Myah Hasbany
1st Period
Dozens of discoveries have been made in the past few years in Grand Staircase Escalante, Utah. But the Trump administration is threatening to shrink the national park, and open it up to coal mining, oil drilling and mineral extracting. He is doing this in hopes of reviving the dying coal industry, with many doubts from the masses. Other environmental groups are ready to file lawsuits, as Trump has threatened to shrink the size of nine other monuments. No boundary changes have been announced yet. Grand Staircase Escalante is unique however, because of the important scientific discoveries being made there. Discoveries of extinct crocodiles, birds, lizards, turtles and frogs have been made that died over 66 million years ago. New discoveries are creating questions about global warming, and how animals survived in a hotter climate with carbon dioxide dense air. Many of the discoveries have been placed in the Natural History Museum of Utah, and help educate people every day. Protestors of the monument say that it's size limits public access to wilderness, limits cattle grazing and hurts the economy by stopping the extraction of energy and minerals. However, if the monument was used for mining and mineral extraction, it would be extremely harmful to the environment, and take away the possibility "to push the boundaries of human knowledge" by destroying fossils. Most people don't understand the significance of the discoveries, and don't care of science is jeopardized if money is gained.
This article is important because it brings to light the type of policies our current president is trying to be passed. It helps inform people about how the environment is being jeopardized, and will hopefully inspire people to protest against it. This article has a slight bias, but in a positive way. This situation reminds me of the nuclear tests preformed on small villages in the world war two era.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pol-trump-national-monuments-20171026-htmlstory.html
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