Overview
- A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday upheld the dismissal of Arizona leaders’ challenge for lack of standing, keeping Biden’s 2023 Grand Canyon-area monument and the ban on new mining in place.
- The judges said claims of lost tax revenue were too speculative because they hinge on future uranium prices and whether companies would choose to mine years from now.
- The court rejected Colorado City’s fear of reduced water supplies because the proclamation does not change any existing water rights.
- The Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni monument covers nearly one million acres around the Grand Canyon, was proclaimed in August 2023 after decades of tribal advocacy, and blocks new mining on those federal lands.
- Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes praised the ruling as a win for tribes and the state, while Senate President Warren Petersen vowed to keep fighting and said he is working with the Trump administration to try to undo the designation.