Rob Bishop

Mismanagement, as I view it, of Federal lands did not start recently. It has gone on for several decades, long before the Obama administration was there.

You and your Department have brought transparency, more transparency over the past few months than I think has happened in the entire 111-year history of the Antiquities Act.

I want particularly to single out the work of our colleague and resident forester, Mr. Westerman of Arkansas, for his work in advancing reforms in this bill.

This draft is a significant step in the right direction.

We are very grateful, Representative LaHood and Chairman Gosar, for your continued leadership on this issue.

I also have this feeling that the Department of the Interior is going to be dealt with much differently as we go forward.

What we had in the last administration did not necessarily facilitate that.

So that, in essence, they did not want to do what the law told them to do, because it did not meet their handbook policies.

Consultation is required of local governments. But what we have found out over and over again is consultation is not taking place.

I want that engraved, 'esteemed,' in the future here.

The Marine Corps has been evaluating Australian technology through the Foreign Comparative Testing Program for Rifle Accessory Control Units (RACUs)...

My kid was down there. He met them, as well. They were promised a free road trip to Utah, they took it, they had no idea what Bears Ears was.

So, in the decision, in the monument declaration that President Obama did, even though he said they were giving them management, there is no real management.

In 2015, Garfield County declared a state of emergency, due in large part to the Federal land management practices.

If you are going to do anything with the Antiquities Act, make sure that the state in which the monuments or the parks are going to be designated from, that they have a dialogue with their legislature, with the public, and with the…

Will one more national monument help that county prosper? Absolutely not.

Let's go to San Juan County, then. It has one national monument, one national forest, one national recreation center, three national monuments. Despite that, it is still the poorest county in the state of Utah.

The Grand Staircase-Escalante designation--when that happened, there were 81 grazing jobs that were lost, as well as the shutdown of a plant where 1,100 jobs were lost.

And to Ms. Tsongas, your statement that there were no private lands, that is inaccurate.

I appreciate all of you being here. Many of you had difficulty with our names. I want you all to know that you got the name Bishop correct.

The Grand Staircase Monument locked up over 11 billion tons of recoverable coal.

What does the creation of a national monument on these lands do to people's lives and culture?

The burdens outweigh the benefits, largely due to the enormous size of these monuments.

I am convinced that in both cases politics was a greater factor than was protection of antiquities.

Those are the voices that have been excluded from the conversation.