President Trump’s eraser and Twitter feed seem to be more effective that Obama’s pen and phone.
In the last days of his insipid administration, the former president created the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah with a stroke of his pen, claiming thousands of square acres of land for the federal government.
Now, President Trump indicates that he is going to trim back the size of the land grab.
President Trump on Friday told Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah that he will shrink the size of Bears Ears National Monument, a 1.35 million-acre piece of land former President Obama designated as a national monument just before leaving office.“I’m approving the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase recommendation for you, Orrin,” Mr. Trump said on the phone call, according to Hatch’s office.Hatch has been lobbying the administration to reduce the monument Obama designated in December 2016, and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke suggested reducing its size in June.
While it is not currently known how big the roll-back will be, the President is more inclined to heed the recommendations of the state’s officials than Obama was.
According to Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, Trump told him Friday that changes to Bears Ears would “honor” what the state has recommended. During Zinke’s monuments review this year, Utah officials advocated contracting the monument to a 120,000-acre area stretching from Bears Ears Buttes across Mule Canyon to the Butler Wash ruins on Comb Ridge.“I appreciate the president and the secretary’s efforts to listen to local concerns and seek a balance when it comes to the complex issues of managing and protecting our public lands,” Herbert said in statement. “ … Our recommendations have been, first, that any new boundaries protect the extraordinary antiquities within these areas. Second, that local Native Americans be given meaningful co-management of the lands in the Bears Ears region. And, finally, that Congress be urged to pass appropriate protections for federal lands throughout southern Utah.”
Needless to say, the green justice warriors are furious…and are incorrectly and hysterically asserting that Trump will remove Bears Ears from the National Monument List:
Progressives had better prepare themselves for more of these rollbacks, as Zinke isn’t done with his recommendations:
In April, President Trump ordered Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review more than two dozen national monuments, arguing that the designation of sites under previous administrations had gotten out of hand. Months later, Zinke’s recommendations, detailed in a leaked memo delivered to the White House, have sparked concern among local officials and environmental groups, prompting some to describe the proposals as “unprecedented.”Zinke recommended changes to 10 national monuments, including Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante and Nevada’s Gold Butte. His proposals range from lifting restrictions on activities like commercial fishing to shrinking the parameters of at least four of the sites.
Perhaps the best legacy President Trump will leave is the erasure of Obama’s, which will leave Americans safer, more prosperous, and freer to make the best choices for the use of their property.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY