The Obama Administration is considering designating 1.9 million acres in San Juan County as the Bears Ears National Monument. Excessively large national monument designations like this are very controversial, because they ignore state and local government land management policy and silence the voices of local residents impacted by the monument by excluding their elected representatives in Congress from the designation process.

In her confirmation hearing, Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell, committed that she would not push for national monument designations without local support. The vast majority of elected officials in Utah oppose another monument designation. I will soon hold a hearing to examine the impact of this monument on southern Utah, and I would like your feedback as I prepare my testimony for this hearing. Please share your thoughts on why your support or oppose the designation of the Bears Ears National Monument.