A federal judge has tossed a lawsuit by Utah political leaders who asked the courts to declare President Joe Biden’s restoration of two national monuments unlawful.
The Salt Lake Tribunereports, last summer state and local officials filed a lawsuit seeking to shrink Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by more than 2 million acres.
They said the designations were too broad and not covered under the Antiquities Act.
A judge Friday, however, said the district court could not review proclamations issued by the president and dismissed Utah’s lawsuit, handing a victory to tribes, environmental groups and federal agencies.
The Navajo, Hopi and other tribes argued the land would be harmed if the monument designation was lifted.
President Barack Obama in 2016 designated the 1.3-million-acre Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah. The next year the Trump administration shrunk it by 85% and Biden restored the monument’s original acreage in 2021.
President Bill Clinton established the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in 1996 but Trump also cut it by half. After Biden’s redesignation the monument encompassed more than 1.8 million acres northwest of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.