No Earth Day in Arizona

 by Roger Clark, Grand Canyon Director

It's a sad day when the Grand Canyon state argues against protecting the Grand Canyon. 

Five days before Earth Day, Arizona’s attorney general Mark Brnovich joined mining industry allies in appealing a 20-year ban on new uranium mines surrounding Grand Canyon. 

Seven years ago, Arizona’s governor united with native nations, businesses, towns, agencies, sporting groups, ranchers, conservationists, and chambers of commerce in supporting the 20-year ban. It took four years and a massive campaign to prohibit new uranium mines on a million acres of public lands, where waters flow directly into Grand Canyon’s springs and streams.

Arizonans and all Americans won a major victory on Jan. 9, 2012. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s "record of decision" instantly reduced the risk of permanent harm to wildlife, water, and sites sacred to the Havasupai tribe and many others. 

It said that protecting Grand Canyon supersedes unsafe, unnecessary, and uneconomic demands on public lands. 

"A withdrawal is the right approach for this priceless American landscape," Salazar said in a speech at the National Geographic Museum. "People from all over the country and around the world come to visit the Grand Canyon. Numerous American Indian tribes regard this magnificent icon as a sacred place, and millions of people in the Colorado River Basin depend on the river for drinking water (and) irrigation."

The withdrawal also serves our best interests: "Time and again, we as a nation have shown that our strength comes not just from the power of our industry and technology but also from the wisdom of restraint,” said Salazar.

Every generation of Americans faces moments when we must choose between the pressures of the now and the protection of the timeless. Today, we know that we can no longer afford to turn our backs on ... iconic landscapes like the Grand Canyon. ... I am therefore at peace with this decision, because it is the right thing to do.

What caused Arizona’s attorney general to challenge this historic decision? Perhaps mining interests now trump public interests when it comes to preventing permanent harm to Arizona’s greatest natural asset, a state position that makes no sense whatsoever. 

The Grand Canyon is far more valuable to Arizona as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World than as a sump for contaminated drainage from uranium mines or any other get-rich-quick scheme.

 Learn more about uranium mining in the Grand Canyon ›