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Trump puts uranium miners’ interests above Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments

Former national monuments shrunk by Trump to be opened for mining claims
Presidential order reduced protections for land once part of Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments, Guardian, Alastair Gee , 2 Feb 18, 

Hundreds of thousands of acres of land that were part of two US national monuments shrunk by Donald Trump are being opened on Friday to mining claims for uranium and other minerals.

It is a symbolic step in a broader conflict over the fate of America’s public lands, on which Trump hopes to encourage greater access for extractive industries.

In December, Trump ordered that Bears Ears national monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monument, both in southern Utah and home to ancient Native American sites, spectacular landscapes and rare flora and fauna, be downsized by a total of 2m acres.How Trump’s cuts to public lands threaten future dinosaur discoveries

His proclamation judged that large portions of the monuments were not unique or of particular scientific or historic interest, a point fiercely contested by environmentalists, Native American groups and scientists, who have brought five lawsuits.

Today is when “the Trump administration is no longer stopping itself from opening up those lands to development”, said Dan Hartinger, national monuments campaign director at the Wilderness Society……. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/02/former-national-monuments-shrunk-by-trump-to-be-opened-for-mining-claims

February 3, 2018 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general