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No Grand Canyon monument by Obama
EMERY COWAN Sun Staff Reporter
The Obama Administration has sent word that it does not plan to create a national monument around the Grand Canyon, according to an Arizona congressman.
Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva?s office announced Friday that the U.S. representative met earlier this week with officials at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, who gave him the official word that the monument would not be designated, spokesman Adam Sarvana wrote in an email to the Daily Sun.
?I can only express my profound disappointment,? Grijalva said in a press release. ?The Grand Canyon is one of the world?s most iconic and popular natural places, not just for its beauty but for its importance to tribal culture and history. Instead of building on former Secretary Salazar?s work, the Interior and Agriculture departments are apparently willing to leave the future of the Grand Canyon and the health of Arizona tribes up to Donald Trump.?
Grijalva had introduced legislation in November 2015 that would have created a monument on 1.7 million acres of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land north and south of the Grand Canyon. A monument would have prohibited new mining claims in the area and, under Grijalva?s bill, promoted the protection of cultural sacred sites. Many saw the legislation as a template for a presidential proclamation under the 1906 Antiquities Act.
The monument had the official support of the Hopi, Navajo, Hualapai and Havasupai tribes as well as many environmental groups. This fall, two polls found 82 percent of voters nationwide and 80 percent of Arizona voters supported the concept.
Opponents of a monument designation included both of Arizona?s senators, the representatives of Legislative District 6, which covers part of the proposed monument area, and the Arizona Game and Fish Commission. For his part, Gov. Doug Ducey last week warned that if Obama were to designate a Grand Canyon-area national monument, ?Arizona will take every step necessary ? legally and legislatively ? to stop it.?
With many legislators expressing similar hostility toward Obama?s monument designations, Grijalva said establishing a Grand Canyon monument could have been an asset in fending off possible congressional moves to take the Antiquities Act power away from the president.
"If we're going to have a fight about the Antiquities Act ...then let's have it over the Grand Canyon because I think that would bring huge national attention to that fight," Grijalva told the AP.
The White House declined to comment to the AP on Friday when given an opportunity to dispute Grijalva's statements about the monument's fate.
Grijalva also said he planned to reintroduce Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument Act on Friday.
Focus on uranium mining
Grijalva?s Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument bill would have included more than 1 million acres that the Obama administration put off-limits to new mining claims until 2032.
In announcements Friday, tribal representatives and conservation groups faulted the administration for failing to make the mining ban permanent with a monument considering the environmental contamination that still lingers from past uranium extraction in the region.
?Today is the first day of an era where the temporary mineral withdrawal around Grand Canyon is officially endangered,? Ethan Aumack, conservation director with the Grand Canyon Trust said in a press release. ?Whether it be through the Trump administration, Congress, Arizona's own attorney general, or the National Mining Association, we expect a continued full court press to deregulate and accelerate uranium mining around Grand Canyon.?
A challenge by mining and energy groups aimed at overturning the Obama administration's 2012 mineral withdrawal is being considered in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Oral arguments were taken in December, but a final decision likely won't come out for months.
TONY MANDILE
How To Hunt Coues Deer
EMERY COWAN Sun Staff Reporter
The Obama Administration has sent word that it does not plan to create a national monument around the Grand Canyon, according to an Arizona congressman.
Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva?s office announced Friday that the U.S. representative met earlier this week with officials at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, who gave him the official word that the monument would not be designated, spokesman Adam Sarvana wrote in an email to the Daily Sun.
?I can only express my profound disappointment,? Grijalva said in a press release. ?The Grand Canyon is one of the world?s most iconic and popular natural places, not just for its beauty but for its importance to tribal culture and history. Instead of building on former Secretary Salazar?s work, the Interior and Agriculture departments are apparently willing to leave the future of the Grand Canyon and the health of Arizona tribes up to Donald Trump.?
Grijalva had introduced legislation in November 2015 that would have created a monument on 1.7 million acres of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land north and south of the Grand Canyon. A monument would have prohibited new mining claims in the area and, under Grijalva?s bill, promoted the protection of cultural sacred sites. Many saw the legislation as a template for a presidential proclamation under the 1906 Antiquities Act.
The monument had the official support of the Hopi, Navajo, Hualapai and Havasupai tribes as well as many environmental groups. This fall, two polls found 82 percent of voters nationwide and 80 percent of Arizona voters supported the concept.
Opponents of a monument designation included both of Arizona?s senators, the representatives of Legislative District 6, which covers part of the proposed monument area, and the Arizona Game and Fish Commission. For his part, Gov. Doug Ducey last week warned that if Obama were to designate a Grand Canyon-area national monument, ?Arizona will take every step necessary ? legally and legislatively ? to stop it.?
With many legislators expressing similar hostility toward Obama?s monument designations, Grijalva said establishing a Grand Canyon monument could have been an asset in fending off possible congressional moves to take the Antiquities Act power away from the president.
"If we're going to have a fight about the Antiquities Act ...then let's have it over the Grand Canyon because I think that would bring huge national attention to that fight," Grijalva told the AP.
The White House declined to comment to the AP on Friday when given an opportunity to dispute Grijalva's statements about the monument's fate.
Grijalva also said he planned to reintroduce Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument Act on Friday.
Focus on uranium mining
Grijalva?s Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument bill would have included more than 1 million acres that the Obama administration put off-limits to new mining claims until 2032.
In announcements Friday, tribal representatives and conservation groups faulted the administration for failing to make the mining ban permanent with a monument considering the environmental contamination that still lingers from past uranium extraction in the region.
?Today is the first day of an era where the temporary mineral withdrawal around Grand Canyon is officially endangered,? Ethan Aumack, conservation director with the Grand Canyon Trust said in a press release. ?Whether it be through the Trump administration, Congress, Arizona's own attorney general, or the National Mining Association, we expect a continued full court press to deregulate and accelerate uranium mining around Grand Canyon.?
A challenge by mining and energy groups aimed at overturning the Obama administration's 2012 mineral withdrawal is being considered in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Oral arguments were taken in December, but a final decision likely won't come out for months.
TONY MANDILE
How To Hunt Coues Deer
