Joe Biden will draw on an awe-inspiring backdrop Tuesday to present himself as an environmental champion: At the Grand Canyon, the US president will formally unveil a nearby protected area designed to curb uranium mining.
Biden, who is kicking off a three-day tour of the American southwest, is due to sign the birth certificate for a new national monument — a term which designates that an area’s natural wealth, historical significance and economic interest have earned it special protection status.
The land, in Arizona, has long been cherished by local Native American tribes, who hold it in high spiritual significance and have sought curbs on mining activity around the sweeping, spectacular river valley for decades.
The monument will be known as Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni — Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon. The name is derived from phrases in the languages of the Havasupai Indians and the Hopi, which translate to “where Indigenous peoples roam” and “our ancestral footprints.”
It will conserve nearly one million acres (about 405,000 hectares) made up of three distinct areas surrounding the Grand Canyon, an immense gorge up to 6,000 feet (1,800 meters) deep carved by the Colorado River into endless strata of colorful rock. The Grand Canyon, a world famous tourist attraction, was formalized as a national park in 1919.
‘Climate resilience’
According to the White House, the area’s protected status will now prohibit new uranium mining projects on the site, without affecting existing mining rights.
Biden is due to announce the monument’s designation and discuss his conservation agenda in a speech at the Grand Canyon at 11:00 am (1700 GMT) before the Democrat enjoys his own moment of contemplation at the rim of an iconic landscape of the American West.
The White House on Tuesday also announced a $44 million accompanying investment to “strengthen climate resilience” across the country’s national parks system — coming as southwestern states, Arizona in particular, bake under a brutal, record-setting heat wave and drought crisis.
The trip, also seen as a campaign swing for the 80-year-old leader who is running for reelection, marks the anniversary of the signing last August 16 of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a mammoth package of climate investments and other programs that has become the centerpiece of his first term in office.
Polls
Biden regularly describes climate change as an “existential threat,” and criticizes his Republican opponents for failure to act on the issue.
The IRA funnels some $370 billion into subsidies for America’s energy transition, including tax breaks for US-made electric vehicles and batteries — domestic incentives that have irked US trading partners.
Since the climate law was signed, some $75 billion in new manufacturing investments have been announced, according to policy analyst Jack Conness of think tank Energy Innovation: Policy and Technology.
Biden will be emphasizing new factories and his “Bidenomics” economic agenda on Wednesday when he visits New Mexico, followed by a Thursday trip to Utah, where he will highlight programs that help military veterans.
It remains unclear whether the investment gains are translating into clear optimism on the ground, with a Gallup poll in June finding that 66 percent of Americans say the economy is getting worse.
And more than half of Americans — 57 percent — disapprove of Biden’s handling of climate change, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll conducted last month. The survey also found that few adults said they knew a good amount or great deal about the IRA.
“Polls don’t tell the whole story,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday. “The hope is that we’ll get our message out.”
Aside from touting his environmental initiatives, Biden’s Grand Canyon expedition comes with electoral incentives.
He narrowly won Arizona in 2020, and it is among the handful of states expected to be decisive in determining next year’s presidential election.
