Grand Canyon Tourism Fuels Arizona’s Economy

 by Amber Reimondo, Energy Director

It’s no secret. Americans love national parks. We hike their peaks, fish their rivers, and sleep under their starry skies. But national parks do more than feed our soul. They feed our economies too.

An economic report released this May shows just how much Grand Canyon National Park adds to local economies in northern Arizona.

According to the report, in 2018, 6.3 million visitors spent nearly $950 million in nearby communities. The impact trickles down throughout the economy too, multiplying the effects. The dollars that visitors spend at restaurants, hotels, and gift shops generate earnings and employment for Arizona residents, as well as tax revenues for the state.

Last year, park visitors and their wallets supported over 12,500 jobs, with the cumulative benefit to the local economy totaling $1.2 billion.

As more and more people from across the world flock to Grand Canyon National Park each year, tourism is becoming the economic engine of the state.

A last-ditch effort to hold on

Meanwhile, the uranium mining industry is wearing blinders to market forces. It is grasping to artificially increase the price of uranium ore in the saturated global market and flailing to stay relevant in an economy that doesn’t need it. And by doing so, they’re putting our healthy and growing tourism and outdoor recreation economy around the Grand Canyon at risk.

Two U.S. uranium companies, one of which has a significant stake in uranium claims on public lands surrounding Grand Canyon National Park and Bears Ears National Monument, petitioned the government last year to require nuclear power plants and government utilities to purchase 25 percent of their radioactive fuel from U.S. mines, thus increasing demand and the market price for uranium.

The Commerce Department provided a report to the White House on the issue this April, triggering a 90-day window for President Trump to decide on the petition. The clock runs out on July 15. If Trump grants the quota, increased mining would threaten the health of our water, air, wildlife, and communities, along with the economic value of Grand Canyon National Park. 

The true price of uranium mining

Uranium mining comes at a cost to the American people — we pay for it with our health and contaminated waters, soil, and air. On the Navajo Nation, more than 1,000 mines and four uranium mills operated during the early atomic era. More than 50 years later, over half of those mine sites are awaiting cleanup after the mining companies abandoned their radioactive messes. 

And who often steps in to foot the cleanup bill? Taxpayers, like you and me. Orphan uranium mine, located on the edge of the south rim of the Grand Canyon, ceased operations around 1970. Its cleanup is ongoing and has cost taxpayers $15 million and counting. And, the National Park Service warns hikers not to drink from Horn Creek, the tributary below the mine, unless “death by thirst is the only other option.”

This Tuesday, June 25, a subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on a newly introduced piece of legislation called the “Uranium Classification Act of 2019,” where they will consider the costs and contamination associated with uranium mining. This bill counters a move by the Trump administration last year that added uranium to a list of minerals deemed critical to national security. The implications of this listing mean relaxed restrictions and increased interest in mining uranium ore in the Grand Canyon region. 

But if we’ve learned anything from the last time the government propped up the industry, it’s that we need more safeguards against uranium contamination, not less. 

This bill, if passed, would remove uranium from the critical minerals list, work toward protecting the Grand Canyon and Colorado Plateau from unsafe and unnecessary uranium mining, and keep our economy in northern Arizona strong into the future.