The future of a Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is up in the air.
Sen. Mike Lee formally kicked off a process that could throw out the management plan for the monument that spans 1.9 million acres of red rock country between Utah’s popular national parks.
The Utah Republican entered into the Congressional Record on Wednesday a Government Accountability Office opinion that said the Utah monument’s management plan is considered a “rule” under the act. Deeming the management plan as a rule means it must undergo congressional review, marking the first time a monument management plan has received such scrutiny.
This Government Accountability Office’s opinion came in January after Rep. Celeste Maloy, R-Utah, sent a letter to the head of the office in July asking them to weigh in on whether or not the plan counts as a rule under the act.
Now that Lee has added the opinion to the record, a member of Congress may issue a “resolution of disapproval” of the monument’s management plan, which would then go to a vote. If a majority of both chambers of Congress supports the resolution, the agency must throw out the plan and create a new one that is not “substantially the same,” according to the act.
Read Brooke Larsen's full story at sltrib.com.
This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.