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VERIFY: Is Trump trying to sell off land from a national monument in Utah for mining?

Is Trump trying to sell off land from a national monument in Utah for mining?

QUESTION:

Is Trump trying to sell off land from a national monument in Utah for mining?

ANSWER:

Yes, but the plans haven't been finalized. The public has until November 30 to express their views to the Department of the Interior.

SOURCES:

President Trump- Presidential Proclamation- December 4, 2017

President Clinton- Presidential Proclamation 6920- September 18, 1996

U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management- Management Plans and Environmental Impact Statement- August 2018

Press Releases from the Bureau of Land Management and Department of the Interior on 90-day comment period ending November 30.

Link to comment on Grand Stair Escalante Monument Modification.

Letter from 23 Senators to Department of the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke

Glacier Lake Resources Inc. acquisition of mining in Colt Mesa

PROCESS:

Verify viewer Deborah Gillham wanted to know whether a claim circulating on Facebook was true. Post after post said President Trump was planning on selling land from a National Monument in Utah for mining.

Gillham asked our researchers to verify if that claim is true.

Under the Antiquities Act of 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 16 U.S.C. 431), the President of the United States is authorized to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks.

The one caveat is that the President must limit the protected status to "the smallest area compatible," meaning the President can declare the Grand Canyons historical, but not all of Arizona.

Under the Antiquities Act of 1906, historical monuments and land cannot be excavated without the approval of the Secretary of the Government with jurisdiction over that land.

Exactly 22 years ago, President Bill Clinton proclaimed that 1.7 million acres of Utah wildlife called the 'Grand Staircase-Escalante' would become a national monument, preserved for its archeological and historical significance.

"Extremely significant fossils, including marine and brackish water mollusks, turtles, crocodilians, lizards, dinosaurs, fishes, and mammals, have been recovered from the Dakota, Tropic Shale and Wahweap Formations, and the Tibbet Canyon, Smoky Hollow and John Henry members of the Straight Cliffs Formation," former President Clinton proclaimed on September 18, 2018. "Archeological inventories carried out to date show extensive use of places within the monument by ancient Native American cultures...The cultural resources discovered so far in the monument are outstanding in their variety of cultural affiliation, type and distribution."

Two decades ago Clinton concluded that the land "of approximately 1.7 million acres...is the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected."

Now, President Trump isn't so sure of that.

He claims there are 861,974 acres of land included in the Grand Staircase-Escalante that doesn't need to be protected and banned from mining.

Trump asked the Department of the Interior Secretary Zinke to prepare a management plan for how to use the land including mining for copper, cobalt, zinc and nickel. One Canadian mining company wants to acquire land before the plan is finalized.

The proclamation hasn't advanced because of legal challenges, but in the meantime, the Bureau of Land Management drew up plans on how to use the land including mining.

The plans cost approximately $1,160,004 to produce, according to the August 2018 impact statement.

The Bureau of Land Management initiated a 90-day comment period for the public. You can submit your comment on their website.

To submit a comment through this website, scroll down to the very bottom of the page and find Volume I GSENM-KEPA RMPs-EIS in the list of documents. Click on the "Comment on Document" button next to Volume I GSENM-KEPA RMPs-EIS. A new window will open that will guide you through the commenting process.

The deadline to submit comments is November 30.

Many individuals like Native Americans, environmentalist groups and 23 senators have already voiced their criticism on the proposed land reduction.

So we can Verify, yes, President Trump is trying to reduce a Utah National Monument, which would allow mining companies to excavate natural resources, and had previously remained undisturbed.

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