A suit has been filed in the U.S. District Court in Arizona to block an initiative announced last year by President Biden to preserve nearly 1 million acres of land near the Grand Canyon.
In August, Biden sign a proclamation officially establishing the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni -Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument and declaring that the acreage is sacred tribal land worthy of federal protection.
In a statement issued from the White House at the time of the Biden announcement, Amelia Flores, chairwoman of the Colorado River Indian Tribes, said the designation honored “the tribal connections to the surrounding lands and water and the value of tribal stewardship in protecting the waters that flow through the Grand Canyon down to our reservation.”
But now two Arizona legislative leaders are charging that Biden went beyond his legal authority in setting the land aside, while also noting the economic consequences of the decision.
The Biden move, said Republican Arizona Senate President Warren Peterson in a statement, will effectively halt “all mining, ranching, and other local uses of federal lands that are critical to our energy independence from adversary foreign nations, our food supply, and the strength of our economy.”
The lawsuit filed by Peterson and Arizona Republican House Speaker Ben Toma has been joined by the Arizona cities of Colorado City and Fredonia, as well as larger Maricopa County.
A core argument behind the litigation centers on the federal Antiquities Act, which Biden said gave him the authority to preserve the land in question. That act, the litigants contend, is only meant to be used in the protection of small historical landmarks on federal lands.
The Antiquities Act, the suit asserts, which was signed into law in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt, was never meant to be applied to vast swaths of land.
It is not known when the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona will make a ruling in the case.
By Garry Boulard
