Washington DC— In anticipation of the passage of Rep. Rob Bishop’s Utah Public Lands Initiative Act (HR. 5780) out of the House Natural Resources Committee, LCV’s Legislative Representative Andy French issued the following statement:

“Rep. Bishop’s Public Lands Initiative utterly fails to provide the Bears Ears region of Southeast Utah with the protections it deserves. Instead of using his time at the helm of the Natural Resources Committee to move forward efforts that would protect historic artifacts and majestic landscapes in his home state, he has routinely sided with anti-government extremists, worked to undermine the law that has helped shape our system of national parks, and failed to move conservation legislation forward in a good faith effort. While Utahns agree on the urgent need to permanently protect the Bears Ears region, Rep. Bishop has loaded up his bill with Big Oil giveaways and marginalized key constituencies in a desperate attempt to forestall the protections Bears Ears so richly deserves. Now that Rep. Bishop’s sideshow theatrics are over, a presidential proclamation is the only realistic path forward to permanently protect Bears Ears, and we hope President Obama will listen to the tribes asking him to use his authority to designate the area as a national monument before more precious cultural resources and landscapes are laid to waste.”

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