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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw federal protections from millions of acres of Utah wilderness will reopen much of the iconic terrain to gold, silver, copper, and uranium land claims under a Wild West-era mining law, according to federal officials.Starting at 6 a.m. on Feb. 2 – the moment Trump’s proclamation reducing the size of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments takes effect – private citizens and companies will be allowed to stake claims for hard rock mining in a process governed by the General Mining Law of 1872, according to the U.S. Bureau...

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recommended Tuesday that President Trump shrink two more national monuments and change how six others are managed, expanding the administration’s effort to roll back what it sees as excessive use of presidential authority to protect public lands. Zinke, a day after Trump signed proclamations reducing the size of two Utah national monuments, urged the president to cut Nevada’s Gold Butte and Oregon’s Cascade-Siskiyou.

During a speech Monday, the president said he is signing two proclamations which will shrink the Bears Ears National Monument and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. He called the measures a reversal of federal overreach, and says the move will restore the rights of land to the people of Utah. The president says the residents of the state know how to protect and conserve their own land, and Washington politicians do not. He added, lands must be protected and now will be protected by this new measure.

Former Navy SEAL and current Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke delivers brief remarks at the Capitol Building in Utah. Prior to President Trump signing a national monument proclamation, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told a packed-house crowd the Antiquities Act, an obscure law that Barack Obama used to broaden federal monuments in Utah, ‘was never meant to prevent. It was meant to protect.’ “Our public land is for the public to use,” Zinke said.

SALT LAKE CITY — President Trump is expected to announce a historic reduction to Bears Ears National Monument on Monday, a sprawling region of red rock canyons in Utah that has been at the center of a national fight over how much land a president can legally set aside for protection. The Trump administration plans to announce that he will shrink the monument by between 77 and 92 percent, according to statements from the office of Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah. It would be the largest reduction of a national monument to date, and it comes as the administration...

As news organizations around the country proclaimed Cathy McMorris Rodgers a sure bet to be the next interior secretary and politicians in her Eastern Washington district quickly announced campaigns for her congressional seat, the person most in the dark was McMorris Rodgers herself. In her first extended remarks on the events of the last few weeks, the congresswoman said she never got a call from President-elect Donald Trump or his transition team saying she was going to be offered the Cabinet position before or after reports from unnamed sources said she was the likely pick. She also never got a...

In what is being touted as further diversification of the president-elect administration, Donald Trump is expected to name Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) to lead the Interior Department, according to reports. McMorris Rodgers gets the nod ahead of Sarah Palin and Harold Hamm.The candidates mentioned for the Interior Secretary were...  * Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor, 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee* Jan Brewer, former Republican Arizona governor* Forrest Lucas, founder of oil products company Lucas Oil* Harold Hamm, Oklahoma oil and gas mogul, chief executive of Continental Resources Inc* Robert Grady, venture capitalist, partner in private equity firm Gryphon...

According to reports, President-elect Donald Trump will tap Washington Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers to serve as United States Secretary of the Interior. McMorris Rodgers currently represents Washington's 5th Congressional district. Before serving in the U.S. congress, McMorris Rodgers was a member of the Washington House of Representatives, serving as minority leader. McMorris Rodgers is currently the highest ranking Republican woman in congress.

The Interior Department manages the nation’s public lands and waters. Here is the "short list" and I would love to see Jan Brewer get the spot, but honestly just to slap the face of the MSM my choice would be Sarah Palin just to get the goat of the libtards so we can drill baby drill. Who is your choice? Jan Brewer Former Arizona governor Robert E. Grady Gryphon Investors partner Harold G. Hamm Chief executive of Continental Resources, an oil and gas company Forrest Lucas President of Lucas Oil Products, which manufactures automotive lubricants, additives and greases Sarah Palin...