GOP invites Chouinard to testify on monuments
A Republican House committee says it wants to hear all sides regarding the shrinkage of national monuments.
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The chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee sent a letter Friday to Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard on Friday, inviting him to speak to the committee about the administration’s proposed cuts to Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments.
Immediately following President Trump’s announcement that he would take Ryan Zinke’s advice on slashing the size of two Utah monuments, Patagonia said it plans to sue.
Chouinard’s company, Patagonia, and the Trump administration have been duking it out on Twitter over the fight for public lands, and Patagonia made a bold statement on its homepage saying the “The president stole your land.”
The committee has accused Patagonia of lying to the public in an effort to sell more gear to “wealthy elitist urban dwellers.”
The battle for public lands has ignited the outdoor industry. Since Trump’s announcement, more than 2,500 individuals have sent 7,500 emails to nearly 500 elected officials, says Outdoor Industry Association.
The movement has been hard for the administration to ignore, apparently. In its letter to Chouinard, the committee reportedly says that it wants to hear all perspectives with regards to shrinking the monuments. Patagonia has yet to respond.
