Urge Senators: Sponsor Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act

The Colorado River - not just for rafting

The Colorado River. the primary river of the Southwest, flows through the Grand Canyon.  The Colorado River provides water to over 30 million people and to nearly two million acres of farmland in Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming, collectively known as the seven Colorado River "Basin States." We must safeguard the Grand Canyon and this vital waterways permanently. 

On Tuesday, June 4th, Sierra Club joined U.S. Representative Raúl Grijalva, Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee; leaders from Indigenous nations; local elected officials; veterans; and conservation groups in supporting H.R.1373 - Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act.

The bill is sponsored by Congressman Grijalva and now co-sponsored by more than 100 other members of Congress, including Representatives O’Halleran, Gallego, Kirkpatrick, and Stanton from Arizona. The Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act, will make the 20-year mining moratorium established in 2012 permanent. All told, the legislation would protect approximately one million acres of public lands north and south of the Grand Canyon from toxic mining.

See more in this short video. If you haven't already, please use the button below to send a message to Arizona Senators asking for their sponsorship of this bill.

Ask Your Senators to Protect Grand Canyon

The news conference in Washington, DC was followed by a hearing on June 5th where Carletta Tilousi, Councilwoman with the Havasupai Tribe; Coral Evans, Mayor of Flagstaff; and Amber Reimondo with Grand Canyon Trust, testified in support of the bill. Representatives Grijalva, O’Halleran, and Gallego from Arizona were also there to speak in support of the bill.

Let's put an end to uranium mining near the Grand Canyon once and for all. Please spread the word and ask our senators to sponsor the Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act!

- Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter

Urge your Rep to oppose these BAD Amendments to the Appropriations Bill

Today, Wednesday July 18, Congress is anticipated to be voting on amendment 63 to the Department of Interior Appropriations bill that would deeply undercut Ironwood Forest National Monument. (Rep. Paul Gosar's amendment defunds Arizona's Ironwood National Forest)

While researching the Department of Interior Appropriations bill, a Sustainable Tucson activist uncovered some other disastrous amendments (below.) 

Please, call your Representative now and ask them to oppose the amendments to the Department of Interior Appropriations bill that you disapprove of.  Read off the numbers of the amendments you want them to oppose. 

To find the district for your Representative, click here.

To find their contact information, click here. 

Key AZ representatives to contact regarding your opposition to amendment 63 are Paul Gosar himself (202-225-2315), Martha McSally (202-225-2542), Tom O’Halleran (202-225-3361) and Kyrsten Sinema (202-225-9888).

Bad Amendments to the Department of Interior Appropriations bill

33. Eliminates funding for Diesel Emission Reduction Grants and sends the savings to the spending reduction account.

38. Transfers funds from the Forest Service land acquisition account to the spending reduction account.

39. Reduces funding for the National Endowment on the Arts and the Humanities by 15 percent.

43. Prohibits the use of funds for enforcing the Obama Administration's EPA Methane Rule.

44. Prohibits funds from implementing the Social Cost of Carbon rule.

47. Prohibits funds from being used to regulate trailers under the Clean Air Act.

48. Prohibits the use of funds to implement or enforce the threatened species listing of the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse under the Endangered Species Act.

50. Prohibits the Environmental Protection Agency from using any funds to take retaliatory, or EPA described “backstop” actions, against any of the six states in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed in the event that a state does not meet the goals mandated by the EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load.

56. Prohibits funds made available by this Act to be used to implement or enforce the EPA’s ground level ozone rule.

59. Prohibits the EPA from using funds to give formal notification under, or prepare, propose, implement, administer, or enforce any rule or recommendation pursuant to, section 115 of the Clean Air Act.

61. Ensures that none of the funds made available by this Act may be used for the Environmental Protection Agency.

63. Bar funds to carry out the Ironwood Forest National Monument proclamation

66. Prevents the enforcement of limitations or prohibitions on the use of genetically modified crops in commercial agricultural operations conducted on National Wildlife Refuges.

69. States that no funds should be made available for Environmental Justice Small Grants issued by the Office of Environmental Justice.