Text of Utah resolution to rescind Obama Bears Ears takeover

Backed by majorities in both the Utah House and Senate, and likely to be signed by Governor Herbert, this Resolution is an offensive strike against federal power in a battle over lands and resources that has been simmering for years.

Just days following the inauguration of President Trump, Utah State Representative Greg Hughes introduced a resolution aimed at reversing the 1.35 million acre Obama land grab, also know as the Bears Ears National Monument. Backed by majorities in both the Utah House and Senate, and likely to be signed by Governor Herbert, this Resolution is an offensive strike against federal power in a battle over lands and resources that has been simmering for years.

With most Utah folks against further confiscation of lands within their state using the Antiquities Act, or other federal mechanisms such as Wilderness Areas and Conservation Area designations, big corporations, extreme environmentalist special interests, and left-leaning politicians have been put on notice.

It’s highly likely that the following resolution was in the works prior even to Obama’s December 28 proclamation, and that specific language in the resolution was hashed and re-hashed during the interim before President Trump officially entered the office of the Executive.

The Bears Ears National Monument has been a point of hot contention from its inception, and a majority of Utahans have consistently been in opposition to its designation. The residents of San Juan County, Utah’s most federal lands rich and cash poor county and ground-zero for Bears Ears NM, have carried on a fierce, 2-year battle against the takeover. This resolution is a signal to the locals in southeastern Utah, as well as the bureaucrats in Washington D.C. who write policies governing national parks and monuments, that enough is enough, and this land will not be ceded because of the words of one man.

 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION URGING THE PRESIDENT TO

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RESCIND THE BEARS EARS NATIONAL MONUMENT

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DESIGNATION

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2017 GENERAL SESSION

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STATE OF UTAH

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Chief Sponsor: Gregory H. Hughes

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Senate Sponsor: Wayne L. Niederhauser

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9     LONG TITLE
10     General Description:
11          This concurrent resolution urges the President of the United States to rescind the Bears
12     Ears National Monument designation.
13     Highlighted Provisions:
14          This resolution:
15          ▸     expresses strong opposition to the Bears Ears National Monument designation; and
16          ▸     urges the President of the United States to rescind the Bears Ears National
17     Monument.
18     Special Clauses:
19          None
20     



21     Be it resolved by the Legislature of the state of Utah, the Governor concurring therein:
22          WHEREAS, the state of Utah is a public lands state, committed to conservation and
23     continued recreational access for hunters, anglers, campers, and other recreationists, as well as
24     allowing for productive uses, including agriculture, timber production, and energy and natural
25     resource development;
26          WHEREAS, the Legislature and the Governor are committed to the health, protection,
27     preservation, and productivity of, and access to, the public lands within our state;


28          WHEREAS, roughly 66% of the land within the sovereign state of Utah is presently
29     controlled by the federal government;
30          WHEREAS, 38 non-western states in the Union govern and exercise their
31     constitutional jurisdiction over virtually all the land within their borders, and the legislatures
32     and the governors of those states tend to the health, safety, and welfare of their citizens;
33          WHEREAS, on December 28, 2016, President Barack Obama designated the Bears
34     Ears National Monument, limiting public access to 1.35 million acres in San Juan County,
35     Utah;
36          WHEREAS, every member of Utah’s congressional delegation publically opposed the
37     designation of the Bears Ears National Monument;
38          WHEREAS, the designation of the Bears Ears National Monument sets a dangerous
39     precedent of allowing special interest groups to unduly influence the monument designation
40     process and silence local voices;
41          WHEREAS, local Native American groups with historical ties to the area have passed
42     resolutions opposing the designation of the Bears Ears National Monument;
43          WHEREAS, San Juan County commissioner Rebecca Bennally, whose constituency
44     includes members of the Navajo Nation who live in San Juan County, and the entire San Juan
45     County Commission, opposed the monument designation and unanimously passed a resolution
46     expressing their opposition;
47          WHEREAS, every city council in San Juan County has passed a resolution opposing
48     the designation of the Bears Ears National Monument;
49          WHEREAS, counties across the state have passed resolutions standing unitedly with
50     San Juan County in opposition to the Bears Ears National Monument;
51          WHEREAS, every member of the Utah State Legislature representing San Juan County
52     opposed the designation of the Bears Ears National Monument;
53          WHEREAS, the Legislature passed a resolution last summer expressly opposing the
54     creation of the Bears Ears National Monument, with the Governor concurring therein;
55          WHEREAS, Governor Gary R. Herbert wrote to the President of the United States in
56     August 2015 and in February 2016 urging him not to use the Antiquities Act to designate
57     another national monument in Utah;
58          WHEREAS, Governor Gary R. Herbert noted that another monument designation


