Northern Arizona reacts to area surrounding Grand Canyon likely becoming a national monument

GRAND CANYON, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) – As President Biden visits Arizona, a large part will focus on the environment around the Grand Canyon and protecting more of the land from mining. It’s something the tribes and environmentalists have been pushing for, but not everyone supports the plan.

“The literal name of the monument means where the indigenous people roam,” Biden’s National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi told White House press reporters earlier this evening. “This is also an incredibly important ecosystem in terms of climate resilience.”

If the area surrounding the Grand Canyon becomes a national monument, it would be further protected from uranium mining after former President Barack Obama put a 20-year pause on new uranium mining claims back in 2012.

“It would permanently protect the water resources and the cultural resources of this region which are quite literally irreplaceable,” Grand Canyon Trust Energy Director Amber Reimondo said.

Reimondo says expanding uranium mining increases the potential for contaminated water from the Colorado River and requires too much water as Arizona faces an ongoing shortage. “We’re risking dewatering our precious aquifers that feed groundwater systems and feed the water that we all rely on,” she said.

But Mohave County Supervisor Buster Johnson says the potential economic positives far outweigh any negatives from uranium mining. “We can mine in other states, but the quality is real low,” Johnson said. “But they can blend it with ours and then get a useful amount of uranium.”

Johnson wasn’t surprised by the news that President Biden is preparing to declare this land surrounding the Grand Canyon a national monument. But he says the fight for more access to uranium mining isn’t over. “Utah has a lawsuit against the Biden administration over the Grand Staircase where they did the same thing, a monument,” he said. “They have said that they’d be willing to have us join their lawsuit.”

Johnson says he expects Mohave County to be part of that lawsuit moving forward.

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