(The Center Square) – Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, has filed a legal brief against a federal decision designating almost 1 million acres as a national monument.
In 2023, former President Joe Biden issued the decree for areas around the Grand Canyon that have religious significance for local Native American communities.
The Arizona Legislature originally filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration to oppose this decision in 2024. However, in January 2025, a federal judge dismissed the case, arguing that the lawmakers did not have standing.
Petersen’s legal brief, filed on behalf of the Legislature, seeks to reverse the decision by the U.S. District Court for Arizona. Petersen’s brief was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, based in San Francisco.
The Senate president’s legal brief argues that the federal court erred in its decision, saying the Legislature does have authority due to the state Constitution’s Distribution of Powers clause.
In addition, Petersen said the Biden administration violated the Antiquities Act, which lets presidents protect small portions of federal land due to their historical significance.
The legal brief states that Biden’s decision to preserve nearly 1 million acres “permanently entombs” one of America’s largest uranium deposits. Furthermore, the decision will prevent roads and infrastructure from being built in an area the size of Rhode Island, it says.
“Fewer jobs will be created due to the mining ban, and Arizona and local governments will not collect the billions of dollars in tax revenue that the jobs and mining activities would have generated,” Petersen wrote.
His brief cites a 2009 study showing uranium mining in Northern Arizona would provide $29 billion to the local economies.
And Petersen argued that the ban on uranium mining will make America’s nuclear energy industry more reliant on importing the product from other countries.
In addition, Petersen said, “State Trust Land is effectively marooned because it is surrounded by federal land governed by the prohibitions on new roads and infrastructure.”
The legal brief says the Biden administration’s decision strips the Arizona Legislature’s authority to manage State Trust Lands, which was land given to Arizona by the federal government during the time of its statehood.
These pieces of public land are used to generate revenue for public purposes to fund things such as schools and hospitals. Arizona has 9.2 million acres of these lands.
The legal brief also says that designating nearly 1 million acres as a federal monument will threaten the water supply of Arizona local governments.
Petersen said local governments’ water usage is “almost certain to run up against the federal water reservation,” with the federal reserved water winning that conflict.
In a statement regarding the ongoing legal challenge, Petersen said Biden and his administration “abused their constitutional authority on countless levels.”
“As we have argued throughout this case, Biden’s maneuver had nothing to do with protecting actual artifacts,” Petersen explained. “This was an attempt to halt all mining, ranching and other local uses of federal lands that are critical to our energy independence from adversary foreign nations, our food supply and the strength of our economy.”
He added that state Republicans will continue to fight to free Arizona from the “grasp radical environmentalists had over the previous administration.”
Petersen also noted he is working with the Trump administration to “end this legal battle.”
Other plaintiffs who joined Petersen in this lawsuit include House Speaker Steve Montenegro, R-Goodyear; Mohave County and State Treasurer Kimberly Yee, who’s a Republican.
