Monument will not be created
By Brandon Loomis | The Republic
Arizona conservationists are lamenting President Barack Obama’s apparent decision to not create a national monument on federal land surrounding Grand Canyon National Park.
Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., had proposed a Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument to permanently bar uranium mining on 1.7 million acres of forest and desert north and south of the park. On Friday, he expressed “profound disappointment” at the president’s decision not to act before leaving office this month.
A spokesman for Grijalva said the congressman met with the White House Council on Environmental Quality this week and learned the president will not act.
White House officials declined to comment.
