Bears Ears in the News: “Stunning and Sacred”
The Comb Ridge and beyond, taken near Bluff, Utah. Photo by Stephen Strom, 2016.
Welcome back! Here’s a roundup of the latest news from the Bears Ears beat:
“The Stunning and Sacred Lands of Utah’s Bears Ears Could Soon Be Protected,” Discover, 1/31/21
https://www.discovermagazine.com/environment/the-stunning-and-sacred-lands-of-utahs-bears-ears-could-soon-be-protected
This piece by Tom Yulsman features insights from his colleague, Charles Wilkinson, an expert in federal Indian law and a key source for our book, Voices from Bears Ears. The article also features some fantastic aerial images that underscore just how extraordinary the landscape is - and why so many care so deeply about protecting it.
"Now that Biden has taken the first steps to restore the monument, Utah’s new governor, Spencer Cox, is pushing for "local management" and is opposing any expansion of Bears Ears,” Yulsman reports. “If "local management" is really what the Utah governor wants, then he should be listening to the tribes. No people living in the region have a closer connection to the land than the Native peoples."
”Utah leadership and Biden administration at odds over oil and gas leases,” KPCW, 1/30/21
Shortly after taking office, the Biden Administration announced a 60-day moratorium on new oil and gas leases on federal land, drawing the ire of Utah lawmakers. Republican Senators, including Utah’s Mike Lee and Mitt Romney, responded by introducing the Protecting our Wealth of Energy Resources, or POWER, Act. If passed into law, the POWER Act would prohibit the President and cabinet secretaries from blocking energy or mineral leasing on federal lands and waters without Congressional approval.
Why the opposition to the new moratorium? Senator Lee said in a statement that the order was a “job killer,” while Utah Governor Spencer Cox released a statement of his own saying the Biden administration acted without soliciting any input from the state and did not take into account how a moratorium would impact rural Utah, where many energy-sector jobs are.
The future of oil and gas leases in Bears Ears country was central to former President Donald J. Trump’s decision to shrink Bears Ears National Monument. Check out our 2018 blog post on this issue.
“Bears Ears supporter, opponent team up for bill to benefit community,” Fox 13 Salt Lake City, 2/6/21
Bipartisanship on Bears Ears? Led by notorious monument opponent, Utah State Representative and former San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman? File under "expect the unexpected." As Fox 13 reports, “Rep. Lyman, R-Blanding, is teaming up with a strong supporter of the monument, Rep. Doug Owens, D-Millcreek, on a bipartisan bill that would help to create a visitors center outside Bears Ears National Monument "as a means to enhance the area’s cultural and historical significance and to better manage increasing visitation and the growing impact of outdoor recreation and tourism in and around Bears Ears National Monument."
“The memo makes it clear that neither Reps. Lyman or Owens are retreating from their views on Bears Ears National Monument. Still, it's an acknowledgment that Bears Ears National Monument is here to stay — in some form. The memo states that tourism in that area of southeastern Utah has shot up nearly 73% since the monument was created in 2016. San Juan County has experienced increases in tourism activity.”
For more background on Phil Lyman, San Juan County, and the many-years-long Bears Ears saga, read our 2016 feature in Terrain.org.