Last night in the Oval Office, Donald signed proclamations stripping federal protections from millions of acres surrounding Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah. The move clears the way for expanded drilling, mining, grazing, and commercial development across landscapes rich in archaeological sites, fossils, and lands sacred to Native American tribes.

This is what Donald said:

We're terminating certain monuments. They call it monuments, not the ones we have outside, but these are large thousands of acres. It's a total of almost three million acres and we're going to be discussing it. But in fact, I think we'll start discussing it right now before I sign. After that, we're going to be signing two documents that are close to a million and a half acres each.

I keep making the same point because it bears repeating. This is what happens when we put men in power who are so rapacious, so greedy, that they care nothing about our natural resources, the natural beauty of this country, our history, or our traditions if those things stand in the way of making another dollar.

This decision will have an enormous deleterious effect on this country, especially on the wildlife and the people who have long treasured these extraordinary public lands.

Not to put too fine a point on it, this is exactly what happens when we continue empowering people who value nothing if it gets in the way of their ability to make a buck.

. . .