Thursday, August 17, 2017

Last-Minute Push for Feds to Leave UT Nat'l Monuments Alone

Many Utah business owners and tribes are making a last-minute push to save the state's national monuments, under threat from a federal review that ends one week from today. U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has until August 24 to make recommendations on whether to shrink or rescind Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument - which has been in place for decades. Some state legislators oppose the monument, saying it has cost the area jobs. But Blake Spaulding, who employs 50 people at the restaurant she co-owns in the area, said the monument actually has created a boom. "Every construction crew, every school, every restaurant is looking for employees,” Spaulding said. "So, the idea that the monument needs to be damaged in order to create jobs is unequivocally a false narrative. Without the monument, our business wouldn't exist." Zinke already has called for dramatically reducing the size of Bears Ears National Monument, but said the final recommendation will come next week. Almost 3 million Americans have made public comments on the monument review, overwhelmingly in favor of keeping them intact...more

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