To Zinke, the Feds Never Own Enough Land

What is this disease whereby Federal employees think the FedGov should own every square foot of the US?  (Bonus:  why this patch of desert was 'sold' to a Malaysian by Hillary and Billy-boy.)

...President Donald Trump announced plans in December to roll-back the boundaries of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) in Utah. The new boundaries were made official Feb. 2 and the Department of the Interior has been crafting plans for managing the land inside and out of the redrawn designation.

 

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released draft management plans for two smaller national monuments created within the old borders of GSENM Wednesday. Within one of the draft plans posted for public comment, 2.5 square miles of federal land would be offered for sale to private interests....

...Zinke has since scrapped the proposed sale and will keep the roughly 900,000 acres cut out of the original GSENM under federal control,...

Because, after all, Federal control is the very best control, eh?

Historical note:  Grand Staircase-Escalante is one of the Clinton paybacks to the Malaysian oligarch Riady.  Bill and Hillary had taken hundreds of millions in "donations" from him over the years, and he wanted something in return.  He got coal.  GS-E was declared off-limits to coal mining by Clinton, and the value of Riady & Co.' s coal mines jumped.  Read the linked story--Cashill tells it very well.