In December of 2017, the president illegally reduced Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments by nearly two million acres. Despite overwhelming support from the majority of Americans, nearly three million of whom spoke up during a public comment period in favor of protecting our national monuments, the president invoked terms like “heritage,” “respect,” “glorious natural wonder” and “protection” to substantiate the announcement.

What wasn’t explained at the time, and only came to light with the release of thousands of pages of documents from Freedom of Information Act requests, was that the decision was nothing more than a political favor. Despite numerous promises by a handful of politicians that the two former monuments contained no significant energy resources, it turns out that they do. The redrawing of boundaries was deliberate, and directly influenced by an industry that spends millions of dollars lobbying the government to get what it wants.

Here are a few examples:

Coal

11.4 billion tons: The estimated amount of recoverable coal contained in the Kaiparowits Plateau, which is situated in the heart of the original Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. It’s the biggest coalfield in Utah and one of the largest in the country.

“The Kaiparowits plateau, located within the monument, contains one of the largest coal deposits in the United States,” says an Interior Department memo, issued in the spring of 2017.

Oil and Gas

90,000 acres: The number of acres of new oil and gas leases that the industry has expressed interest in along the eastern boundary of the original Bears Ears National Monument.

Uranium

500,000 tons: The amount of increased production of uranium mining over the next 20 years in and around the original Bears Ears National Monument if new permits and expanded operations are allowed. This could particularly impact the Navajo Nation’s drinking water reserves, which have already been contaminated by over 500 uranium mines left on their lands.