The Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni bars mining on 1 million acres in Arizona, which the Republican said harms national security
SHONDIIN SILVERSMITH
Ariona Mirror
U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar wants to force the Biden administration to abandon its plans for the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument, which he says will harm Arizona and America by effectively barring uranium mining in much of Arizona. Photo by George Frey | Getty Images
Saying that stopping companies from mining uranium from lands near the Grand Canyon is a threat to national security, an Arizona Republican won preliminary approval of an amendment that would reverse President Joe Biden’s creation earlier this year of a national monument in northern Arizona.
“Arizona already boasts more national monuments than any other state,” Gosar said. “We do not want any more monument designations.”
President Joe Biden visited Arizona in August to announce the newly designated Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument, effectively barring mining and other economic activity on roughly a million acres of land in northern Arizona near Grand Canyon National Park.
A voice vote on Nov. 2 adopted the amendment during a U.S. House of Representatives session focused on the fiscal year 2024 spending legislation for the Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies.
Gosar’s amendment to House Bill 4821 would bar the Department of the Interior from spending money to implement, administer, or enforce the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument.
At risk, the Arizona Republican said, is economic security for Arizonans and nationa security if uranium mining is banned in a large swath of northern Arizona.
