Senator Lee hosts standing-room only hearing on PLI

It was standing room only on July 27 as US Senator Mike Lee held a field hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The meeting focused on the Public Lands Initiative and the proposed Bears Ears National Monument. A crowd estimated at 1,000 filled the San Juan High School auditorium and spilled over into adjacent rooms and corridors to hear testimony from five people. Senator Lee heard from Utah Governor Gary Herbert, Congressman Rob Bishop, San Juan County Commissioner Bruce Adams, and local residents Chester Johnson and Lewis Singer. Afterwards, several dozen local residents were able to voice their concerns at a town hall meeting format. The hearing was in marked contrast to a July 16 hearing with federal officials in Bluff, which included Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell. At the Bluff meeting, the crowd was roughly equal for or against the national monument. Large groups of people from outside of the area attended the hearing to support the monument, including several large busloads from surrounding states. In Blanding, primarily local residents made a strong voice against the proposed National Monument, with messages written on cars and on signs along the sidewalks. Nearly half of the large crowd were Native American. They presented a united front of local residents opposed to the creation of a national monument. Read more: San Juan Record - Classifieds, Events, Businesses in Monticello, San Juan County, Utah - Senator Lee hosts standing room only hearing on PLI...more