The Biden administration announced the creation of a new national monument surrounding the Grand Canyon in the hopes of protecting it from mining and development. But that still won’t stop a controversial mine from producing uranium within the monument’s boundaries.
Biden’s designation of a new national monument is expected to protect nearly 1 million acres of land and stop new mining and development. But with mining rights already grandfathered in, the existing Pinyon Plain Mine is an exception.
The mine has been at the center of a decades-long fight over the future of domestic uranium production and nuclear energy in the US. Uranium has already contaminated land and water in the Southwest, making people sick. The Havasupai Tribe and…
