This is a developing story and may be updated.
Conservation and environmental groups sued to undo the slashing of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments on Wednesday, arguing President Donald Trump’s proclamations violate the Antiquities Act.
The groups say the 1906 federal law gives presidents the power to establish national monuments but not the ability to shrink or undo those created by their predecessors.
Plaintiffs represented by Earthjustice, as well as the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), motioned to reopen a 2017 lawsuit challenging Trump’s first attempt at reducing the size of both monuments in southern Utah. Former President Joe Biden later reversed his decision, and the lawsuit stalled in federal court. A nonprofit group led by members of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe also joined the legal action, according to The New York Times, as well as outdoor clothing manufacturer Patagonia.
“Our view is that those rollbacks are just as illegal this time as they were the first time,” says Tom Delehanty, a senior attorney for Earthjustice. “The upshot of it on the ground is that … hundreds of thousands of acres of public land are now newly at risk to harms like mining and drilling for coal that will directly harm people's ability to enjoy these lands. It risks destroying historic and scientific objects of interest.”
Mining interests filed new claims within the old boundaries of both national monuments soon after Trump cut them. That appears to violate the terms of the proclamations, which allow new claims only after Sept. 11.
In the Oval Office meeting where Trump first issued the most recent proclamations, Utah congressional leaders pointed to language in the Antiquities Act that says monuments should be the smallest area possible.
Scott Braden, executive director of SUWA, said that argument ignores the history of how the Antiquities Act has been used for over 100 years.
“The fact is that the smallest compatible area to protect what needs protecting is a subjective metric, and we think that it's being used cynically by Utah politicians who don't like conservation of public lands,” says Braden.
The office of Utah Gov. Spencer Cox did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Braden says he expects tribal nations, like those in both the Grand Staircase Inter-Tribal Coalition and the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, to file litigation soon to undo the cuts. Numerous tribes consider the monuments to be part of their ancestral homelands, and there are thousands of cultural sites spread across their old boundaries.
The White House told KNAU in an email statement that the Obama and Biden administrations "abused" the Antiquities Act to "lock up" millions of acres of Utah's public lands, thereby “impoverishing local communities and sharply restricting access for recreation, grazing, resource development, and fire prevention.”
“President Trump rightsized the Bears Ears National Monument to allow for common sense land use in these areas,” says Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson.
Recreation has been allowed in Bears Ears since former President Barack Obama designated the monument in 2016. It's been allowed in Grand Staircase since former President Bill Clinton designated it in 1996.
As the lawsuit plays out, Braden says SUWA will use “every tool in our toolbox to protect the lands that have been cut out of these monuments.”
“SUWA is going to be there to defend the ground, and we're going to track, we're going to fight back against mining claims, any oil and gas leasing, off-road vehicle trail proposals, and anything else that could damage the lands cut from these monuments, we're going to be contesting,” he adds.
