Utah Republicans Shamelessly Invoke Tribes To Condemn Bidens Monument Restorations

As news broke last week that President Joe Biden would restore the boundaries of a pair of national monuments in Utah that former President Donald Trump reduced four years ago, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) condemned the move on Twitter.

Reexpanding the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments is a devastating blow to our state, local and tribal leaders and our delegation, Romney wrote , adding that Biden had squandered the opportunity to build consensus by working with stakeholders to find a permanent, legislative solution.

In an opinion piece published in the Deseret News and titled A monumental insult, Romney, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and the rest of Utahs congressional delegation argued that Bears Ears, and presumably Bidens restoration, fails to include the crucial input and involvement of local tribes in protecting and highlighting their own cultural heritage.

Utah Delegation Responds to Monument Announcement @SenatorRomney @RepChrisStewart @RepJohnCurtis @RepBurgessOwens @RepBlakeMoore https://t.co/RwRf2r2q13 pic.twitter.com/nRCqDu191p

Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) October 7, 2021","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Mike Lee","author_url":"https://twitter.com/SenMikeLee","cache_age":86400,"description":"Utah Delegation Responds to Monument Announcement @SenatorRomney @RepChrisStewart @RepJohnCurtis @RepBurgessOwens @RepBlakeMoore https://t.co/RwRf2r2q13 pic.twitter.com/nRCqDu191p Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) October 7, 2021\n\n","options":{"_hide_media":{"label":"Hide photos, videos, and cards","value":false},"_maxwidth":{"label":"Adjust width","placeholder":"220-550, in px","value":""},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","thumbnail_height":630,"thumbnail_url":"https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FBIBYbfXoAIMEjb.jpg:large","thumbnail_width":1200,"title":"Mike Lee on 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Utah Delegation Responds to Monument Announcement @SenatorRomney @RepChrisStewart @RepJohnCurtis @RepBurgessOwens @RepBlakeMoore https://t.co/RwRf2r2q13 pic.twitter.com/nRCqDu191p
Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) October 7, 2021

Its no secret that Utah Republicans fervently opposed Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears when President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama created them in 1996 and 2016, respectively, and lobbied for Trumps rollbacks. State leaders have a long history of attacking public land protections .

But portraying tribes as agreeing with them is nothing short of dishonest.

Their statements reflects a fundamental misunderstanding, or a complete ignorance, of Indian law and policy, said Pat Gonzales-Rogers, executive director of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, a consortium of the five tribes that petitioned Obama to make Bears Ears a monument. The tribes are their own unique sovereigns. Senator Romney does not speak for them.

Frankly, some of this sounds like sour grapes, Gonzales-Rogers added.

Utah Republicans did not elaborate on their sweeping claims that Bidens action somehow harms or offends tribes, and Romney and Lees offices did not respond to HuffPosts request for comment.