Biden to expand pair of national monuments
President restores designation Trump had downsized
President Joe Biden will expand two national monuments in Utah that have been at the center of long-running public lands tug-of-war between presidential administrations, the state’s governor said Thursday.
Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, expressed disappointment in the administration’s decision to enlarge the Bears Ears and Grand Staircaseescalante monuments, which were downsized under President Donald Trump.
They cover vast expanses of southern Utah where red rocks reveal petroglyphs and cliff dwellings and twin buttes bulge from a grassy valley. The Trump administration had cut Bears Ears, on lands considered sacred to Native
American tribes, by 85 percent and slashed Grand Staircase-escalante by nearly half.
Cox’s statement did not include specifics on how much of the monuments will be restored, and the White House and the U.S. Interior Department declined immediate comment.
The governor noted he had offered to work with the administration on a legislative solution.
“The president’s decision to enlarge the monuments again is a tragic missed opportunity — it fails to provide certainty as well as the funding for law enforcement, research, and other protections which the monuments need and which only Congressional action can offer,” Cox said.
Utah Sen. Mitt Romney also criticized Biden by saying in a tweet he had “squandered the opportunity to build consensus” and find a permanent solution for the monuments.
“Yet again, Utah’s national monuments are being used as a political football between administrations,” Romney said Thursday. “The decision to reexpand the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-escalante is a devastating blow to our state, local and tribal leaders and our delegation … today’s ‘winner take all’ mentality moved us further away from that goal.“
Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, a Democrat and chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, praised Biden, saying the move to restore protections for the monuments shows his administration’s commitment to “conserving our public lands and respecting the voices of Indigenous Peoples.”
Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities, also applauded Biden’s decision and said she hopes it marks an initial step toward his goal of conserving at least 30 percent of U.S. lands and ocean by 2030.