Add comment: Oppose Interior Sec. Zinke's proposal for opening Bears Ears to mining, logging and drilling

We always knew Interior Secretary Zinke had a plan for Bears Ears -- and now we have the details. He just unveiled a proposed Resource Management Plan (RMP) for the national monument, and it's a shameless gift to his friends in the dirty fuel industries.

When Tribal nations urged President Obama to designate Bears Ears as a national monument, they stressed the need to protect its sacred sites from looting. With this proposed plan, Zinke is rushing to loot it himself. Add your comment opposing his destructive proposal for Bears Ears.

The canyons and mesas of Bears Ears are dotted with ancient cliff dwellings, great houses, and shrines -- over 100,000 archaeological sites in all. Most of these sites have never been studied by archaeologists, but local tribes have held them sacred for thousands of years.

Late last year, Trump and Zinke illegally shrank Bears Ears by 85%, despite the fact that only Congress has the power to alter a national monument. We're challenging them in court, but Zinke is racing to mine and drill in the monument before its boundaries are settled. The Tribes wanted Bears Ears to be a place of healing, but soon this landscape could be permanently scarred.

Under Zinke's direction, over 1 million acres will not receive the protections from drilling and mining mandated by President Obama's monument designation. And he's not stopping there -- this new proposal would step up logging and grazing in the 15% of Bears Ears that is still protected as a monument.

Zinke has no right to raid these lands for profit. Add your comment and tell him you oppose this greedy, reckless management plan.

- Lena Moffitt, Sierra Club

To leave your own PUBLIC COMMENT, go to:

https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/planAndProjectSite.do?methodName=dispatchToPatternPage&currentPageId=141293

Sample Comment:

Please do not open up any of the lands illegally taken out of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to oil and gas drilling, mining, or other industrial energy development. These lands are essential to supporting the region’s ecosystems and wildlife, contain countless archaeological artifacts, support jobs and economic vitality, and are simply too important to sacrifice for energy development. Save these public lands so that they can be enjoyed by all Americans, and not turned into instruments of profit for corporate special interests.

More information:

Proposed Management Plans For Utah Monuments Released, Draw Criticism

Ryan Zinke spent his first year in office selling off rights to our public lands