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Trump says he’ll shrink Utah’s Bears Ears monument

Rogue Valley

Rogue Valley

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Trump says he’ll shrink Utah’s Bears Ears monument

By Juliet Eilperin and Darryl Fears
October 27, 2017

President Donald Trump informed Sen. Orrin Hatch, R, Friday that he will shrink Bears Ears National Monument, a 1.35 million-acre protected area in southeast Utah that is prized by many tribal leaders but opposed by several state and federal Republican officials. “I’m approving the Bears Ears recommendation for you, Orrin,” Trump told the senator in a phone call Friday morning, according to Hatch’s office. In late August, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recommended paring back the boundaries of Bears Ears and asking Congress to make less-restrictive designations within it. The monument, which contains tens of thousands of cultural artifacts, has become the most prominent symbol of controversy surrounding the 1906 Antiquities Act. Trump did not specify exactly how he would change the boundaries, according to Hatch spokesman Matt Whitlock, though Interior officials have privately indicated that the administration plans to shrink it by hundreds of thousands of acres.

Native American tribal groups that supported the Bears Ears had the opposite reaction. “I have to say we’re not surprised. We generally expected the president to make the wrong decision,” said Natalie Landreth, an attorney for three of the five Native American nations that petitioned the Obama administration to designate the monument, the Zuni, Hopi and Ute Mountain Utes. The Center for Western Priorities in Denver is one of many conservation groups that vowed to join the tribes in suing to block any changes to Bears Ears. “President Trump and his administration will stop at nothing to sell out America’s parks and public land,” said its deputy director, Greg Zimmerman. Trump’s willingness to reduce the size of Bears Ears, which comes as he is preparing to alter other monuments established by his predecessors. The White House is currently finalizing proclamations that would shrink both Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante, designated by Bill Clinton, and Nevada’s Gold Butte, according to individuals briefed on the process who asked for anonymity because no announcement had been made yet.
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Despite the fact that Utah's tourism industry thrives due to this state's dazzling natural wonders, Senator Orrin Hatch and Utah Republicans are happy as hell with the Trump administration decision because now they can reward major campaign donors from the resource extraction industries. Bears Ears National Monument encompasses potentially rich reserves of uranium. Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is a potential source of billions of tons of coal. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is now quietly seeking Trump permission to shed nearly a dozen marine national monuments and national marine sanctuaries from federal protection.

Related: Trump shrinks national monument sacred to local tribe, opening it up to mining
 
It was designated a national monument in 2016. How much mining was taking place before Obama changed its status?
 
Rogue Valley said:
Trump says he’ll shrink Utah’s Bears Ears monument



Despite the fact that Utah's tourism industry thrives due to this state's dazzling natural wonders, Senator Orrin Hatch and Utah Republicans are happy as hell with the Trump administration decision because now they can reward major campaign donors from the resource extraction industries. Bears Ears National Monument encompasses potentially rich reserves of uranium. Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is a potential source of billions of tons of coal. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is now quietly seeking Trump permission to shed nearly a dozen marine national monuments and national marine sanctuaries from federal protection.

Related: Trump shrinks national monument sacred to local tribe, opening it up to mining
Click to expand...

Wonder how much we could get for the Grand Canyon?
 
Rogue Valley said:
Trump says he’ll shrink Utah’s Bears Ears monument



Despite the fact that Utah's tourism industry thrives due to this state's dazzling natural wonders, Senator Orrin Hatch and Utah Republicans are happy as hell with the Trump administration decision because now they can reward major campaign donors from the resource extraction industries. Bears Ears National Monument encompasses potentially rich reserves of uranium. Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is a potential source of billions of tons of coal. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is now quietly seeking Trump permission to shed nearly a dozen marine national monuments and national marine sanctuaries from federal protection.

Related: Trump shrinks national monument sacred to local tribe, opening it up to mining
Click to expand...

Obama re-interpreted the law to make the place a monument. This is what happens when you don't do it right, the first time.
 
Moon said:
It was designated a national monument in 2016. How much mining was taking place before Obama changed its status?
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Previous permits already in place were honored but no new ones would be granted in the designation. Other mineral rich sites are now bracing for the same fate as Bears Ears.
 
haymarket said:
Wonder how much we could get for the Grand Canyon?
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How high is the cash flow and what would be the covenants on the purchasing contract?
 
joG said:
How high is the cash flow and what would be the covenants on the purchasing contract?
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It would make one hell of a Trump Resort.
 
haymarket said:
Wonder how much we could get for the Grand Canyon?
Click to expand...
Fortunately that's a national park. These take more than a whim and a stroke of a pen by the President to establish or negate.
 
I'm not automatically opposed to this. The federal government has been doing some huge land grabs for a couple decades now. Some of these places are nice, but they're hardly awe-inspiring or spectacular.
 
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