Mike Lee Moves to Block Any Future Restoration of Bears Ears National Monument, Conservation Groups Warn

Mike Lee Moves to Block Any Future Restoration of Bears Ears National Monument, Conservation Groups Warn

Now that President Trump shrank the monument by 91 percent this summer, Sen. Mike Lee is beginning a process that could ensure no future administration is able to restore similar protections for the federal lands

Lands that Trump cut from Bears Ears were opened to mining claims last week. Prospectors filed 16 that same day.

Environmental groups decry actitivities that might distrub tribal and cultural resources at the site, but local miners say the lands were meant for multiple uses.