In the garden outside the Arizona Capitol, conservation advocates assembled the morning of June 27, ready to deliver 17,557 letters demanding that Gov. Katie Hobbs intervene in the operation of the Pinyon Plain uranium mine near the Grand Canyon.
They waited to see if she would meet them or at least send someone from her team.
The activists, a diverse coalition of organizations including the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, Chispa, Haul No!, the Wilderness Society, Poder Latinx and more, gathered in a circle in the company of DineĢ and Havasupai tribal members, sharing words of encouragement before entering the government building.
Once inside, the group lined up in front of the cameras to express their concerns.
They talked about the threat of groundwater contamination and the need to protect the Grand Canyon and the people who rely on its waters from potential risks that should not be taken.
Carletta Tilousi, a former council member of the Havasupai Tribe, approached the reception desk along with Sandy Bahr, director of the Sierra Club Grand Canyon chapter. Together, they handed over a black box with the radioactive warning symbol drawn on the lid. The box contained some printed paper documents and thousands of petitions in digital format.