Center For Biological Diversity Petition on Bears Ears, Grand Staircase, Growing Like Wildfire - EnviroNews | The Environmental News Specialists

Center For Biological Diversity Petition on Bears Ears, Grand Staircase, Growing Like Wildfire

(EnviroNews World News)PETITION WATCH: The Center For Biological Diversity (the Center) launched an online petition, after President Donald Trump announced the largest national monument rollback in U.S. history on December 4, 2017, before a mostly Republican crowd in Salt Lake City, Utah.

If successfully implemented, the two proclamations signed by Trump would reduce the Bears Ears National Monument in Southern Utah by approximately 85 percent, and would diminish the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by about 40%. In total, some two million acres are slated to be stripped away from these protected areas.

While the President claims his motivation is government overreach and says previous presidents abused the 1906 Antiquities Act when they designated the monuments in the first place, environmental and conservation groups point to a more sinister plot, saying the order would open one-of-a-kind geological, archeological and paleontological sites to coal mining and other industrial plunder.

Bears Ears harbors myriad sacred Native American artifacts and indigenous ruins, while Grand Staircase-Escalante is known as a “dinosaur treasure trove” and is famous for its fossilized remains and other historic relics.

Only hours after Trump made the announcement, a coalition of ten environmental groups sued the President and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, reminding the public in a press release that “in mid-October, scientists airlifted one of the most complete tyrannosaur skeletons ever found out of Grand Staircase.”

The petition has already amassed around 32,000 signatures in a few short days and is rising fast. Readers may visit and engage with the petition at the link below.

Urgent: Pledge to Protect Our National Monuments

It’s official. Trump has announced his plan to decimate two of America’s most iconic and historically important national monuments: Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante. Two million acres of public lands will be slashed so the oil, gas, logging and mining industries can move in – 85 percent of Bears Ears and half of Grand Staircase-Escalante.

RELATED FROM ENVIRONEWS:

Trump Just Shrank Grand Staircase-Escalante Ntl. Monument and He’s Already Been Sued, Bigly

(EnviroNews Headline News Desk) – Salt Lake City, Utah – Only hours after Donald Trump announced his administration would be significantly shrinking the boundaries for much of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Southern Utah, environmental groups filed a lawsuit, naming President Donald J. Trump, Interior Secretary Ryan…

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