The assault continues. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has scrapped Obama-era master plans for public lands surrounding Utah’s national parks in favor of ramped-up oil and gas leases. The latest arrived in May, when Curtis and Sen. Orrin Hatch introduced their Emery County Public Land Management Act of 2018. The bill, drafted by the commissioners of a remote county with just 10,000 citizens, would create a new national monument and national conservation area. That sounds good, and such language allows the legislation’s sponsors to brand it as a step forward for conservation in Utah red rock country.

Source: Los Angeles Times September 18, 2018 11:15 UTC