President Trump Moves to Shrink Two National Monuments in Utah

OANN ^ | 12/4/2017 | OANN Newsroom

[RhoTheta]

During a speech Monday, the president said he is signing two proclamations which will shrink the Bears Ears National Monument and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

He called the measures a reversal of federal overreach, and says the move will restore the rights of land to the people of Utah.

The president says the residents of the state know how to protect and conserve their own land, and Washington politicians do not.

He added, lands must be protected and now will be protected by this new measure.

[RhoTheta]

What President Trump did in Utah yesterday is HUGE.

Consider this Free Republic post from 3/1/2008.

Although the IBD editorial is no longer linked, a FReeper included a link to the following archived article on Riady and Indonesian Coal.

Funny thing: I couldn't find any reference to this with either Wikipedia nor Duck Duck Go. It's as though this piece of campaign history, a payoff by Bill Clinton to Riady for big campaign donations - right at the end of Clinton's term as president, has been scrubbed from easy access.

This, at the time, was equivalent to the Clinton machine's part in the transfer of 20% of the US uranium assets in return for Russian contribution to the Clinton Foundation and large speaking fees to Bill Clinton.

[pepsionice]

If you stand back and look at the whole thing done by Trump....he merely shuffled the deck and returned a vast majority of the two National Parks...back to the original ownership (the BLM folks, Indian tribes, National Forests, Military reservations, etc). None of this goes back to private ownership, and I don’t even think any of it even goes to state park or state forest ownership. So it’s all still federally owned and controlled...just not by the Park Service.

Personally, I think both episodes were created (in 1997 and the end of 2016)...to put tight control over archeological digs and you’d have to clear any dig in these areas with the National Park Service. It also put a major control over backroads or trail usage.

[Reno89519]

I disagree with the move, is his political Kabuki theater. It would have been better to have the National Park Service redefine their usage rather than revert these back to Bureau of Land Management, National Forest, or whichever agency was or becomes their next the steward. The problem is that each, including the National Park Service, are imposing restrictive rules that need to be rolled back on usage of these lands. They need to be directed to re-open roads and access, that is the recreational challenge, they need to allow hunting, be open to other meaningful usage that might help pay for their upkeep (e.g., grazing, mining, oil and gas development). Make them more accessible to their owners, the US public.

[joethedrummer]

Funny, the only thing I’ve seen on this, apart from this article and post, was on Facebook- where libs are screaming that Trump shrunk this land so he can give it to the oil exploration industry.

Boy are they screaming!! Not that any of them ever actually GO to these parks anyway...

[alloysteel]

The War on Coal began many years ago, and this was only one move to remove easy access to that very concentrated energy source, that have been exercised over the years. Years ago, it began with the beleaguered coal miners, under the leadership of John L. Lewis, in 1919, striking for a better deal for miners. The bushy-browed John L. Lewis was head of the United Mine Workers of America for some 40 years, from 1920 to 1960, and one of the organizers of the Congress of Industrial Organization. Their first dispute was with President Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat, who broke the first strikes. Later on, the various unions were consolidated under the “Progressive” label, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”, and were a powerful moving force in getting FDR elected and the New Deal established.

John L. Lewis, as much as anybody, was a strong ally of the Democrat party from perhaps 1928 onward, and much of the power of coal mining was vested in the Democrats. But in recent years, Democrats have turned against any and all use of coal with a vengeance unmatched outside a war campaign, largely because machines used to mine coal do not vote, and the few remaining actual mine workers declined sharply in number.

As the demographics of the Democrat party shifted, from labor to academia, there was much more to be reaped (raped?) from the impoverishment and decline of the state of education in all levels of schooling, from elementary schools to colleges and universities. Most of the theories they postulated do not and shall never hold water, and youth grows up no knowing the difference, but only aware that things are not as good as they used to seem to be.

The growing gap between potential and actual accomplishment has been the source of this decline, and only recently has anybody taken up the challenge of closing that gap.

For more about the Clinton-Riady deal in 1996, follow this link:

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/04/the_clintons_other_truly_bodacious_mine_boondoggle.html

[Reno89519]

None of this goes back to private ownership

Except maybe some small land swaps or purchases, NONE OF THIS WAS EVER PRIVATE OWNERSHIP so your statement is factually wrong. Public ownership is good, just needs a bit better stewardship. And let's not get started about returning it to the aboriginal natives, American Indians, as they were never good stewards of the lands, not then, and definitely not now.

[pepsionice]

All of the ‘public’ groups (BLM, Forest Service, National Park Service, Tribal Lands, etc) are corrupted. Each has some lobby group that controls the whole game. Personally, I’d like to see a law where the feds have to hand over to each state with maybe some limit of 10-percent of a state’s property that could be controlled by the Feds and the rest controlled the state itself (I know it’ll never happen).

If you tried to cook up some land deal with the tribal units....it’d simply be turned into some resort hotel operation or gambling casino.

[Reno89519]

How about Trump fix these agencies? That will have more long-term and wider impact. Don’t sell off a acre of land, whether to a state or private owner. Keep these precious lands in US public hands, just fix the stewardship, the usage rules.

[bert]

---.just not by the Park Service.---- For the record...

In the case of the Grand Staircase Escalante, the US National Park Service was not involved in the administration of the new Grand Staircase National Monument. The BLM did the administration and created new visitor facility bureaucracy to take care of visitors.

Here is a map of the revisions. (best I can do)

I couldn't find a similar map of Bears Ears

Both areas are essentially desert and rocky mountains. Both are spectacularly beautiful. Most of both is so far off the beaten paths, there is a question as to if there is a beaten path.

Both are among our very best favorite places to visit in America

You are correct about the Ancient Pueblo Cultural sites in Bears ears. The number of such sites scattered around the Four Corners is without number...... tons of them

[joma89]

I agree, this is Yuge! Thanks for the winning post.

JoMa

[mistfree]

Please educate me. I heard Trump say that these lands were going back to the States. You seem to suggest that they are going back to a different federal agency (BLM etc.) I’d like to know what is actually happening.

[Reno89519]

They were NEVER state lands and he never said he would sell or give them to state or private ownership!

[Huskrrrr]

Saw the story on CNN last night. Before you comment, I was sitting in a fast food restaurant and had no choice. Perhaps if Trump had somehow tied the monuments to the Confederacy, he would now be a hero to some.

[rktman]

Simply put, WINNING! 🍿🍻😃

[Combat_Liberalism]

Media spinning to try to hurt Trump. What else is new.

When Obama grabbed Bears Ears, media was spinning all love and roses about how wonderful it was despite the objections of most in Utah.

Now a minority is upset that most of Bears Ears is going back to original status. Media is right their to amplify their protests.

[seawolf101]