One of my favorite Latino Congressional Representatives, Raul Grijalva, from the Grand Canyon State, is back in the news. A few days ago, he introduced legislation to stop the mining of uranium and other minerals on 1 million acres around the Grand Canyon Park. Currently, there is mining exploration going on in both the North and South Rims of the canyon. Environmental impact studies on both of these sites have not yet been conducted. Last June, this blog honored Rep. Grijalva as Latino Legislator of the Week for similar efforts in preserving this natural wonder by utilizing a rarely used parliamentary rule to issue an emergency declaration.
Additionally, there are uranium sites on nearby Navajo lands that haven’t been cleaned up. It has been a tragedy for this community. This youtube sheds some light on what the Navajos have experienced in nearby New Mexico when mining interests are allowed to run amok.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Michaelr // Jan 25, 2009 at 1:51 am
Bravo to Raul Grijalva…the only member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that actually practices public service. I wonder how many CHC members are going to support him and this particular bill. I am sure Loretta Sanchez will be nowhere to be found when the vote comes up on Capitol Hill.
2 Reyfeo // Jan 26, 2009 at 6:53 pm
I too applaud his efforts as I appreciate the wonder and beauty of the Grand Canyon, but is this all our congressional latino leaders can lead on or try to tackle? Surely we have bigger fish to fry then this?
3 Michaelr // Jan 26, 2009 at 9:33 pm
As a group the Congressional Hispanic Caucus doesn’t generate a lot of legislation, they miss more votes on Capitol Hill as compared to the Congressional Black Caucus, and they tend to work against each other on numerous issues. According to http://www.govtrack.us/congress Grace Napolitano- 38th District has only sponsored 12 bills since 1999, 10 have never made it out of committee, and only one has been enacted. What does she do there in DC? Sell Avon and Mary Kay products during committee sessions and take siestas? Loretta Sanchez- 47th District has only sponsored 57 bills since 1997. That’s 4.75 bills per year. 53 of those bills have not made it out of committee, and 2 of the 4 bills that became House Resolutions were frivolous. One honored Luciano Pavarotti, HR 708, and the other honored the Anaheim Ducks, HR 471. Which I am sure made everyone in her district exceedingly happy. Hilda Solis- 32nd District has sponsored the same amount of bills as Loretta Sanchez, but she’s done it in less time (3 years difference), and more (6) have been enacted. Several GOP Senators are making a mess of her nomination as President Obama’s Secretary of Labor, so there’s a slight possibility she’ll be back. Joe Baca- 43rd District, Loretta Sanchez’s nemesis has sponsored 95 bills since 1999. However, 89 bills have not made it out of committee. So it appears Joe likes to keep busy generating paper. And that’s just the highlights. If more people were interested in what these elected officials did with their time and our money, there would be more accountability, less waste, and lower taxes because they would be under a microscope. However, American culture provides so much misdirection; we’re more interested in what Kobe Bryant does, than how your taxes are spent. All that seems so intentional.
4 Reyfeo // Jan 27, 2009 at 6:46 am
Well put MichaelR!
5 losangelessoldadera // Jan 28, 2009 at 10:49 am
To Michealr: This is actually my first time on the site, and I found your comment insightful to say the least. I look forward to reading more.
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