"In an abrupt statement late Friday, the department now says the idea violated departmental policy"
"The Interior Department canceled a proposal to potentially sell public land that was once protected inside the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument before its boundary was redrawn, saying it contradicted Secretary Ryan Zinke’s assurance last year that he would not do so.
Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt issued a statement Friday taking responsibility for an oversight that led to the bid to dispose of 1,600 acres outside the redrawn boundary despite Zinke’s vow during his Senate confirmation hearing, and to department staff members shortly after he took office. “The failure to capture this inconsistency stops with me,” Bernhardt wrote.
Bernhardt’s statement came a day after a news report revealed the proposal buried deep inside new management plans for Grand Staircase and Bears Ears, two national monuments in Utah that the Trump administration moved to shrink significantly. The effort has faced multiple court challenges."
Darryl Fears reports for the Washington Post August 17, 2018.
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