Areas cut out of Utah monuments are rich in oil, coal, uranium

President Trump drastically reduced the size of two national monuments in Utah on Monday, potentially opening about 2 million acres of public land to mineral extraction and other activities in a state in which about 65 percent of all land is federally owned. The sites, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, contain rich troves of archaeological and paleontological finds in addition to large deposits of coal, uranium, oil and gas.

The day after Trump’s announcement, Utah’s governor and several House Republicans said the changes would not lead to wider energy development. One, Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah), proposed banning mineral extraction within the original boundaries of Bears Ears.

“The idea that we’re going to give these over to oil and gas companies is a false narrative,” said Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.

Parts of Bears Ears are rich with oil, gas and uranium potential

Bureau of Land Management maps show high-to-moderate oil and gas development potential in much of the original Bears Ears footprint, which encompasses more than 100,000 archaeological and Native American cultural sites, such as cliff dwellings and ancient petroglyphs. Most of the areas thought to have the most oil and gas — and the few existing drilling leases — are outside the new boundaries, according to the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

The Red Canyon area of Bears Ears is known for its Triassic Period fossils, and it also contains extensive uranium deposits. Uranium mines were humming around southeastern Utah during the Cold War but have shuttered in recent years as nuclear power has fallen out of favor. Dormant mines and mining leases dot the area. The owners of the now-closed Daneros Mine, which lies three miles from the old Bears Ears border, have planned a large expansion that is opposed by the Navajo Nation and environmental groups. Ore would be trucked 62 miles through the monument to White Mesa, the country’s only operating uranium mill.

A group of House Republicans proposed prohibiting mineral extraction in the original Bears Ears monument area.

Grand Staircase-Escalante sits atop Utah’s largest coal field

The U.S. Geological Survey estimated that 62 billion tons of coal lies in the Kaiparowits Plateau, an area that was within Grand Staircase-Escalante and that is important to paleontologists for its Mesozoic Era past. It is Utah’s biggest coal field, but there are no mining leases within it. In 1996, the year President Bill Clinton designated the monument, the federal government bought out the 18 existing leases.

The original Grand Staircase-Escalante area also contains limited oil and gas reserves and about 50 authorized oil and gas leases, according to the wilderness protection group. Most lie outside the new borders.

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Zinke backs shrinking more national monuments and shifting management of 10

Trump shrinks two huge national monuments in Utah, drawing praise and protests

U.S. Forest Service didn’t call for pulling its land from Bears Ears, USDA nominee tells Senate Democrats

Trump to cut Bears Ears National Monument by 85 percent, Grand Staircase-Escalante by half, documents show