Grand Canyon Trust is an environmentalist nonprofit organization that advocates for the conservation of the Grand Canyon and surrounding areas. Grand Canyon Trust opposes pursues litigation to prevent conventional and nuclear energy projects in the region. ^{1 2}

Grand Canyon Trust incorporates diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in its advocacy. It states that it incorporates “equity” in its work by advocating for resources to be shared and divided unequally based on the group’s holdings of which groups are most deserving. ³

Background

Grand Canyon Trust is an environmentalist nonprofit organization that was founded in 1985 to advocate for conservation policies related to the Grand Canyon. It has used its mission of conserving the Grand Canyon to advocate against conventional and nuclear energy projects in the region. ^{4 5 6}

Grand Canyon Trust publishes a biannual magazine titled Colorado Plateau Advocate Magazine (also known as Advocate Magazine). The magazine covers conservation of the Grand Canyon and the cultures of local Native American tribes. ⁷

Activities

Conventional Fuel Energy

In December 2020, Grand Canyon Trust co-signed a letter with the Center for Biological Diversity that condemned the Trump administration for approving certain tar-sand oil leases on public land in northeastern Utah. The letter advocates in opposition of oil leases on public land and particularly against leasing tar sands due to the water consumption and for the carbon emissions produced by the extracted fuels. ⁸

In September 2015, Grand Canyon Trust filed a lawsuit against the United States Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management, and Forest Service alongside WildEarth Guardians. ⁹ The lawsuit sought to overturn the sale of 42 million tons of coal in Utah to Bowie Resources due to the approval for the coal lease having originated in 2002. It claimed that the Interior Department did not include “climate implications” in its approval and argues that coal mining should not be approved due to carbon emissions. ¹⁰

In March 2023, a settlement was reached with Bowie Resources’ subsidiary, Canyon Fuel Company, to give up two of the coal leases listed in the lawsuit. It also agreed to use the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) “social cost of greenhouse gases” metric, which assigns a monetary value to the possible environmental cost of carbon emissions produced, and report it to the federal government for them to use to determine if their expansion will be approved for the remaining coal leases. Grand Canyon Trust staff attorney Aaron Paul advocated the use of the social cost metric to disincentivize conventional energy use. ¹¹

Nuclear Energy

Grand Canyon Trust opposes Energy Fuel Resources’ Pinyon Plain Mine in the Grand Canyon region, which is intended to extract uranium in northern Arizona. ¹² It encourages individuals to sign its petition to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Environmental Justice and the U.S. Forest Service, which manages the land. It advises petitioners to oppose the mine based on the mine being considered a “sacred mountain” by a local tribe and that potentially contaminated water from the mine will affect the local ecosystem. ¹³

When questioned by AZCentral in January 2024, Grand Canyon Trust’s energy director Amber Reimondo expressed opposition to the Pinyon Plain Mine due to it being a small-scale mine and because of what it argues to be unknown potential environmental risks. ¹⁴

Leadership

Ethan Aumack is the executive director of Grand Canyon Trust. Aumack began as a volunteer in 1998 and became executive director in 2018. He states that eliminating carbon emissions, as a means of preventing climate change, in the Colorado Plateau is his primary goal for Grand Canyon Trust. ¹⁵

Financials

In 2022, Grand Canyon Trust reported receiving $13.1 million in total revenue. ¹⁶ It also reported $5.9 million in total expenses, including $4.1 million in salaries and compensation of its employees. ¹⁷

1. “Trump Revives Climate-Hostile Tar Sands Push in Utah.” Center for Biological Diversity, December 9, 2020. https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/trump-revives-climate-hostile-tar-sands-push-utah-2020-12-09/.
2. “Utah’s Largest Coal Producer Surrenders Leases to Millions of Tons of Coal in Legal Settlement.” WildEarth Guardians, March 8, 2023. https://wildearthguardians.org/press-releases/utahs-largest-coal-producer-surrenders-leases-in-legal-settlement/
3. “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement.” Grand Canyon Trust, March 3, 2023. https://www.grandcanyontrust.org/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-statement.
4. “A Look Back.” Grand Canyon Trust, April 22, 2015. https://www.grandcanyontrust.org/advocatemag/spring-2015/a-look-back
5. “Trump Revives Climate-Hostile Tar Sands Push in Utah.” Center for Biological Diversity, December 9, 2020. https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/trump-revives-climate-hostile-tar-sands-push-utah-2020-12-09/.
6. “I Oppose Uranium Mining near the Grand Canyon.” Grand Canyon Trust, February 22, 2024. https://www.grandcanyontrust.org/act/i-oppose-uranium-mining-near-grand-canyon
7. “Hot Issues. Bright Ideas.” Grand Canyon Trust, April 24, 2024. https://www.grandcanyontrust.org/advocatemag.
8. “Trump Revives Climate-Hostile Tar Sands Push in Utah.” Center for Biological Diversity, December 9, 2020. https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/trump-revives-climate-hostile-tar-sands-push-utah-2020-12-09/.
9. “Utah’s Largest Coal Producer Surrenders Leases to Millions of Tons of Coal in Legal Settlement.” WildEarth Guardians, March 8, 2023. https://wildearthguardians.org/press-releases/utahs-largest-coal-producer-surrenders-leases-in-legal-settlement/.
10. “Climate Threatened by More Coal Mining in Utah.” WildEarth Guardians, January 5, 2019. https://wildearthguardians.org/press-releases/climate-threatened-by-more-coal-mining-in-utah/
11. “Utah’s Largest Coal Producer Surrenders Leases to Millions of Tons of Coal in Legal Settlement.” WildEarth Guardians, March 8, 2023. https://wildearthguardians.org/press-releases/utahs-largest-coal-producer-surrenders-leases-in-legal-settlement/.
12. “Pinyon Plain Mine.” Energy Fuels. Accessed September 6, 2024. https://www.energyfuels.com/pinyon-plain-mine.
13. ^[1] “I Oppose Uranium Mining near the Grand Canyon.” Grand Canyon Trust, February 22, 2024. https://www.grandcanyontrust.org/act/i-oppose-uranium-mining-near-grand-canyon.
14. Krol, Debra Utacia. “Uranium Mining Starts near the Grand Canyon, despite Protests by Tribes, Environmentalists.” The Arizona Republic, January 10, 2024. https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environment/2024/01/10/a-uranium-mine-near-the-grand-canyon-is-operating-despite-opposition/72163283007/.
15. “Meet Our New Executive Director, Ethan Aumack.” Grand Canyon Trust, April 25, 2018. https://www.grandcanyontrust.org/blog/meet-our-new-executive-director-ethan-aumack.
16. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). The Grand Canyon Trust Inc. 2022. Part I, Line 12.
17. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). The Grand Canyon Trust Inc. 2022. Part I, Lines 15-18.