Westerners, and particularly Utahns, have always taken offense to federal land-grabs, and the Southwest has often been a target of such largely-improper misappropriations. As much as I dislike President Trump, it doesn’t prevent me from understanding that some previous presidents have greatly abused the power to claim state lands for national monuments.
Considering the vast history of humans on our planet, there is likely precious-little land that could pass the nonsacred muster. For 30,000 years various peoples have been living and dying throughout our planet, and there are few spots in which there are no human remains. It would be total absurdity to designate everything as a national monument — though the long history of mankind may support doing so — nor does the presence of corpses from previous world civilizations create sacred plots wherein precious natural resources should remain untapped.
I have found little respect for our president. He is a low-class, oinker of a man, but I will agree with him on this: Paring down Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante was a reasonable compromise to two mammoth land grabs that were never in the best interest of Americans.
Much of America is scenic and beautiful, and my belief is that mining, industry, farming and fossil fuel exploration and production are all part of responsible use of our country.
Michael S. Robinson, Riverton
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