Denver, CO - Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet today issued the following statement in response to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's recommendations for 27 national monuments, which he sent to the President but did not make public:

"Keeping today's recommendations secret is further proof that this ill-conceived and unnecessary review process is not in the best interest of local communities and tribes. Despite claims of transparency, it is troubling that Secretary Zinke would leave the American public in the dark, while the President decides the fate of our public land and water. Stakeholders and tribes, including the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute tribes and Bears Inter-Tribal Coalition, worked tirelessly to protect their ancestral home from future development with the designation of Bears Ears National Monument-yet the Trump administration failed to consider their input or address their concerns in the review. We will continue to oppose this wildly unpopular effort to dismantle national monuments with all the tools at our disposal in the United States Senate."