City Weekly · Opinion
Shrunk Bears Ears and Grand-Staircase monuments draw new mining claims.
Smart Bomb: The completely unnecessary news analysis
Speaking of coincidences, nine mining claims have already been staked on land that just three weeks ago was part of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. Utah Sen. Mike Lee tried in vain to get the Senate to scale back the monuments.
When that didn't work, he went to his buddy, President Donald Trump, who gladly slashed Bears Ears from 1.36 million acres to 121,000 acres and Grand Staircase-Escalante from 1.87 million acres to 181,500 acres. Standing around Trump as he signed the proclamation were Lee, Sen.
John Curtis, Rep. Celeste Maloy, Gov.
This is a 600 character excerpt. Read the full story at City Weekly, where it was published on August 18, 2026.
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