‘The earth holds so much power’: Deb Haaland visits sacred site Trump shrank Rico Moore © Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Rick Bowmer/AP
The interior secretary, Deb Haaland, paid a historic visit on Thursday to Bears Ears national monument, the Utah site sacred to Native Americans that was downsized by President Donald Trump.
Haaland is a member of the Laguna Pueblo and the first indigenous cabinet member, and her trip came amid calls for the monument to be recreated in its original form, or even expanded, by Joe Biden.
On Thursday morning, Haaland stood in the Valley of the Gods in Bears Ears and wrote: “The earth holds so much power. We must all work together to honor it.”
I m here to listen, I m here to learn, Interior Secretary says as she visits Bears Ears
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The earth holds so much power : Deb Haaland visits sacred site Trump shrank | Deb Haaland
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On Monday, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and the other members of Utahâs congressional delegation sent a letter to President Joe Biden regarding the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments.
âWe call upon you, and your administration, to support and engage in finding a long-term legislative solution and stop the vacillation of national monument boundaries in Utah,â the letter reads. âWe remain prepared to work in good faith and hope you do as well.â
In their letter, the Utah representatives asked the Biden administration for their assistance in finding a permanent legislative solution to these boundary disputes and statutory protections to prevent abuses of the Antiquities Act.
| Updated: April 9, 2021, 3:43 p.m.
Westwater, a small Navajo Nation-owned community in San Juan County, may finally be on track to getting running water and power after decades of false starts and disappointments.
The southeastern Utah community is located a quarter mile from Blanding’s city limits, the county’s most populous town, where residents have enjoyed modern amenities for more than a century. But water and electric lines have never been extended to the 29 lots on 120 acres in Westwater, where 16 families live.
A breakthrough seemed imminent last year, when the Legislature approved $500,000 to address the issue, and a number of nonprofits and religious organizations pledged to help raise the remainder of the project cost, which is pegged at $2.7 million.