WASHINGTON — Amid growing lawmaker interest in establishing domestic supplies of rare earth minerals, a coalition of tribal leaders, backed by some members of Congress, is calling on President Joe Biden to extend permanent protections to more than a million acres of land near the Grand Canyon that are home to large uranium ore deposits.
The Grand Canyon Tribal Coalition said that Biden should use his authority under the Antiquities Act to establish a new national monument totaling 1.1 million acres. The proposed Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument includes public lands of ancestral importance to a dozen tribes, and would include cultural and archaeological sites.
House Natural Resources ranking member Raúl M. Grijalva, D-Ariz., and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., have signed on to the effort. Groups such as the Grand Canyon Trust, Trout Unlimited and Earthjustice have also expressed their support.
