Trump cuts nearly 3 million acres from 2 Utah national monuments
Summary
President Donald Trump reduced the size of two national monuments in southern Utah by nearly 3 million acres, cutting protections on most of the land in Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears. This action reverses changes made by the Biden administration and aims to open the land for more mining and drilling activities.Key Facts
- The reductions remove protections from over 90% of each monument’s area.
- Grand Staircase-Escalante will lose about 1.7 million acres from its total of 1.87 million acres.
- Bears Ears will shrink from 1.36 million acres to about 121,000 acres.
- These cuts are more severe than those made by President Trump in 2017 and follow the Biden administration’s restoration of the original boundaries in 2021.
- The changes are intended to increase access for mining, drilling, and other resource extraction efforts.
- Some lands taken out of the monuments remain protected under other federal designations like Wilderness Study Areas, but those protections may be reviewed.
- The Antiquities Act allows presidents to create national monuments, but there is debate over whether they can also reduce or remove protections without Congress.
- Legal challenges over the monument boundaries are ongoing in federal courts, involving both state and tribal interests.
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