Review Comment Relative to Uranium Mining

To the alarmists claiming that Bears Ears Monument will be turned into a drilling/ mining mecca if rescinded and turned back to the state: It just isn't so. (See attached map.) Very little oil exists in those areas. Plus you fail to factor in, that Southern Utah citizens love having public land for all the things they've been doing for hundreds of years. Neither Native nor Anglo locals want to give that up. 

However, be aware that during the 50's - 60's San Juan county was blessed with abundance of uranium, and the results of the boom, although some consider it temporary, built two new high schools, new elementary schools, a hospital, and paved roads throughout the county. This was done through the increased tax revenues. It is hard to have a solid tax base without use of private land and our county has only 8% to work with. Give us a break! We still use most of those schools today, and some need replacing. But our tax base is significantly less. What if today's restrictions would have been in place then?

It is time for the Antiquities Act to stop being the play maker in the game of land grabs by environmental groups. All states should be sovereign and have the ability to bless the well being of their citizens. We should not be treated as pawns, by heavy handed NGO's with ulterior motives.    

Letters to Donors to Conservation Lands Foundation

To Whom It May Concern,

     I am concerned about the exorbitant financial efforts environmental groups like your foundation, are putting into securing more and more land in the USA under the guise of environmental protection and I have to question your real motives.  Since you are one of those “generous” donors to The Conservation Lands Foundation, I wonder why you feel this urgency to designate more monuments and parks, when you know full well our country is nearly bankrupt and can’t afford to take care of the parks and monuments it already has?  

Why do you now pick on Utah’s Native people, and rural residents, as you seek 1.9 Million acres to be locked up as part of a Bears Ears monument?  San Juan County is the poorest county in the State of Utah. 53% of our school children are Native American. We need jobs and resources, not more controls and social programs. If you cared about our country, its existing parks and monuments, and its citizens, you would be making donations to specific parks and local schools.  This would show true concern for the land.  The Bears Ears area in question, is already “public” land.  Everyone is welcome to come visit, hike, hunt, ponder, and enjoy.  However, the BLM is understaffed.  Maybe that is where some of your money could go.

     Here is why most San Juan citizens don’t trust the National Monument agenda: 
#1 Utah is already full to the brim with Nat’l Parks and Monuments.  

#2 State’s rights have been trampled upon time and time again by the Conservation Lands Foundation and their cronies.  First the “Monument Men” come with promises that things will not be affected, MUCH, by a National Monument.  Then they decimate logging, mining, oil, and coal industries and the tax base that these companies provide and which support our schools. Next they start reducing the AUMS for cattle grazing.  The next to be impacted are the stable family businesses which are replaced by seasonal recreation and tourism jobs.  This in turn affects school enrollment, and families are driven away from the rural life style they and their ancestors have loved and worked for all their lives.  (This scenario is still playing out at Grand Staircase Escalante NM designated 20 years ago.)  

#3 And instead of protection, last year 1400 cases of vandalism dotted that Staircase acreage -- all caused by tourists.  This is not what we want in San Juan County, Utah.  Please reexamine your causes, and pick those that truly bless the land and the people who care about it.  Support existing “public” land policies which allow for multiple land use while protecting the actual areas where ancient cultures lived, not mountain ranges where watershed, and recreation are better managed by local input.  The original designation of the Cedar Mesa area was a more honest and needed focus for environmental concerns, and there are actually “antiquities” there.    Maybe you need to come visit the area, to actually understand the issues.

Janet Wilcox

Locking up Land Would Impact San Juan Schools

In case some of you are still thinking San Juan County Schools won't be affected by a National Monument. Here is a likely scenario, written and prepared by long term school board member Merri Shumway. 

 "Here is an answer about Resolute Natural Resources. Resolute makes up 1/3 of all centrally assessed property in San Juan County. Other Oil companies, gas, mining and gravel together make up another 1/3 of all centrally assessed property. Centrally assessed property is 3/5 of our total local property tax revenue. There are numerous other small centrally assessed properties. (Ironically the Navajo Tribe is in the process of buying Resolute Natural Resources, the biggest tax payer in the county.)

Essentially our funding for schools could be down as much as 50% when we lose Resolute and if we lose access to the land that supports the other 1/3 of centrally assessed properties. What we would have left to tax is: is motor vehicles, personal property, real property (buildings) and real property (land). It is not legally possible for SJSD to raise the tax rate high enough to make up for these losses. 

I am not in favor of raising taxes in any event, but people in our county will have to get used to having far less services for their school children. The realities are really very grim. After I wrote and passed the resolution with Utah School Boards Association opposing the monument we had a discussion in our local school board meeting. We still have some work to do to help some understand that SJSD will be in a state of emergency and will just not have enough funding to pay for a quality education for our kids. We will lose kids in our schools because jobs here will be lost. Smaller schools result in fewer academic and extra curricular offerings for kids. I am currently working with Matt Anderson with Sutherland Institute to put information together to address the State School Board to urge them to pass a resolution opposing the monument."

Learn why a Bears Ears national monument would be especially devastating to the schoolchildren in San Juan County. 

Watch this Video, Visit our Schools; See our Concerns