Interior Secretary Proposes Shrinking Four National Monuments - The New York Times
▻https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/24/us/bears-ears-utah-monument.html
Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah includes the mesas of the Valley of the Gods near Blanding, Utah.
Credit Alex Goodlett for The New York Times
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.
[…]
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.
A White House spokesman referred to Mr. Zinke’s submission as a draft and said Mr. Trump wanted more time to study it. Some issues need to be explored in greater detail, the spokesman said in a statement.
