{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hickenlooper.senate.gov/press_releases/hickenlooper-colleagues-rebuke-trumps-move-to-strip-protections-from-bears-ears-grand-staircase-escalante-national-monuments/", "Hickenlooper, Colleagues Rebuke Trump\u2019s Move to Strip Protections from Bears Ears, Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments", "2026-08-10", "2026", "2026-08", "Democrat", "Senate", "CO", "John W. Hickenlooper", "H000273", "www.hickenlooper.senate.gov", "hickenlooper", "https://www.hickenlooper.senate.gov/press/page/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper, Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n, Martin Heinrich and 34 of their Senate colleagues called out President Trump\u2019s attack on the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments in southern Utah.\n\n\u201cBy attempting, yet again, to eliminate vast portions of these monuments, your Administration invites needless uncertainty to the stability that local communities, Tribes, land managers, scientists, recreation users, and businesses need. Not just in Utah, but for all local communities that rely on the stability of our national monuments,\u201d the senators wrote. \u201cThe Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments are national treasures. The American people deserve public lands policy grounded in law, science, respect for Tribal sovereignty, and stewardship \u2013 not political decisions against the desires of the vast majority of Americans.\u201d\n\nIn the letter, the senators highlighted how the executive order puts irreplaceable cultural, historic, scientific, ecological, and recreational resources at risk of destruction and loss.\n\nHickenlooper previously called out the decision, highlighting how the president\u2019s decision threatens public lands across the country.\n\n\u201cThis is a blatant attack on public lands everywhere. Our public lands are part of our shared heritage. Removing protections and paving the way for mining and drilling on beloved landscapes goes against the values of the West,\u201d said Hickenlooper on his social media.\n\nHickenlooper has been outspoken against Trump administration cuts to public lands and led an effort against the administration\u2019s plans to overturn the Bureau of Land Management\u2019s (BLM) Public Lands Rule. Hickenlooper also helped lead the fight against Senator Mike Lee\u2019s proposal to sell off more than three million acres of public lands.\n\nThe full text of the letter is available HERE and below.\n\nDear Mr. President:\n\nWe write to express our strong opposition to your July 13, 2026, proclamations that stripped protections for Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. These actions attempt to remove nearly three million acres from monument protection and placed irreplaceable cultural, historic, scientific, ecological, and recreational resources at risk of destruction and loss.\n\nNational monuments have preserved our country\u2019s unique public lands, extraordinary history, and common culture for 120 years. Grand Staircase-Escalante, established in 1996, contains world-class paleontological resources, the ancestral and current homelands of multiple Tribal Nations, striking geologic formations, unique plants and animals, stunning dark night skies, and landscapes that support robust local outdoor recreation economies. Bears Ears, established in 2016, is America\u2019s first truly tribally-driven national monument. The proposal was led by five sovereign Tribal Nations.\n\nEach monument is a living cultural landscape with deep spiritual and ancestral importance to multiple Tribal Nations, including the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Pueblo of Zuni, and Ute Indian Tribe and the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians. These places are not abstractions on a map; they are homelands and sacred sites that deserve enduring protection, and enhanced recognition secured by the previous monument declaration.\n\nWe are especially troubled that the Bears Ears proclamation disbanded the Bears Ears Commission, a landmark model of collaborative management between sovereign Tribal Nations and the federal government. Tribal leaders have made clear that Bears Ears is a sacred ancestral homeland, and that decisions affecting it must be made through meaningful government-to government consultation. The Department of the Interior had previously committed to meeting with the Bears Ears Commission if changes to the monument were under consideration; no such meeting occurred before these proclamations were signed. Any major policy action regarding these culturally important places requires meaningful government-to-government consultation.\n\nNational monuments enjoy widespread public support and serve as economic drivers across the United States. The outdoor recreation economy generates $1.3 trillion in gross output and accounts for $9.75 billion in Utah alone. The localities surrounding national monuments have seen growth in income and employment since their designations. We reject the premise that monuments are incompatible with rural prosperity or responsible public access. Despite your false claims that people cannot walk, hunt or fish in these monuments, monument designations support outdoor recreation, heritage tourism, hunting and fishing, scientific research, grazing under appropriate management, and durable local economies. At the same time, monument status prevents the loss of cultural and natural resources that cannot be replaced once damaged. By attempting, yet again, to eliminate vast portions of these monuments, your Administration invites needless uncertainty to the stability that local communities, Tribes, land managers, scientists, recreation users, and businesses need. Not just in Utah, but for all local communities that rely on the stability of our national monuments.\n\nThe Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments are national treasures. The American people deserve public lands policy grounded in law, science, respect for Tribal sovereignty, and stewardship\u2014not political decisions against the desires of the vast majority of Americans. We stand with Tribal Nations, local communities, scientists, conservationists, outdoor recreation businesses, and Americans across the country who believe these landscapes should remain protected.\n\nSincerely,\n\n###", 1, "2026-08-12T06:18:38Z", "2026-08-12T06:20:33Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hickenlooper.senate.gov/press_releases/hickenlooper-colleagues-rebuke-trumps-move-to-strip-protections-from-bears-ears-grand-staircase-escalante-national-monuments/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4237219002097845, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}