I was born and raised in Arizona. I grew up in Phoenix, and like many Arizonans, my family visited the Grand Canyon time and time again. The first time I saw it, it took my breath away. The contrasting shades of vermillion and coral — I felt as if I was standing in a picture-perfect postcard. When I took my daughter for the first time, she became enamored with the starry night skies. The Grand Canyon is a magical place, but if not properly protected, it could be destroyed beyond repair.
Beginning in the 1950s, uranium mines sunk deep shafts, piercing the rock layers in and around the Grand Canyon leaving behind a toxic legacy that continues to pollute the land, water, and air today. As the market for uranium declined, mining companies abandoned mines, but the uranium industry’s harmful impacts to human health and the environment continue, contaminating drinking water in Northern Arizona and across the Navajo Nation to this day...