Uranium firm urged Trump officials to shrink Bears Ears National Monument

[Xipe Totec]

Link to tweet

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.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and top Utah Republicans have said repeatedly that questions of mining or drilling played no role in President Trump’s announcement Monday that he was cutting the site by more than 1.1 million acres, or 85 percent. Trump also signed a proclamation nearly halving the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, which is also in southern Utah and has significant coal deposits.

[Irish_Dem]

1. How much did they "donate" to Trump? He doesn't do anything unless there is something in it for him

[yallerdawg]

2. Tell me it's not "Uranium One."

[Xipe Totec]

3. It's on Rachel Madow's Twitter Feed

https://twitter.com/maddow?t=1&cn=ZmxleGlibGVfcmVjc18y&uid=3677340857&nid=244+272699405

[yallerdawg]

4. OMG!

"A subsidiary of a Canadian firm."

Fox News is going to be all over this!

[handmade34]

5. Support Sierra Club!!!

a strong voice in fighting this...

“The history, culture and landscape of Bears Ears National Monument remains as important today as when it was recognized as a national monument. To eliminate or reduce protections in any way is an affront to the Tribal Nations who called for its creation and to everyone who loves and depends our public lands.”

No Shame, No Future

Donald Trump considers himself exceptional and, on this one thing, he's absolutely correct. His gift for unprincipled pandering to exploitative greed has no peer. This week's announcement that Trump wants to eliminate 85 percent of Bears Ears National Monument and half of Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument is historically disgraceful. It would be by far the largest elimination of protected areas in U.S. history, and it would undercut the principle of permanent protection that underpins the security of all America’s wildlife refuges, national monuments, and national parks. If Trump succeeds in this action, it might be the worst act of vandalism ever committed on our public lands.

I say "might" because -- unless something changes -- the Republican tax bill that comes out of conference between the House and Senate could open the door to oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and that's got to be a contender. And based on the yesterday's news that Interior Secretary Zinke wants to shrink the borders of or reduce protections for eight additional monuments, the vandalism is just getting started. For anyone who cares about wilderness and our public lands, this past week made it easy to get discouraged. Don’t.

The moment for discouragement came and went a year ago, when Trump lost the popular vote but won the electoral college and his party kept control of Congress. Since then, the only productive responses have been persistence and resistance, and that doesn't stop today. Trump's attack on the national monuments and the Antiquities Act is almost certainly illegal, and the Sierra Club has joined with many others in taking the Trump administration to court. As for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, there's still time to pressure lawmakers to take it out of the tax bill (get out your phone and call 202-730-9006), and we have ways to keep fighting even if they don't.

https://www.sierraclub.org/michael-brune/2017/12/trump-public-lands-national-monuments-bears-ears

https://www.sierraclub.org/videos