by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 5:14 PM ET, Wed August 23, 2017
As the final hours of the Trump administration's review of national monuments approaches, a handful of New Mexico's congressional delegation members are making a final plea to preserve sites on the review list.
Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and Reps. Ben Ray Lujan and Michelle Lujan Grisham sent a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke Monday pointing out that thousands of New Mexicans support the monuments under review, according to the Associated Press.
The two New Mexico monuments at the center of the delegation's concern are the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument near Las Cruces and the Rio Grande del Norte monument outside of Taos.
Some Hispanic ranchers have argued that the two national monument designations hurt families that have long fought the federal government over uses of historical land ties in colonial Spanish land grants.
Zinke is a Trump appointee who received criticism during confirmation hearings for voting to make it easier to sell off public lands.
The deadline for the secretary to issue his recommendations regarding the fate of countless national monuments under review is tomorrow.
[READMORE]READ MORE: Trump Executive Order Targets National Monuments[/READMORE]
With the deadline nearing, a top Democrat increased his attack on the Trump administration's review of 27 national monuments by releasing a report charging that the process is being guided by the oil and coal industries instead of public interest, according to the Washington Examiner.
The report, "Fossil Apostles: Fossil Fuels, the GOP, and the Fate of Our National Monuments," was released by House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raul Grijalva of Arizona. It details the "strong influence" of industry over the monument review process, according to the Washington Examiner article.
In addition, the report outlines how the review process has been unpopular among the public, the very people that it was supposed to give a voice to.
Grijalva argued the entire, biased process should be scrapped.
"The public has spoken and these monuments should be left alone," Grijalva said upon releasing the report. "If President Trump and Secretary Zinke don't listen, then the courts and the voters will teach them that our public lands are not industry playthings to dispose of as they see fit."
Trump's review of the more than two dozen treasured national monuments could result in recommendations to remove their "national monument" status.
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