Washington • More than 60 House Democrats on Monday signed letters sent to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke urging him to stop work on an environmental study and management plan for the original boundaries of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments while lawsuits are pending.
The pair of letters, headed by Rep.Raul Grijalva, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, say that President Donald Trump’s orders to cut the monuments by 2 million total acres are now in legal doubt and taking any action to open the lands for possible development or other uses is wrong while a judge decides their fate.