SALT LAKE CITY — Governor Spencer Cox, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, Senators Mike Lee and Mitt Romney, and other Utah government officials issued a joint statement Wednesday in welcoming new Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland's decision to visit Utah to tour Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante national monuments.
Last week, Lee, Romney and Utah's four congressmen announced they had sent a letter to President Joe Biden in which they urged the Biden Administration to find a permanent legislative solution for drawing the boundaries of the two monuments.
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“As Utah leaders, we urged the administration to extend the 60-day timeline outlined in President Biden’s Executive Order calling for a review of our national monuments and invited Secretary Haaland to visit Utah to tour the monuments and engage state, local, and tribal leaders," Wednesday's joint statement said. "We are encouraged that the administration has extended the deadline for review of Bears Ears and Grand-Staircase Escalante national monuments, and we welcome Secretary Haaland’s decision to travel to Utah, tour the monuments in question, and receive meaningful input from the local elected officials and residents."
In December of 2017, President Donald Trump reduced the boundaries of the two monuments as a political favor to Utah politicians.
Trump's decision to downsize Bears Ears by 85% and shrink Grand Staircase-Escalante by nearly half earned him applause from Utah's Republican leaders, who considered the monuments an example of federal government overreach.
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The cuts made by Trump paved the way for potential coal mining and oil and gas drilling on lands that used to be off-limits, though activity was limited because of market dynamics.
Within hours of taking office on January 20, President Biden signed an executive order that, in part, calls for a review of the boundaries of the two monuments within 60 days.
"[Haaland's] trip to Utah will allow her the opportunity to speak with the people who live and work on the lands, whose voices may otherwise go unheard, before making any recommendations to the President," Wednesday's statement said.
Read the full statement:
“As Utah leaders, we urged the administration to extend the 60-day timeline outlined in President Biden’s Executive Order calling for a review of our national monuments and invited Secretary Haaland to visit Utah to tour the monuments and engage state, local, and tribal leaders. We are encouraged that the administration has extended the deadline for review of Bears Ears and Grand-Staircase Escalante national monuments, and we welcome Secretary Haaland’s decision to travel to Utah, tour the monuments in question, and receive meaningful input from the local elected officials and residents. Her trip to Utah will allow her the opportunity to speak with the people who live and work on the lands, whose voices may otherwise go unheard, before making any recommendations to the President. We are also confident that this trip will successfully highlight the need for a permanent legislative solution for determining appropriate boundaries for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, with statutory protections to prevent abuses under the Antiquities Act for the State of Utah. We look forward to continuing our work on these issues with Secretary Haaland after her visit.”