59     would “inflame passion, spur divisiveness, and ensure perpetual opposition”;
60          WHEREAS, the Antiquities Act limits a presidential monument designation to the
61     “smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be protected”;
62          WHEREAS, the Bears Ears National Monument is almost twice the size of the state of
63     Rhode Island;
64          WHEREAS, once-thriving rural Utah communities and their citizens are suffering
65     economic deprivation at the hand of their own federal government, which a national monument
66     tourism economy fails to alleviate;
67          WHEREAS, the power granted to the president to designate national monuments under
68     the Antiquities Act has been exploited and abused by presidents of both parties for over a
69     century;
70          WHEREAS, newly designated monuments averaged 15,573 acres in 1906 when the
71     Antiquities Act was signed into law but, in the year 2016, have averaged 739,305 acres, which
72     is more than 47 times the size of those created 110 years ago;
73          WHEREAS, because only western states have large areas of federal land within their
74     borders, use of the Antiquities Act by presidents to designate millions of acres of land as
75     national monuments disparately impacts western states;
76          WHEREAS, Utah is 50th in the nation in per pupil spending due to the large portion of
77     the state that is held as federal land and not subject to property tax;
78          WHEREAS, considerable funding for the Utah public education system comes from the
79     responsible development of our abundant natural resources and other economic uses of our
80     public lands;
81          WHEREAS, continued opportunity for multiple uses of our public lands is vital to the
82     economies of San Juan County and the state of Utah, providing tax revenue that supports
83     students’ education statewide;
84          WHEREAS, within the sweep of President Obama’s Bears Ears National Monument
85     designation is 109,000 acres of school and institutional trust land designated to produce
86     funding for our school children;
87          WHEREAS, Utah is already home to five national parks and seven national
88     monuments;
89          WHEREAS, all or part of four national monuments, one national park, and one national


90     recreation area are located in San Juan County;
91          WHEREAS, San Juan County, despite the presence of these national monuments,
92     parks, and recreation areas, is the poorest county in the state and among the most economically
93     depressed in the nation;
94          WHEREAS, Navajos in San Juan County experience some of the highest rates of
95     unemployment in the state;
96          WHEREAS, rural economies depend on multiple uses of our public lands for
97     sustenance and growth;
98          WHEREAS, the Bears Ears National Monument designation will forever remove the
99     possibility of economic development and decimate the economy of the region with impacts felt
100     around the state;
101          WHEREAS, citizens in rural Utah deserve the equal opportunity to pursue happiness
102     through the protection of their life, liberty, property, and right to determine their own destiny
103     unimpeded by their own federal government;
104          WHEREAS, San Juan County residents, including local Native American tribes, fear
105     that woodcutting, pinion gathering, traditional religious and cultural practices, and a host of
106     other historical uses of the area will be restricted or entirely prohibited; and
107          WHEREAS, San Juan County’s Natural Bridges National Monument prohibits
108     woodcutting, and grazing has declined by almost a third in Grand Staircase-Escalante National
109     Monument despite a presidential promise that grazing would “remain at historical levels”;
110          WHEREAS the United States Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, which
111     are charged with managing the Bears Ears National Monument, have a combined deferred
112     maintenance backlog of almost $6 billion;
113          WHEREAS, these federal land management agencies clearly do not have the funding to
114     maintain the lands for which they are currently responsible; and
115          WHEREAS, Utahns are best positioned to care for and manage our public lands:
116          NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah, the
117     Governor concurring therein, strongly urges the President of the United States to rescind the
118     Bears Ears National Monument designation.
119          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be sent to the President of
120     the United States, Utah’s congressional delegation, the Secretary of the Department of the


121     Interior, and the Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture.

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Comments

  1. The bears ears was not wanted by THE LOCAL NATIVES OF UTAH, our voices were drowned out by our own governments because they want more money from the states for local natives but never actually help them in any way. The resolutions were not made until after the monument was announced. How dare u write otherwise. U know not the truth of the area if u want the truth speak with the real utah navajos not the ones from az nm or further away

  2. I believe that this resolution actually does support the point of view of Local Utah Natives, as it does not want the Bears Ears as Monument either. A more careful reading would show that. The writer above is correct in that the Navajo Tribal government gets federal and state money to help the reservation Natives, but veru little of it ever makes its way into Utah.

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