It turns out that Sen. Hatch of Utah was involved in an effort to shrink the Bears Ears National Monument early in the Trump administration. An email from Hatch to the Interior Department in March 2017 referred to oil and gas sites on a large portion of the Monument.
The map Hatch provided was given to the new Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who then recommended that Bears Ears be reduced by 85%. It turns out that coal lies beneath the ground in the boundaries of Bears Ears delineated by Obama. An email memo asked the staff of the Interior Department to prepare a report on all national monuments, emphasizing the “annual production of coal, oil, gas, and renewables (if any) on site.”
Sen. Hatch said he is glad these emails were released because they show he was “looking out for the people of Utah.” I’d bet he was far more concerned with the coal and oil industry. He certainly was not looking out for the American public nor the Indians of the Southwest.
In any other administration, this would be a scandal. Under the Trump regime, it is business as usual.
If you want to read more about this sordid story, see Eric Lipton and Lisa Friedman, “Oil Was Central in Decision to Shrink Protected Utah Site, Emails Show, “ New York Times, (Mar. 5, 2018), p. A11.
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