Utah lawmakers again decry possible Bears Ears monument

Legislators were meeting anyway to restore funds to several education programs that the governor nixed in March, but they decided to tack on the resolution as they increasingly worry the area will be swept into federal protections.

If President Barack Obama uses his authority under a 1906 law to protect the 1.9 million-acre Bears Ears area, Utah officials say the area will be closed off to development, local economies will suffer and some American Indian tribal elders will be blocked from using the land for cultural reasons.

Obama has not said if he'll use his power under the Antiquities Act to protect the area before he leaves office, but state lawmakers treated it like a foregone conclusion Wednesday.

At one point, lawmakers changed the resolution to ask the attorney general to investigate the "alleged authority," of the president to declare a monument, but GOP leaders decided to strip the word "alleged," saying that shouldn't be the focus of their statement.