Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes says he’s calling on President Donald Trump to rescind the Bears Ears National Monument named by Barack Obama in December, calling the federal protections for 1.35 million acres in southern Utah “a great overstep.”
Hughes, a Republican, criticized the monument during his opening address Monday to the Utah House of Representatives as the Legislature returned for its first day of 2017 business. The heavily GOP House gave Hughes a standing ovation for the remarks.
A coalition of American Indian tribes pushed the Obama administration to create the monument for the sacred tribal land known as Bears Ears, but Utah Republican leaders and rural residents say it’s too restrictive and adds another layer of unnecessary federal control.
Trump has not publicly commented on the Bears Ears monument.