Hatch tells Dems seeking new monument to 'keep their mitts off Utah'

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Thursday that his fellow senators who are urging President Barack Obama to designate a new Greater Canyonlands National Monument should stop playing politics and "keep their mitts off Utah." Hatch said the 14 senators who signed the letter to the president are "very ultra-liberal," and while he considers them friends, they're getting involved in an issue that should be left up to Utahns. The interest those senators — a list that includes Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill. — really have in the 1.8 million-acre monument is in boosting their campaign coffers, Hatch said. "It all comes down to money. It's a good way to raise money from the environmental community. They should keep their mitts off Utah," he said. "They shouldn't be interfering with our state." Hatch and other GOP members of Utah's congressional delegation have already asked Obama to respect the needs of Utahns and ignore calls for a new national monument coming from a few environmental groups "and their allies in Congress." But Hatch said he supported Gov. Gary Herbert inviting the 13 Democrats and one independent pushing for the monument to come to Utah and see firsthand what's being done to preserve and optimize the state's public lands...more