Climate Perspective Project

Utah has been the center of a debate regarding the need to preserve and protect its wilderness
lands, and the leasing of these same lands for the purpose of oil and gas drilling, for many years.
In December of 2016, President Barack Obama created Bears Ears National Monument as
federally protected public land. At the time of the designation Bears Ears covered 1.3 million
acres of historic land in Southern Utah.
This area has been a hot bed of activity based on the potential for oil and gas development in an
area that is considered sacred land by local Native American Tribes. Bears Ears was designated
as a National Monument under the Antiquities Act, which grants presidential power to protect
ancient artifacts and ruins on these lands.
Some residents of Utah felt that the designation as a national monument was an abuse of federal
power, and that the lands should be managed at a local level and not a federal level. In
December of 2017, President Trumps signed a proclamation to reduce Bears Ears National
Monument by more than 1.1 million acres. The loss of federal protection gives control of the
land back to the State of Utah, who can sell the land to the highest bidder or open the land to
energy exploration and drilling leases.
This area is also thought to be rich in uranium deposits which is why Energy Fuel Resources
(USA), urged the Trump administration to reduce the monument in order to make it easier to
access the ore. Energy Fuel Resources also hired a team of lobbyists and paid them $30,000 to
work on this issue. It was even reported that Energy Fuel Resources emailed a map, specifying
the land it wanted, to Utah Senator Orrin Hatch.
Uranium ore is used to product nuclear fuel. Nuclear energy is not actually considered a
renewable energy source because there is a finite amount of uranium available for its production.
Nuclear energy does not produce carbon dioxide during operation and does not contribute to
global warming. While it may not seem problematic to open the Bears Ears land to uranium
drilling, uranium is not the only target of drilling in the area.
The New York Times reported in their article Oil was Central in Decision to Shrink Bears Ears
Monument, Emails Show, that in March 2017, Senator Hatch sent an email and a map showing
suggested boundary changes to Bears Ears, to a senior Interior Department official. The email
stated that adopting the map would resolve all know mineral conflicts. This information was
sent nearly a month before Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke initiated his review of Utah’s national
monuments. (Friedman, 2018)
Expanding fossil fuel development and pushing back on environmental initiatives that damage
America’s energy industry, have been the focus of President Trump. The Trump administration
has issues permits for offshore oil drilling in the Arctic, increased logging on public lands, lifted
restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions from coal power plants, cut NASA’s carbon monitoring
system, rolled back vehicle emissions standards, and dropped climate change from the list of
national security threats.
The more power that the oil and gas industry gains within the Trump administration, the greater
the greater the loss in programs and legislation aimed at reducing carbon emissions. The New
York Times recently published a report revealing that the oil industry has funded a campaign to
roll back fuel-economy rules. The campaigns language is mirrored in the Safer Affordable Fuel-
Efficient Vehicles Act (SAFE), which was proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) and the National Highway Transportation Safety Association (NHTSA) in August and
allows new emissions standards for passenger cars and light trucks for model years 2021- 2026.
The oil and gas industry has a long record of opposing climate change and lining pockets in
Washington in order to pass legislation that is favorable to the fossil fuel industry. As long as
this process is allowed to continue, and the science of climate change can be “debunked” by the
highest bidder, the United States will not take the stage as a leader in the reduction of carbon
emissions from fossil fuels.
References
Friedman, E. L. (2018, March 2). Oil Was Central in Decisions to Shrink Bears Ears Monument, Emails
Show. Retrieved from The New York Times: www.nytimes.com/2018/03/02/climate/bears-ears-
national-monument-html

Phippen, J. W. (2018, February 2). Bears Ears Officially Opens to Oil and Gas. Retrieved from Outside:
www.outsideonline.com/2278981/its-d-day-bears-ears

Quinlan, A. (2017, December 4). What You Need to Know About the Bears Ears Controversy. Retrieved
from Adventure Ports Network:
www.adventuresportsnetwork.com/outdoor/nature/everything-you-need-know-about-bears-
ears-controversy