From a press release published on Gallego’s website:
[Gallego] said: “No national treasure is under more threat from the Trump Administration’s effort to sell off priceless public lands to the highest bidder than Bears Ears National Monument. [...] I’m proud to lead the fight to permanently safeguard the rich history and culture of the indigenous people wo lived in the area for millennia. It is our moral responsibility to hold these lands in trust for future generations.”
[Haaland, a Laguna Pueblo citizen,] said: “Bears Ears National Monument is a treasure that I’ve seen with my own eyes. Part of the mission of public lands is to protect sacred sites and preserve them for future generations, but under the current boundaries at Bears Ears National Monument those sites are at risk of disappearing forever. We can fulfill the mission of public lands and protect the culture and history of our country by ensuring the monument encompasses those areas.”
The Navajo Nation said, “The Navajo Nation appreciates the efforts of Representatives Gallego and Haaland to restore our tribal voices on the Bears Ear landscape and to lend our vision to the land’s management.”
The Hopi Nation, Ute Indian Tribe, Mountain Ute Tribe, and Zuni Tribe also support the legislation.
Californians for Western Wilderness believe that another previously introduced bill will be re-introduced next week as the Antiquities Act of 2019. The bill was originally introduced by then-Rep. Michelle Luján Grisham of New Mexico, who is now the state’s first female Democratic governor and the first Democratic Latina governor in the nation. She previously represented the New Mexico’s 1st District, now represented by Haaland.
The activist organization notes that bill “would codify all the national monuments designated since 1996 and restates the principle that only Congress has the authority to shrink monuments once they are designated.” Like the Gallego-Haaland legislation, it would also expand Bears Ears National Monument to the 1.9 million acres of the original proposal made by the Inter-Tribal Coalition.