21 local officials in Utah support lawsuit against national monument shrinkage

Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski and 20 other mayors and council members across Utah filed documents supporting lawsuits challenging President Donald Trump's 2017 decision to shrink two national monuments in southern Utah. Biskupski, Boulder Mayor Steve Cox and Bluff Mayor Ann Leppanen highlighted a group who signed briefs favoring lawsuits filed by The Wilderness Society and Hopi Tribe against Trump's decision to shrink Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, according to a release from the Salt Lake City mayor's office. Members from councils in Alta, Moab, Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County also signed similar documents. Within the argument, Biskupski said it led to Outdoor Retailer pulling its retail conference from Salt Lake City. The retail show moved to Denver, which reportedly cost Salt Lake City millions in revenue. “When the Trump Administration began its review of Bears Ears and Escalante, many of us knew it was only a matter of time before these Monuments were reduced and harm would come to our local economies," Biskupski said in a statement. "In Salt Lake City’s case, this harm was almost immediate with the departure of Outdoor Retailer and the $45 million dollars in tourist spending that it brought." The group also argued that the decision also hindered local and state efforts to move away from carbon-based fuels and tarnished Utah's public lands tourism image...MORE