Update:
President Obama, hiding out in Hawaii, will apparently run roughshod over local Utah residents and institute another land grab today, designating the area of Bears Ears as a national monument, according Sen. Mike Lee’s communications secretary, Conn Carroll:
Utah’s state and federally elected leaders have vowed to fight Obama if he follows through on his action. Typically, presidents appear at the site they are designating when they take the action, as Bill Clinton did in 1996 at Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.
As the Salt Lake Tribune reported:
Elected San Juan County leaders have been nearly unanimous in their opposition to a monument, arguing it would stymie public access and disrupt traditional uses. Congressman Rob Bishop, R-Utah, and many other state leaders claimed a monument “unilaterally” established through executive decree — under the 1906 Antiquities Act — would disenfranchise local sentiment and perpetuate conflict over use of public lands.
Bishop, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, has already met president-elect Donald Trump’s transition team, asking him to revoke large-scale monuments that Obama designated even though local leaders opposed them.
Bishop and Rep. Jason Chaffetz have sponsored legislation to attempting to preserve critical lands in the Bears Ears area without designating the area as a national monument.
A mid-October survey found 60% of Utahans opposed designating the area as a national monument. Although Native American groups want the area designated as a national monument, there is a split among the Navajo tribe as to whether to support it.