Utah monuments challenge dismissed

A judge has dismissed Utah’s lawsuit challenging President Joe Biden’s restoration of two sprawling national monuments that were downsized by former President Donald Trump.

U.S. District Judge David Nuffer on Friday said Biden acted within his authority when he issued proclamations restoring Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in 2021. The monuments are on land sacred to many American Indians.

Nuffer said Biden could issue such proclamations creating monuments “as he sees fit” and those actions were not reviewable by the court.

The part of southeastern Utah where the two monuments are located has been at the center of some of the country’s most heated land management debates.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said the state would begin working on an appeal immediately. The Republican predicted that the issue would ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

President Bill Clinton designated Grand Staircase a national monument in 1996 and President Barack Obama designated Bears Ears in 2016. Trump moved to shrink both in 2017, urged on by Utah Republicans who had long chafed over restrictions on how monuments can be used.

Trump’s decision opened up parts of the monuments for mining, drilling and other development, though low demand and high production costs led to minimal interest from energy companies.

When Biden restored the lands in 2021, he called Bears Ears “a place of reverence and a sacred homeland to hundreds of generations of native peoples.” A coalition of tribes, including the Hopi, Ute Indian, Ute Mountain Ute, Zuni tribes and Navajo Nation, fought to restore the monuments.