facebook-pixel

George Pyle: The whole world is watching — and writing about — Bears Ears

And you thought nothing ever happened in Utah ...

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) U.S. President Donald Trump is surrounded by Utah representatives at the Utah Capitol on Monday, Dec. 4, 2017, as he signs the presidential proclamation to shrink Bears Ears national monument.

Bears Ears Is Here to Stay; Angelo Baca for The New York Times [With some really neat 360-degree video]

Bears Ears, first and foremost, is indigenous land. ...

- Trump’s message for tribes: Let them eat yellowcake - Jacqueline Keeler | High Country News

Uranium, it’s now part of Navajo DNA. With over 500 abandoned uranium mines on the Navajo Nation, people living near these mines are exposed daily to radiation exposure at a rate several times higher than normal background radiation. Last week, President Donald Trump announced he was summarily reducing the Bears Ears National Monument by 85 percent, thereby opening archaeologically rich sites to uranium mining. ...

Uranium firm urged Trump officials to shrink Bears Ears National Monument; Juliet Eilperin for The Washington Post

A uranium company launched a concerted lobbying campaign to scale back Bears Ears National Monument, saying such action would give it easier access to the area’s uranium deposits and help it operate a nearby processing mill, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. ...

Trump slashes size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase national monuments in Utah; David Smith and Oliver Milman for The Guardian

... But his move to shrink the national monuments represents a triumph for fossil fuel industries, ranchers and Republicans, particularly those representing Utah, who have pushed the president to undo protections put in place by previous administrations that curb activities such as oil drilling and cattle grazing. ...

Trump’s slashing of national monument lands would be an irreversible mistake; Jeremy D. Goodwin for For The Boston Globe

I’ve been all over the United States in search of two things: live music and silence. The music is typically by a rock band. The silence — that’s harder to come by. I’ve found it most bountifully in and around Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, a wild, unsettled region surrounded by better-traveled destinations like the Zion and Bryce Canyon national parks. I’ve been visiting this part of the world semi-regularly for 15 years. It reliably recharges my spirit. ...

Trump’s Interior secretary: Shameless tool of oil and gas industries; Amanda Marcotte for Salon

... The way Zinke runs the Interior Department makes it clear that the only voices he deems worth hearing are those of oil and gas special interests — not the public that uses federal lands, not scientists, not environmentalists and not even his fellow Republicans who view their own homes as having some value beyond that of a giant oil field. ...

Trump uses the Antiquities Act, but in reverse; Ella Nilsen for Vox

Trump’s attack on public land just got personal; Zak Podmore for Canoe and Kayak

... My ties to Bears Ears go back for a few decades and for me Trump’s attack is personal. But as a landscape with one of the highest concentrations of archaeological sites in the country, Native American ties with the area go back for millennia. ...

Trump eviscerates two national monuments in the name of political back-scratching; Los Angeles Times Editorial

... If Trump could articulate a sensible reason for his heavy-handed actions, the nation would owe him a listen. But he hasn’t, and such a transparent effort to reward political allies and mining interests should be fought vigorously.

Our shrinking national monuments; San Francisco Chronicle Editorial

... Trump’s orders reflect the past. The 20th century economy that depended on logging and mining is disappearing. Most Americans live in urban areas rather than in smaller communities that offer work until the mines play out or the mills close once the local resource is exhausted. Rural community economies necessarily are shifting — toward recreation, and away from extractive industries. ...

Looting America’s Public Lands; New York Times Editorial

... the people doing the trampling are, in fact, a small handful of Utah lawmakers. Most prominent among them is Senator Orrin Hatch, who is the most chummy with the president, but other members of the Utah congressional delegation have also resented public ownership of Utah’s lands. But they do not, by any means, have ordinary citizens behind them ...

Trump’s attack on public lands is assault on our heritage; Chicago Sun-Times Editorial

... The beauty of America’s conservation movement is that our majestic, unspoiled public lands belong to all of us, not to whichever local officials are most willing to cut deals with miners, ranchers and loggers. ...

Stop the assault on U.S. national monuments; Baltimore Sun Editorial

There is no broad public mandate for reducing the size and scope of U.S. national monuments or opening them up to commercial activity. There simply isn’t. ...

George Pyle, The Tribune’s editorial page editor, is fully aware that lots and lots of stuff happens in Utah. gpyle@sltrib.com

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Tribune staff. George Pyle.