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Feds move to open Staircase-Escalante monument to fossil fuel extraction

Federal officials released a final management plan for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah that would open more land to potential extraction of oil, gas, coal and other minerals.

President Donald Trump signed a proclamation in late 2017 that would exclude from designation and reservation about 861,974 acres that are set aside for the care and management of objects of historic and scientific interest. The U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management announced the availability of the proposed resource management plans and final environmental impact statement for the changes in a Federal Register notice Aug. 23.

Of multiple options considered, the BLM chose an alternative that does not add any areas determined to be of critical environmental concern. The chosen alternative "would emphasize resource use and reduce constraints while ensuring the proper care and management of monument objects," the BLM said.

The National Parks Conservation Association issued a statement denouncing the management plans for the national monument, calling the BLM's work the result of a "rushed and closed-door process" that was done even as there is active litigation over the administration's efforts and the Government Accountability Office is investigating the legality of the changes.

"Despite the monument's value to the region and the millions of people who have fought to protect it, the Trump administration is greenlighting destructive development, including mining and drilling, that will forever change this landscape and all we stand to learn from and experience here," Theresa Pierno, president and CEO for National Parks Conservation Association, said in an Aug. 23 statement.