As one of his first in-office moves this week, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is calling for the review and potential rollback of protections on federal lands, including national monuments.
The Center for Biological Diversity Southwest Director Taylor McKinnon said the order targets both national monuments and mineral withdrawals, federal land policies that block new mining claims on public land, on more than 900,000 acres of protected land, including the recently established Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni, or Ancestral Footsteps of the Grand Canyon, National Monument.
“It puts both Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni National Monument potentially on the chopping block,” said McKinnon, “and also its underlying withdrawal that provides for 20 years of protection.”
Amber Reimondo, the Grand Canyon Trust’s energy director on Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni, said even just assessing the land’s mining potential isn’t ideal.
“You can damage a lot of cultural landscapes before you even get to the commercial aspect of the activity,” said Reimondo.
Pinyon Plain Mine just miles south of the Grand Canyon, she said, has seen commercial activity for less than two years.
“Even before the mining had started,” Reimondo explained, “back in 2016 the mine struck groundwater and has created this ongoing environmental concern that has caused tribes and community members a lot of alarm.”
Given that efforts to bring down or shrink monuments are widely unpopular across the aisle, advocates said any moves to actually shrink monuments will likely meet loud public resistance.
