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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 18 June 2019

Watchdog to investigate Interior moves on Utah monument

By BRADY McCOMBS
Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A gov-
ernment watchdog will inves-
tigate whether the U.S. Inte-
rior Department broke the
law by making plans to open
lands cut from a Utah national
monument by President Don-
ald Trump to leasing for oil,
gas and coal development, a
pair of Democratic congress
members said Monday.
The Government Account-
ability Office’s investigation
into whether the Interior vio-
lated the appropriations law
by using funds to assess po-
tential resource extraction in
the lands cut from the Grand
Staircase-Escalante National
Monument is the latest chap-
ter in a long-running saga over
the sprawling monument cre-
ated in 1996 on lands home
to scenic cliffs, canyons, dino-
saur fossils and coal reserves.
Trump slashed the monument
by nearly half in 2017 follow-
ing a contentious review by
former Interior Secretary This July 9, 2017 file photo, shows a view of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah.
Ryan Zinke of monuments Associated Press
around the country. Trump books since 2002 states that ment’s website says it intends won’t be part of the GAO’s in- tions Subcommittees on the
ordered the review based on no taxpayer money can be to finalize the plans later this quiry because it was created Interior, Environment and Re-
arguments by him and others used to do pre-leasing stud- year. in 2016 by President Barack lated Agencies. McCollum is
that a law signed by President ies on lands in monuments Interior Department Press Obama. chair of the same committee
Theodore Roosevelt allowing that were created by Jan. 20, Secretary Molly Block said in Environmental, tribal, pale- in the House. Udall called on
presidents to declare monu- 2001. a statement the agency will ontological and outdoor rec- the Interior to halt work on
ments had been improperly Last year, the Interior made provide “factual information” reation organizations have proposed management plans
used to protect wide expans- public proposals for manag- to the GAO and is “confident” separate lawsuits pending to until the GAO makes its deter-
es of lands instead of places ing Grand Staircase, saying the probe will determine the restore the full sizes of the mination on the legal ques-
with particular historical or its preference for one of the Interior “acted appropriately monuments, arguing presi- tion. “National monuments
archaeological value. sites would be the “least re- and within the law.” dents don’t have the legal like Grand Staircase-Escalante
The GAO investigation comes strictive to energy and mining GAO spokesman Charles authority to undo or change protect some of our most
after U.S. Sen. Tom Udall of development.” That plan also Young confirmed the inquiry. monuments created by pre- spectacular wilderness areas
New Mexico and U.S. Rep. would allow commercial tim- He said it’s too early to known decessors. and breathtaking lands, and it
Betty McCollum of Minneso- ber harvesting to keep forests how long the probe into the Udall and McCollum an- is imperative that the Depart-
ta, both Democrats, request- healthy. legal question will take. nounced the GAO investiga- ment manage them in accor-
ed the investigation in May. The public comment period Trump in 2017 also down- tion in a joint news release. dance with the laws passed
They argue that a section of closed on the proposals and sized the Bears Ears National Udall is the ranking member by Congress,” Udall said in the
the appropriations law on the the Bureau of Land Manage- Monument in Utah, but that of the Senate’s Appropria- news release.q