Is Sinema’s Canyon bill radioactive for McSally?

Let us begin the year with good news.

Great news, even.

Late in December, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema introduced legislation that would preserve and protect the Grand Canyon in a manner that would last essentially, forever, saying, “Arizona’s economy depends on protecting the Grand Canyon and ensuring it remains a safe and stunning part of our outdoor heritage for generations to come.” Truth.

There are many different and conflicting points of view within our desert paradise, but safeguarding the Canyon, making sure that its unsurpassed beauty and majesty is open and available for our children and all of those who follow is something upon which we can all agree ... with the possible exception of Sen. Martha McSally.

Sinema’s bill puts her in a pickle. Last year, the House passed a similar bill. It was introduced by Arizona Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva. The legislation is meant to permanently ban uranium mining near the canyon, something that environmentalists, native tribes and just about anyone with common sense believes to be a good idea.

The mining industry disagrees, however, and has been lobbying President Donald Trump to give them the go ahead to explore the canyon area.

When reporters asked McSally about this after the House bill was passed she avoided the question.

I’d guess that McSally, like most of us, is awed by the Grand Canyon.

Democrats like to point out that she has taken thousands of dollars from mining interests.

But then, politicians take money from lots of sources, and I don’t particularly believe McSally fears the wealthy operators of mines.

She does, however, fear Donald Trump.

I’d guess that McSally fears the president more than she loves the Canyon, or Arizona. This makes her like every other Republican in Congress, operating more out of fear than principle.

That’s a shame.

But it is our reality.

In a release from Sinema’s office, Muriel Uqualla, Havasupai tribal chairwoman, said of Sinema’s bill, “Thirty years ago, when we first began

fighting against the disastrous effects of uranium mining in our homelands, we were alone in this fight. Sen. Sinema’s announcement earlier today sends a strong message that it is important to protect the Grand Canyon. Not only for the Havasupai people, but for all people, for generations to come.”

The energy program director for the Grand Canyon Trust, Amber Reimondo, added, “There is no reality in which it is worthwhile to endanger the Grand Canyon, the lives and cultures of Indigenous communities, and millions of people and the economies that support them. For those reasons, the Grand Canyon region is, and forever will be, too precious to mine and today we are grateful to Senator Sinema for her leadership in advancing a permanent mining ban around the Grand Canyon.”

That will only happen if the Senate passes Sinema’s bill.

And that will only happen if Republicans like McSally do the right thing.

And that will only happen, it seems, if Donald Trump gives her the okay.