Utah’s national monuments will be opened up to mining and drilling
President Trump will travel to Utah next Monday to sign an executive order attempting to significantly cut the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase‚ÄìEscalante National Monuments. What will be the largest elimination of protections for our shared public lands in U.S. history comes as a hand-out to coal, oil, and uranium companies at the expense of the region’s public lands and wildlife.
The two monuments contain significant reserves of coal, oil, and uranium that could be sold-off for extraction. Utah Senator Orrin Hatch’s office told Utah lawmakers that the president plans to reduce Grand Staircase-Escalante by 40 to 60 percent and Bears Ears by 80 to 90 percent.