INTERIOR/TRUMP EXEC ORDERS: “President Donald Trump signed orders Monday [12-4-17] that significantly reduce the size of Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, marking the largest ever withdrawal of federally protected lands in the U.S., experts say—an act already facing a legal challenge.
Bears Ears, established just last year by President Barack Obama, will be reduced to about one seventh of its original size—down to around 200,000 acres from 1.35 million—and split into two separate sections.
Grand Staircase-Escalante, created by former President Bill Clinton in 1996, will be cut nearly in half, to just over a million acres from nearly 2 million acres—and separated into three sections.
Mr. Trump signed the orders in the rotunda of the Utah capital on a brief visit to Salt Lake City, surrounded by state and federal lawmakers, as well as county officials from rural parts of Utah.”
-Jim Carlton, “Trump Orders Large Cuts to 2 National Monuments in Utah,” The Wall Street Journal online, Dec. 4, 2017 10:12pm