Until last year, the land around the Grand Canyon was under the jurisdiction of Mohave and Coconino counties.
On August 8, President Biden designated Burge Nwavjo Ita Kukuvieni National Monument in August, granting permanent protection to the ancestral lands of Native Americans surrounding the Grand Canyon. However, more than 350,000 acres of that monument are currently located in Mohave County, limiting the area's development potential and access to its mining resources, including one of the world's largest high-grade uranium deposits. Next week, the Mohave County Board of Supervisors will discuss the possibility of a formal challenge to the monument's construction and potential legal action against the Biden administration.
Biden's nomination received widespread support in Coconino County, where about 27% of the population is Native American, but the decision was also made despite opposition from Mohave County officials. Travis Lingenfelter, former Mohave County Board of Supervisors chairman, said the U.S. Department of the Interior consulted Coconino County residents on the proposed national monument last year, but Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland was not proactive in getting Mohave County officials involved. It is said that no effort was made. in discussion.
The Mohave County Board of Supervisors is expected to consider and possibly approve a formal challenge to the monument designation on Monday. According to the resolution, Biden improperly designated the 917,618-acre monument as a “site of historical or scientific interest,” while simultaneously providing the area with the care and management necessary for new federal protections. failed to confine the monument to the smallest possible area.
According to the resolution, the president violated the Antiquities Act of 1906 and the Arizona-New Mexico Enabling Act by restricting and prohibiting the State Trust Act.
The proposed resolution also says the new monument would harm Mohave County, specifically limiting both economic development and mining opportunities within county lines.
In the Arizona state legislature last year, Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Thomas derided the new national monument as an administrative overreach and “dictator-style land grab” and threatened legal action against the Biden administration. was being threatened.
But a similar challenge to Biden's designation of it as a national monument last year failed. In Utah, counties called for scaling back Biden's previous expansion of Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Those lawsuits were dismissed by U.S. District Judge David Nuffer, who said that only Congress has the power to limit the president's power or revoke national monument designations.
Mohave County supervisors are scheduled to discuss the resolution and possible legal action against the Biden administration at their next board meeting in Kingman on Monday.
