Ranchers suing President Joe Biden for creating a national monument in Arizona that prohibits mining or other uses on nearly 1 million acres of land told the Daily Caller News Foundation. In response, he said he hoped the monument would “go away.”
President Joe Biden on Aug. 8 created the “Burge Nwabujo Ita Kukuveni – Grand Canyon National Monument Ancestral Footprints,” which he praised as a step forward in efforts to “protect tribal lands.”Pacific Law Foundation It has been submitted According to reports, DCNF filed a lawsuit on February 12 to revoke the designation on behalf of rancher Chris Heaton, who was interviewed on Wednesday. release.
“I would like to see the monument removed and a court declare the monument illegal,” Heaton told DCNF during an interview. “It means the president didn't have the authority to do what the president did.” (Related: Biden says he traveled 'tens of thousands of miles' through combat zone)
“I think the monument should be removed,” Heaton reiterated.
Maya Tirushi, a member of the Hopi, Havasupai, Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes of the Grand Canyon, is photographed by Joe Biden at Red Butte Airfield, 25 miles (40 km) south of Tusayan, Arizona, on August 8, 2023. Shake hands with the president. Biden announced he would put the brakes on uranium mining near the Grand Canyon. (Photo by Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
“The President's pen move exposed him to severe regulatory burdens and the threat of criminal penalties for his daily activities on the ranch,” the lawsuit filed on behalf of Heaton said.
“Mr. Heaton maintains several springs and regularly removes tamarack trees to prevent their roots from sucking up the water supply. Removal of trees is a criminal offense under the Antiquities Act “As a result, Mr. Heaton may be subject to criminal prosecution,” the filing states.
Biden noted the importance of the land to local Native American tribes. fact sheet About the designation. The Biden administration's actions have blocked new uranium mining claims on about 1 million acres of land, leaving some deposits of the mineral essential for nuclear energy untouched.
Heaton and Pacific Law Foundation attorney Frank Garrison also called for legal reform. antiquities laworiginally passed in 1906.
“When it comes to reform, I think we need to define in more detail exactly what that is,” Garrison told DCNF. “Essentially, the president is designating ecosystems and landscapes that are not actually objects. They are certainly not objects in the normal sense of the law.”
“That requires some sort of process,” Garrison added. “So when a government agency does something like a marine monument or a marine sanctuary, they have to go through a process. They have to go through notice and comment, and they have to make sure that designating something is open to everyone. They need to provide public input on exactly what the impact will be. Under antiquities law, the president doesn't have to do that. So they just write something up and then They just force it, and no one has any say in the matter.”
Heaton noted that ranchers in the region were only available for a public hearing on the proposed monument in Flagstaff, Arizona, and that there was no consultation with ranchers before Biden's declaration.
Asked if he had been consulted by ranchers, Heaton said: “Nothing.” Heaton noted that the local Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was unaware of the designation.
The rancher told DNCF that his family has lived in the northern Arizona area since the late 1800s, but that his grandfather established the 50,000-acre Y-Cross Ranch, which has about 200 cattle grazing in the area. He said he expressed concern about the relationship between ranchers in the country. Areas and BLM are subject to change.
“My grandfather always said that in the ranching world here in Arizona, there are three things that really impact the ranching world: one is the weather; The price of cattle, and the third thing is the relationship with BLM,” Heaton told DCNF.
View of the Grand Canyon from the South Rim on August 24, 2020. (Photo by Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images)
“So, of course, with the creation of this national monument, our concern now is the partnership with BLM or the federal government,” Heaton added.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DCNF.
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