Interior Sec’y on Biden AZ Mining Move Helping China, Russia, Hurting Climate: ‘We’re Going with the Status Quo’

On Tuesday’s “PBS NewsHour,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland responded to concerns that a new national monument around the Grand Canyon designated by President Joe Biden earlier that day will block uranium mining and increase American dependence on China and Russia and actually increase emissions by stating that there was collaboration on the move, “we’re going with the status quo. The land’s already been protected.” And mining operations that are already running can continue.

Co-host Amna Nawaz asked, “[I]n Arizona, there is broad support for the move that President Biden made today. But there are some concerns from local ranchers and from others. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) says renters in southern Utah will also be impacted. He also expressed concerns about U.S. energy independence. He said, ‘By eliminating this important source of uranium, President Biden has increased both our dependence on Russia and China and our ultimate carbon footprint[.]’ Is he wrong?”

Haaland responded, “Well, I’ll address the collaboration issue first. We had many public meetings. This is what you’d call collaborative conservation, where tribes and organizations and people get together and work towards something that they want. But this hasn’t — this didn’t just happen since President Biden came into office. This is a decades-long, step by step, one step forward, another half-baby step forward, people have been working on this issue for decades. And we’re happy that we’re able to get it done under this administration. With respect to the lands that are conserved as a national monument, it doesn’t — it excludes valid existing rights. So, people who have valid existing rights within that area will keep those. That includes folks who have current mining operations for those claims.”

She continued, “Additionally, we should all know — and I think most people do know — that this land has already been — it’s — we’re going with the status quo. The land’s already been protected. It had a 20-year withdrawal on these parcels of land. And there are places to mine and there are places not to mine. And this area, as I said, with the bones of these tribal ancestors, with thousands of cultural sites and ecosystems that sustain wildlife and species that we don’t see every day, those places are too special to mine.”

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