Congressman Ruben Gallego, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, traveled four hours and eight miles to the remote Havasupai Reservation to hear concerns.
SUPAI, Ariz. — A small tribe that has lived at the bottom of the Grand Canyon for centuries is warning of an impending threat to the world-famous waterfall and its very existence.
“Please don’t forget us,” Tribal Council Vice Chairman Armando Marshall said in an interview in the tribal village of Supai. “We’re in a hole at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. We’re humans just like everyone else in the world, and we don’t want to go extinct.”
For the past 40 years, the tribe has battled the presence of companies mining uranium on their ancestral lands on the Canyon Plateau.
The battle became even more intense this year with the start of operations at the Pinyon Plain mine.
“Uranium mining needs to stop,” Democratic U.S. Senate candidate and Congressman Ruben Gallego said during a campaign trip to the tribe’s remote reservation. “They fear that if that mine were to spill, the source could be destroyed.”
Mine management said there were “no new facts” to justify closing the mine.
12 News journalist Brahm Reznik and investigative producer Katie Wilcox were campaigning with Gallego. It was an 8 mile, 4 hour hike to Supai, deep on the side of the valley.
The reservation is the most remote community in the lower 48 states. The only ways to get in and out are by mule, helicopter, or on foot.
Gallego had made good on his promise to visit all 22 tribal nations in Arizona. The Havasupai Tribe was the 20th and the most difficult journey yet.
“This kind of relief work is important,” Gallego said as he hiked. “Especially if you want to rule.”
Native American votes influenced
Arizona’s 300,000 Native voters will play a pivotal role in determining who governs after the November election. Tribal members helped deliver Arizona to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.
As vice president, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is being courted by the Biden administration in the Gila River Indian Community near Phoenix.
Gallego’s Republican rival, Kari Lake, has focused her campaign on the Navajo Nation, Arizona’s largest tribe.
Spy Village may be the smallest Democratic stronghold in the state.
According to the Coconino County Recorder’s Office, 152 people were registered to vote in 2020, but only 62 voted in the presidential election.
Joe Biden won the village with 57 votes. Donald Trump received 5 points.
“You know, their voices deserve to be heard,” Gallego said.
Cleanup efforts after deadly floods
12News heard tribal members’ concerns about uranium mining and took stock of Havasu Valley cleanup efforts after a deadly flash flood that killed a Gilbert hiker in August.
Hikers are back, flocking to the stunning turquoise waterfall that gives the tribe its name.
Flood debris was still scattered as the team approached Supai.
However, the trail was being repaired and the campground near Mooney Falls seemed full.
Anthropologists say a tribe of about 500 people has lived in this area deep within the Grand Canyon for more than 800 years.
The sacred turquoise waters support life and there is also a thriving tourism industry that attracts hikers from all over the world for bucket list treks.
Uranium mining on the Canyon Plateau is seen as an existential threat to that way of life.
The tribe has been fighting the uranium mines of Pinyon Plains for more than 40 years. They are concerned that uranium mining will contaminate groundwater.
The mine site is south of Tusayan, the gateway to the Grand Canyon.
The Havasupai Reservation is located below the canyon rim and is separated to the west.
Mr. Hobbs and Mr. Mays ask for reconsideration.
Mine owner Energy Fuel Resources began transporting uranium ore from the site in July 2024.
In response to concerns from both the Havasupai and Navajo nations, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Chris Mays asked the U.S. Forest Service to review the 1986 environmental impact report that authorized mining on the land. did.
In a response to 12News, the mine owner said:
“There have been no new facts or science to support a review of environmental impact statements in recent years. Activists have repeatedly lost on facts, science and the law. This is just their latest propaganda. No” and political push. ”
The Kali Lake camp did not respond to requests for comment regarding the uranium mine in Pinyon Plain.
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