generations and has the support of various northern Arizona tribes. Among those invited to attend the president’s remarks include the Colorado River Indian Tribes Chairwoman Amelia Flores, Navajo President Buu Nygren, and Havasupai Tribal Councilwoman Dianna Sue White Dove Uqualla. Uqualla is part of a group of tribal dancers who will perform a blessing.
“It’s really the uranium we don’t want coming out of the ground because it’s going to affect everything around us — the trees, the land, the animals, the people,” Uqualla said of the call to stop mining in the area. “It’s not going to stop.”
Some legislators, like Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), have been working to introduce new legislation that would prohibit mining near the national park.
Still, not everyone is in support of the move from Biden, as mining companies and their advocates say that the U.S. mining its own uranium has become necessary so that it isn’t dependent on Russia for the resource.
Mohave County supervisor Buster Johnson shared with NBC News that he thinks the move from Biden was politically motivated.
“We need uranium for the security of our country,” Johnson said. “We’re out of the game.”
After his stop in Arizona, Biden is set to travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Wednesday, where he will talk about how his efforts in fighting climate change have helped the economy by creating jobs. Another stop on his southwest trip includes a speech in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Thursday.
Related
Related
