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Letter: Tribune’s monument coverage shines light on treacherous schemes

This map, obtained through an open records request to the Utah Department of State History, shows energy resources in and around the Bears Ears National Monument. The orange stripe shows uranium deposits. Most of the coal, oil, natural gas and potash is located to the east of the monument.

Thank you for your excellent coverage of the Utah national monuments controversies, including your report of the intervention by Energy Fuels Resources, a uranium mining outfit that is a subsidiary of a Canadian corporation (credited originally to The Washington Post).

Your two maps, one showing uranium deposits congruent with the new Bears Ears borders (Dec. 13) and another showing the Grand Staircase-Escalante coal deposits (Dec. 10), provide convincing evidence that the new borders are no coincidence.

Instead of listening to local voices as they claimed, such as the native tribes and small business owners, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and the Trump administration clearly listened to international voices of resource extraction industries and their shills.

Please continue to investigate the machinations behind the glib cover stories manufactured by the administration and big-money outside interests.

Kathryn Fitzgerald, Salt Lake City