Rep. Mike Noel’s company owned land inside Grand Staircase-Escalante while he fought against the monument

When President Donald Trump redrew the boundaries of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, he appears to have cut out land owned by one of the monument’s harshest critics — Rep. Mike Noel. A Montana-based conservation group says Noel’s ownership of a 40-acre parcel within the original boundaries of the larger monument represents a conflict of interest that he obscured from the public by not listing the name of Noel’s land company on documents each lawmaker must file at the beginning of legislative sessions. Noel advocated for shrinking the monument, and even sponsored a resolution in 2017 calling on Utah’s congressional delegation to support shrinking the monument, which the president did in December after months of speculation. Meanwhile, he had hundreds of acres of farmland near the monument and the parcel within, all owned by a company he didn’t list by its registered name on conflict of interest forms. “In total, Noel owns $1,291,748 worth of land through that company,” the group, Western Values Project, wrote in a report it released Monday. Noel concedes the 40 acres in question was “most likely” outside the monument after the recent boundary change. But he vehemently denies any conflict or attempt to disguise his ownership. Having the property within the monument, he argues, was actually a financial benefit...more

Its very likely the private property in close proximity to the monument declined in value as a result of the boundary change. i.e., Noel was lobbying against his personal financial benefit when opposing the monument.