Alixel Cabrera

(Utah News Dispatch) An initiative of Congress’ spending package known as the “big, beautiful bill” started becoming a reality last week, leaving environmentalists with deep concerns about the future landscape of national parks.

The map of 13.1 million acres of federal land now available for coal leasing triples the benchmark set by the law and includes parcels near or directly adjacent to landmarks like Zion, Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef national parks, an analysis from groups including the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance found.

“The Trump Administration views Southern Utah’s remarkable redrock country as just another place to exploit and plunder as they promote new coal mining. Nothing could be further from the truth. America’s national parks, national monuments,

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