Even though the ink on the Dakota Access Pipeline deal isn’t yet dry, two congressmen, Rob Bishop and Jason Chaffetz, have recently introduced a bill to the U.S. House of Representatives seeking to take 100,000 acres of Ute tribal lands and hand them over to oil and mining companies. The level of greed in this country must be at an all-time high. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the bill also seeks to remove protection from 18 million acres of land in eastern Utah and prevent President Obama from designating the Bears Ears area a national monument.
In May a poll was conducted showing that 71 percent of Utah voters (across all groups) support the Bears Ears national monument and The Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News, and Washington Post have all come out in support of the national monument, as well.
From the article:
“Adjoining Canyonlands National Park and the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Bears Ears is an unprotected culturally significant region that contains more than 100,000 Native American archeological sites. These sacred sites are subject to continual looting and desecration. More than a dozen serious looting cases were reported between May 2014 and April 2015.
The area has been inhabited for at least 11,000 years. Many Southwestern tribes have longstanding connections to this land, including Navajo, Ute and Paiute peoples. The Navajo Nation and the White Mesa Ute Reservation border Bears Ears. Rock paintings and petroglyphs are found throughout the area.”
Because the area is rich in uranium and potash oil and gas companies are dying to drill. In fact, the area around Bears Ears, including Canyonlands and Arches National Park, are already home to some oil rigs.
Thankfully, the recent troubles with the Dakota Access Pipeline has seen tribes like the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Pueblo of Zuni and Ute Indian Tribe, come together to unite against a common threat.
Navajo leader Mark Maryboy is credited with launching the effort to preserve Bears Ears. As a long-time activist, he tried to create a deal with a former moderate Utah Republican, but Tea Party conservatives and anti-public lands politicians killed any of his hopes of a deal.
More from the article:
“The proposed Public Lands Initiative (PLI) would appropriate 26 percent of Ute reservation lands and would favor mining interests over land conservation. In a July 23 letter to both Chaffetz and Bishop, the co-chairs of the Inter-Tribal Coalition wrote, “We do not see how further discussions can be productive.” In a county that is half Native American, they note that under the proposed legislation, there is “only a weak advisory role for tribes” and that the “PLI bill is diametrically opposed” to their interests.
The proposed area.
The PLI would also open up Recapture Canyon, another area with many sacred Native American sites, to motorized vehicles.
It’s time for everyone to stand up and use their voices. It’s HIGH TIME this country started doing what was morally right and this isn’t it. We stole that land and have relegated these people to the worst of the worst for far too long. Stealing and then ruining what they have left isn’t acceptable in any way.
Source: Eco Watch
