Biden Admin Plans Grand Canyon Monument That Will Inhibit Crucial Uranium Mining

Its a love story as old as the ages: mindless regulations that inhibit business and squandering your tax dollars.

We all know that if there's anything Democrats are good at, its both tearing down monuments that have been in place for decades while at the same time using taxpayer cash to designate additional, useless - and in this case counterintuitive - monuments of their liking. 

In the case of President Biden's latest proposed monument at the greater Grand Canyon, it'll inhibit crucial uranium mining in the area.

Biden is expected to announce plans to preserve 1,562 square miles outside of Grand Canyon national park, a new report from Fortune says. It marks his fifth monument designation, the report says as thought that is some way of keeping score of the effectiveness of a Presidency. 

National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi confirmed the designation, the report says. 

The monument is going to be called "Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni" meaning "where tribes roam" and "our footprints" in two different native languages. Republican lawmakers and the mining industry have both pushed back on the idea of the monument. 

Ranchers have also argued that the monument strips them of private land. 

Havasupai Tribal Councilwoman Dianna Sue White Dove Uqualla has made it clear she wants to stand in the way of such mining, stating: “It’s really the uranium we don’t want coming out of the ground because it’s going to affect everything around us — the trees, the land, the animals, the people. It’s not going to stop.”

But a U.S. Geological Survey from 2021 showed that most springs and wells in areas of Northern Arizona known for its uranium mining meet federal drinking water standards despite decades of mining. 

Currently there are no uranium mines operating in Arizona, though one just south of Grand Canyon National Park has been in development for years, the report says. 

Buster Johnson, a Mohave County supervisor, told Fortune that the monument feels like its politically driven and that mining uranium could make the country less dependent on Russia. 

He concluded: “We need uranium for the security of our country. We’re out of the game.”