Interior Secretary Proposes Shrinking Four National Monuments
BEARS EARS NATIONAL MONUMENT, Utah — Parts of this sprawling region of red-rock canyons
and at least three other national monuments would lose their strict protection and could be reopened for new mining or drilling under proposals submitted to President Trump by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Thursday, according to congressional aides and others who have been briefed on the report.
Mike Noel, a Republican state representative in Utah, said
that shrinking Bears Ears would be “a victory for our state.” Federal management of land in his state had constrained drilling, mining and grazing, he said, adding that Washington had no business setting aside so much land.
He referred to his recommendations only in general terms, saying they would “provide
a much-needed change for the local communities who border and rely on these lands.”
The people briefed on the plans said that along with Bears Ears, Mr. Zinke had proposed reducing
the size of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, also in southern Utah, and two others.
Environmentalists, ranchers, tribal governments and Western lawmakers had been watching closely to see if Mr. Zinke would propose changing the borders of the Bears Ears National Monument, which President Barack Obama established at the end of his term,
and other scenic and historic areas under federal protection.
