After Utah Senator Mike Lee declared that Bears Ears monument will be eliminated or “significantly” reduced in size, E&E news is reporting that Zinke told anti-public lands critics that he’ll recommend a full repeal to President Trump. Lawbreaking anti-public land zealot and San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman had this to say:

“He [Zinke] said, ‘Well, let me tell you what I’m thinking: Not only should that monument be rescinded, but we’re not going to stop there. We need to discuss all the dysfunctionality of public land management over the last three decades.'”

These revelations come as the Department of the Interior (DOI) is still gathering public comments and conducting a review of the monument. So far over 52,000 comments have been submitted, and an earlier analysis found 100 to 1 comments against making any changes to the monument status or boundaries.

The public comment period that Secretary Zinke touted is proving to be as fake as his photo ops on horseback. It’s clear that the only people Secretary Zinke is listening to are the special interests from the oil and gas industry. This ‘review’ is a poor attempt to disguise their anti-public lands agenda and ignores the overwhelming support for Bears Ears.

Secretary Zinke’s disregard for public input on national monuments comes as the department announced that Bureau of Land Management Resource Advisory Council meetings would be cancelled until the national monument review has been completed.