New Arizona National Monument is ‘Frustrating News’ For Utah Gov. Cox Climate Change Lawsuits More Than Double in Five Years

BY AMY JOI O’DONOGHUE / DESERET NEWS

At a time when the Biden administration is pursuing a carbon-free economy and pouring millions upon millions of dollars into the development of next generation nuclear technology, the Tuesday designation of a new national monument in Arizona is confounding to Utah Governor Spencer J. Cox.

The monument designation locks up the richest uranium deposits in the United States for future mining in the Grand Canyon area. Uranium is needed for nuclear fuel and the area is rich in other deposits.

“They (monument designations) also needlessly restrict access to the critical minerals that are key to cellphones, satellites, U.S. defense systems and so many other American industries,” Cox said in a statement.

“This monument designation is frustrating news, especially for residents of Utah along the Arizona strip. As I’ve said many times before, massive, landscape-scale monuments like this are a mistake. These designations increase visitation without providing any additional resources for law enforcement and infrastructure to protect sensitive areas.”

On his visit to Arizona amid a trip in the West that includes a stop Wednesday in Utah, Biden designated the 917,000 acre Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument in Arizona, bordering the nearby Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in the Kane County area but also encompassing lands south of Washington County.

It potentially impacts Hildale, which straddles the border of Arizona and Utah.

Cultural preservation

The monument designation had been sought by a number of Native American tribes to protect cultural resources in the region, numbering in the thousands. Those tribes include members of the Havasupai, Hopi and Hualapai tribes, as well as the Kaibab Paiute Tribe, the Las Vegas Band of Paiute, the Moapa Band of Paiutes, the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, the Navajo Nation, the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe, the Yavapai-Apache Nation, the Pueblo of Zuni, and the Colorado River Indian Tribes.

Creation of the monument also had support by Arizona’s top political leaders such as Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Arizona, and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Arizona.

The new monument brought praise from environmental groups and some recreational organizations.

“The establishment of this monument is driven by a large group of tribes, and it is both timely and critical that their narrative be a central part of the story of what makes this area magnificent and worthy of greater protection and respect,” said Director of Campaigns Lauren Bogard with the Center for Western Priorities.

The designation brought praise in terms of its ability to protect against future mining.

“The area and watershed surrounding Grand Canyon National Park has been at risk from a resurgence of uranium mining, threatening ancestral tribal homelands, wildlife, and limited clean water supplies. This move provides permanent protections that will conserve valuable U.S. landscapes for generations to come,” said Nicole Gentile, senior director of conservation at the Center for American Progress.

Collin O’Mara, chief executive officer of the National Wildlife Federation, said the action is protective of tribes and wildlife.

“Generations of Indigenous Peoples and other residents of Arizona carry with them the mistakes of dangerous uranium mining. The creation of the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni — Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument — cannot make them whole, but it will help spare future generations of people and wildlife from irreparable harm,” he said.

The tug-of-war over public lands

Utah Senator Mitt Romney, R-Utah, did not echo the praise of environmental groups, citing the area’s extreme importance in the area of mining resources critical for the nation.

“The Arizona Strip is one of the most productive uranium mining districts in the country.

By eliminating this important source of uranium, President Biden has increased both our dependence on Russia and China and our ultimate carbon footprint, while decreasing our energy efficiency. It is disappointing that with this proclamation, the president has once again ignored the concerns of those who live closest to the land.”

The prohibitions on new mining are against a backdrop of a uranium mining ban around the Grand Canyon issued under the Obama administration.

In a listening session in July, impacts to ranchers were also expressed as a concern over the designation.

“Although the national monument is located within the boundaries of Arizona, portions of the national monument will disproportionately affect ranchers in southern Utah by including a remote region of the state known as the Arizona Strip,” wrote Ron Gibson, president of the Utah Farm Bureau. “The Arizona Strip is geographically separated from the rest of Arizona, is sparsely populated and is culturally tied to Utah.”

Gibson pointed out that many ranchers in Kane and Washington counties graze their cattle at higher altitudes in southern Utah and later winter in the lower elevations found on the Arizona Strip.

Both Utah politicians — Cox and Romney — said they wish politics would stay out of the game of monument designations.

“National monuments have become a political football tossed back and forth as presidential administrations change,” Romney said, adding the designation continues the cycle of Antiquities Act abuse by the executive branch.

Cox said these monument creations need to be done a different way.

“I still believe the only right way to create large new land designations is through Congress in coordination with local leaders and residents, a process that brings all voices to the table and offers the necessary funding,” he said. ▫

BY GLORIA DICKIE/ RUETERS

The number of court cases related to climate change has more than doubled in five years as impacts ranging from shrinking water resources to dangerous heatwaves hit home for millions, a report said in late July.

Some 2,180 climate-related lawsuits have been filed across 65 jurisdictions over the past five years, according to the report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and New York’s Columbia University, which tracks ongoing climate cases in a global database.

As of 2017, there were just 884 cases documented in 24 jurisdictions, the report said.

“We’re seeing a huge increase in the number of cases,” said Maria Antonia Tigre, a senior fellow in global climate litigation at Columbia’s Sabin Center, who said the number of cases filed per year has doubled in the past five years.

While the United States still dominates with more than 1,500 cases, other countries are seeing increases. About 17 percent of cases have been filed in developing countries, according to the report, with rainforest-rich Brazil and Indonesia among the countries seeing the most.

As the public looks to governments and corporations to curb greenhouse gas emissions – and suffers the consequences when they don’t — “people are increasingly turning to the courts for answers,” said Andrew Raine, head of UNEP’s international environmental law unit.

In a landmark 2021 ruling, a Dutch court ordered Shell to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 45 percent from 2019 levels by 2030.

And thousands of elderly Swiss women have taken a case to the European Court of Human Rights, alleging their government’s “woefully inadequate” climate efforts have violated their human rights.

Many cases involve claims based on accusations of corporate greenwashing or advocating for greater climate disclosures. Some seek to hold governments to account for not enforcing climate-related laws and policies.

But experts said they expect more “backlash” cases in future as companies seek to protect fossil fuel operations and assets, as well as more cases brought forward by vulnerable groups suffering extreme weather impacts from climate change.

Youth climate activists have already played a central role, with 34 cases brought forward on behalf of children, teens, and young adults. Litigation targeting the disruptive actions of climate activists is also on the rise, Tigre said.

Reporting by Gloria Dickie in Toronto; Editing by Conor Humphries ▫