During his May swing through Utah to review national monuments, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke had private meetings with three county commissions whose counties host two of the most controversial monuments under scrutiny—Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante.
“The Closed Meetings flagrantly violated multiple provisions of [Utah’s Open and Public Meetings] Act and, if left unchecked, would shield Defendants’ activities on important public policy matters from the light of day and deprive Utah citizens of their right to have their public bodies ‘conduct their deliberations openly,’” says the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Utah’s 3rd District Court.
“I know it is.