A Canadian mining firm is planning to mine for minerals on land that was protected as a national monument until Donald Trump came to power. The land in question was previously part of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah.
So as we celebrate the July 4th holiday, let's remember that one of the national treasures that made America great for many, many years has been our national parks and national monuments, beautiful, unspoiled land that is unlike any other place on earth.
Oh say can you see? Oh, I see it, huge mining equipment plowing through this hallowed land. And it's all because of greed. Is this how Trump is Making America Great Again?
Last December, he removed nearly half of the Grand Staircase-Escalante from protection, as well as part of the Bears Ears National Monument, also in Utah. It was the largest reversal of national monument protections in U.S. history.
Glacier Lake Resources Inc., a Vancouver-based copper and silver mining firm, has acquired the Colt Mesa deposit, an approximately 200-acre parcel of land located about 35 miles southeast of Boulder, Utah, NPR reports.
Because it was nationally protected, the area was previously off limits to development and mining. In a press release the company noted that the deposit "recently became open for staking and exploration after a 21 year period moratorium."
According to Saf Dhillon, president and CEO of Glacier Lake Resources, the company's extraction of rminerals would have little impact on tourism and the environment. Glacier Lake Resources says it has conducted sampling that confirmed the presence of several minerals, including cobalt.
President Bill Clinton established the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in 1996, then the largest national monument in the country. No longer.
President Trump also has slashed the Bears Ears National Monument by about a million acres — to roughly 15 percent of its original size.
Trump issued an executive order in April 2017 instructing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review any national monument created since 1996. Trump said the review would return control of the land "to the people, the people of all of the states, the people of the United States."
So, we the people get to see our national treasures sold off to satisfy Trump's unending thirst for the almighty dollar. What will be next? The Grand Canyon?
Wake up, America. This man is ruining our country.