SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will have tens of thousands of comments to potentially look over as he prepares a recommendation next month for President Donald Trump about whether the new Bears Ears National Monument should be preserved, downsized or rescinded.
Nearly 55,000 comments mentioning the 1.3-million acre (5,300 square kilometers) monument in southeastern Utah had been submitted to a federal government website by Friday morning, the final day a two-week public comment period after Zinke’s visit to Utah to see the monument.
An informal review of the online comments suggests monument supporters outnumber opponents. The submissions generally reflect the same arguments that shaped a bitter argument that played out over the last several years as the monument proposal became a flashpoint in the Western public lands debate.