Haaland Sends Recommendation On Utah Monuments, Including Bears Ears, to President

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has made her recommendation about whether to reverse former President Donald Trump’s decision to downsize two sprawling national monuments in Utah, but details of her decision were not released. The Interior Department gave her report to President Joe Biden on Wednesday, according to a court filing Thursday in a legal battle that began more than three years ago after Trump’s decision. U.S. Department of Justice attorneys mentioned the report as part of a request to have until July 13 to address the judge’s question about whether the legal battle has become a moot point. Interior Department spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz declined to provide any information about the report. Haaland traveled to Utah to visit the monuments in April as she became the latest cabinet official to step into a public lands tug-of-war that has gone on for years. She is the first Indigenous official to get involved in the decision. A string of U.S. officials has heard from advocates for expanding national monuments to protect archaeological and cultural sites, and from opponents who see such moves as federal overreach. Biden asked Haaland to research whether the boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante should be restored. Native American tribes supported the creation of Bears Ears by President Barack Obama, but Republican state leaders opposed it. Grand Staircase is older but has long been a point of contention for conservative state leaders who consider both monuments U.S. government overreach. Bears Ears was downsized by 85% and Grand Staircase-Escalante cut by nearly half under the Trump administration...MORE

Secretary Haaland has several options in presenting her recommendations. Tell me which option you believe most likely resembles her recommendation to President Biden:

A.  cutting the boundaries to leave even smaller monuments 

B.  retaining the Trump boundaries with no changes.

C.  restoring the boundaries to their pre-Trump status

D.  restoring the boundaries to their pre-Trump status PLUS adding additional lands to the monuments

Which do you believe it is, A  B  C or D?