US Senator McSally Pressed To Back Grand Canyon Uranium Mining Ban - Native Nations

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th February, 2020) Republican Senator Martha McSally from the US state of Arizona needs to throw her support behind a new bill to ban uranium mining in the Grand Canyon, the National Congress of American Indians and environmental groups said in a press release on Monday.

"The National Congress of American Indians and conservation groups today urged Senator Martha McSally to cosponsor the Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act, which permanently bans new uranium mining across one million acres of public land around Grand Canyon National Park," the release said.

McSally has not yet said whether or not she will vote for the bill that was introduced in December by her fellow senator from Arizona, Democrat Senator Kyrsten Sinema, the release noted.

In October, a companion bill passed the House of Representatives with bipartisan support.

"It followed an effort led by tribal leaders from the Havasupai Tribe with the support of the Hualapai Tribe, Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, National Congress of American Indians and Intertribal Council of Arizona," the release said.

In a letter to McSally, the groups said the region must be protected from new uranium mining because of the risks that such activities presented to the Grand Canyon and the people and economies of the region, the release added.