It is a national monument dedicated in 1996 by President Bill Clinton. It is the largest monument with the Bueau of Land Management. It is currently 1,003,863 acres. Before Trimp carved out land for mining uranium it was comprised of 1,880,461 acres.
The Grand Staircase Escalante is the most remote national monument. With clean rivers currently it still hosted 878,000 visitors in 2014. Those rivers will once again return to a polluted status and the fish will no longer be safe to eat. The tourist trade is one of the largest part of the economy of the area. This does not include the damage that will be done to the Bears Ears National Monument where uranium mining is also slated to begin. The uranium mining will reduce the National Momumentsbin the area by 85%. This move by Trump is again racist as the land is populated by primarily the Navajo.
Mr. Trump stated the land was being returned to the people which all federal representatives for Utah cheered. For decades those that represent Utah complained about large swaths of land marked as federal territory. Their current enthusiasm is all the more suspicious and requires investigation. I could understand their enthusiasm if returning the land to “the people” were going to be a windfall of income to Utah or the local economy, but, it isn’t and most probably will cost Utah and the federal government considerable amount of money in pollution clean-up and healthcare costs of the Navajo. But, that isn’t the most curious part, the company mining the area is out of Vancouver, Canada; “Glacial Lake Resources, Inc.” Glacial Lake is expecting to be mining cobalt as well.
Without notice or public meetings the Fat Man in the White wrote an order that changed the course of 50 years of environmental clean up and rebuilding a viable tourist industry. Additionally, these are sacred lands to the Navajo. They are not sacred Christian lands so anything goes. Although I have to admit if there was gold under Arlington National Cemetery, Trump would be writing an order to cremate remains and start digging.
Even more interesting is the replacement currently for Scott Pruitt is Andrew Wheeler, Deputy administers to Pruitt. He worked for FargraBD Condulting and Faegra Baker Daniels before going to the EPA. This law firm represents lobbyists and the their companies which are some of the biggest mining firms of URANIUM and coal such as Murray Energy.
There is something wrong here. Lobbyists are literally walking into the White House and receiving passes on public hearings and standard regulations for safety and public well being by Presidental orders. Trump is removing government and the public from any procedures and dictating outcomes favorable to Wall Street and companies held by private concerns such as the Kochs.
The Fat Man in the White House is abusing the power of the presidency. When he removed the National Monument status of these lands in Utah it made these lands open to government processes which means there are auctions for permits for known commodities. Glacial Lake was handed rights to mines as if they discovered them, they didn’t and the people of Utah won’t receive a dime nor will the federal government from these mining ventures. This is extreme corruption and no one is holding Trump responsible for handing out USA land like Christmas gifts.
It needs to be investigated as does all the rapidly disappearing government processes to protect clean air and water and human health as well as vital conservation of public lands.
