Federal officials this week met with elected officials and Arizona citizens to discuss a proposed 1.1 million-acre national monument in northern Arizona. And Mojave County officials want nothing to do with it.
A public meeting was held in Flagstaff on Tuesday, where officials from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forestry Service met to discuss proposed new national monuments, including land west of the Grand Canyon. The monument represents more than a decade of efforts by tribes in Arizona and Nevada to ask the federal government to protect lands west of the Grand Canyon from mining interests, and if such a monument is installed by President Biden under the Antiquities Act of 1905, protection could be granted this year.
But nearly half of the land included in the proposed national monument is in Mojave County, where the Mojave County Board of Trustees publicly opposed the bill this year, and a similar proposal was made in 2017 under former President Barack Obama. Mojave County Supervisors Gene Bishop and Travis Lingenfelter traveled to Flagstaff on Tuesday to comment on the proposal. Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument.
Mojave County Officials Feel Excluded From Proceedings
Of the proposed 1.1 million acre national monument, more than 400,000 acres are in the Lingenfelter area of Mojave County. But, according to Lingenfelter, Mojave County has largely been left out of the discussion.
“In May, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland met with Coconino County officials and tribesmen to discuss proposed memorials,” Lingenfelter said. “We were not informed of anything, we were not invited… After contacting BLM last week, we received an invitation to attend a public rally in Flagstaff. It feels like Mojave County has been intentionally left out of the process.”
The Lingenfelter district has one of the world’s largest uranium deposits. And if the land is designated a national monument, Mojave County officials have long said the decision could deprive Mojave County and southern Utah of $29 billion worth of economic resources from mining opportunities west of the Grand Canyon.
In 2012, President Obama imposed a 20-year mining moratorium on land in Mojave and Coconino counties that would be surrounded by a new national monument, but Lingenfelter said the decision may have been rushed out of fear of potential environmental damage. But Ringenfelter said U.S. Geological Survey data suggests that damage to local water supplies from mining may be unfounded. And Lingenfelter says making President Obama’s moratorium permanent based on the proposed national monument may only harm or further isolate rural communities within his constituency.
Coach and Gossar face home crowd at Coconino
Efforts to protect lands around the Grand Canyon were led this year by the Grand Canyon Tribal Alliance, whose members include representatives of the Havasupai, Hopi, Hualapai, Navajo and Colorado River Indian tribes.
Members of these tribes and others gathered in Flagstaff on Tuesday to deliver speeches in support of the Baj Nwabjo Ita Kukuveni Grand Canyon National Monument. Lingenfelter and Bishop said the attendees were not very welcoming of those who opposed the proposed monument.
“The audience was not friendly,” Lingenfelter said this week. “Having a public meeting in Mojave County might give[federal officials]a broader perspective on the issue.”
At Tuesday’s meeting, Bishop said those who spoke out against the memorial, including representatives from the office of US Congressman Paul Gossar, were jeered.
Gossar was in Washington, D.C. this week and was unable to attend Tuesday’s meeting in Flagstaff. Pugh made a statement at the meeting against the monument proposal.
“This move represents a recent large-scale land grabbing campaign by the Biden administration that will have a devastating impact on Mojave County,” Pugh said. “This proposal circumvents the powers of Congress and threatens Americans’ access to and use of federal lands. Moreover, this proposal has never been coordinated with Mojave County officials, and this designation permanently changes that community.”
Pugh said the proposed national monument designation appears to show the Biden administration’s lack of concern for stakeholder interests in promoting radical “environmental justice.”
Pugh was eventually booed by those who attended the meeting.
Regulators want Mojave County land out of monument proposal
Following the events of Thursday’s public meeting, Mr. Bishop said one thing was clear. The debate represented not only a division of interest, but a division between Coconino and Mojave County residents.
“The meeting was unpleasant,” Bishop said. “The majority of the people there were in favor of the memorial being put up…they booed me too.We asked if we could hold a public meeting at Kingman in the future…they suggested holding a virtual meeting for Mojave County.It was a very chilling experience.”
Bishop and Lingenfelter seem to have come to the same conclusion this week in a proposal they presented to federal officials on Tuesday.
“We can support the Grand Canyon National Monument in Coconino County, but we can also exclude Mojave County,” Bishop said.
Lingenfelter met with officials at a preliminary meeting before hearings on Tuesday and presented U.S. Geological Survey data to allay concerns about the potential damage future mining could cause in the area. Coconino County residents may not have been reassured by the data, but for Lingenfelter, it may just be Coconino County’s problem.
“I have asked the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service to remove Mojave County from the boundaries of the National Monument,” Ringenfelter said. “If the monument is only in Coconino County, we will try to establish basic regulations to ensure that groundwater sources remain healthy.”
Lingenfelter said as of this week, the BLM has indicated its intention to host a virtual public meeting to discuss the proposed national monument with Mojave County residents. It was not yet clear as of this week whether Mojave County would host public in-person meetings.
