It looks like next week there's going to be a vote in Congress on whether or not our children and grandchildren will still have the Grand Canyon. A couple of months ago the House Natural Resources Committee approved bills by its chairman, Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) to protect the country's most iconic natural wonder from Trump and his uranium mining special interests. H.R.1373-- the Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act has 122 co-sponsors, although none of them are Republicans. Grijalva's vice-chair on the committee, Deb Haaland (D-NM) explained her support for the bill: "After the extractive industries mine away our natural resources, they should clean up their mess. But uranium mining has had a toxic impact across the southwest, leaving behind thousands of abandoned mine sites on the Navajo Nation leaving taxpayers on the hook for cleanup. Just yesterday I met with several Navajo members who lost family members to the toxic effects of uranium mining and who themselves are suffering with resulting health problems. We cannot allow people to suffer from these preventable impacts simply to do the bidding of the mining industry, and Chairman Grijalva’s bill will protect the Grand Canyon ecosystem and the people who call it home."Sandy Bahr, director of Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter, added "Sierra Club is thrilled to see bills move forward that not only protect the Grand Canyon, but other places as well by removing uranium from the critical minerals list. These are important steps to permanently protect the public lands surrounding the Grand Canyon from uranium mining pollution. Preventing more toxic pollution and cleaning up existing contamination on public, Navajo, Havasupai, and Hopi lands, must be a top priority. We hope Senator Sinema will now show leadership and introduce the Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act in the Senate to establish a legacy of safeguarding Grand Canyon." Brad Powell, president of the Arizona Wildlife Federation added that "A permanent mineral withdrawal around the Grand Canyon is simply the right thing to do. The Grand Canyon is one of the great natural wonders of the world. The lands around it must be protected from the known threats of uranium mining so that future generations will be able to continue to hike, raft, hunt and fish in the area."The bill, if passed by both houses of Congress and signed by Trump, would protect an area of approximately 1 million acres north and south of Grand Canyon National Park from new mineral extraction activities.Grijalva's related bill, H.R. 3405-- Removing Uranium From the Critical Minerals List Act-- is also garnering widespread support. Taken together, the bills represent a concerted effort to end the mining industry’s push for special treatment from the federal government. Amber Reimondo, energy program director at the Grand Canyon Trust told the media that "Nuclear experts say that the U.S. is at no risk of a uranium supply shortage and the majority of Arizona voters, Republicans, Independents, and Democrats, agree that the Grand Canyon region is no place for obtaining uranium. It's time to reject the unwarranted environmental shortcuts uranium is set to receive as a 'critical' mineral, remove uranium from the critical minerals list, and permanently protect the Grand Canyon from the inherent threats of uranium extraction."Randi Spivak, public lands program director at the Center for Biological Diversity explained that Grijalva's bill "protects one of the most famous landmarks in the world. It’s a wonderful gift to all Americans now and in the future. Years from now people will look back and wonder why it was even controversial. For seven decades this region has been afflicted by dangerous uranium pollution. It’s well past time to ensure the life-giving waters and springs of the grandest canyon on Earth will be permanently protected from toxic mining. We applaud Congressman Grijalva and tribal leaders for their years of leadership protecting the Grand Canyon region."Arizona progressive congressional candidate Eva Putzova told me she "supports the bills introduced by Rep Grijalva to protect the areas surrounding the Grand Canyon from Uranium mining and to remove Uranium from the Critical Minerals List Act. For generations, native people, and their natural environment have been poisoned by uranium mining and its disastrous aftereffects. In a sense it has been a continuation of genocidal policies against them. The Grand Canyon must be protected from the greed of the billionaires and their Republican enablers who could care less about the beauty of the Grand Canyon or the lives of those who have lived there and nearby for thousands of years."
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