Monumental fury at national-land grab
IN THE biggest rollback of public land protection in U.S. history, President Trump on Monday shrank two sprawling wilderness national monuments in Utah by at least half their size.
Declaring that “public lands will once again be for public use,” Trump signed proclamations to shrink Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, which cover vast stretches of red-rock country. Bears Ears will lose 1.1 million acres and nearby Grand Staircase-Escalante will shrink by 800,000.
Trump’s decision could open the pristine territories to oil, gas, coal and mineral extraction — a move that drew immediate approval from many Republican leaders who had pushed to undo existing land protections they deemed overly broad.
But it also created immediate opposition from environmentalist and indigenous groups. Eight conservation organizations filed a lawsuit later Monday, arguing that Trump lacks the authority to unilaterally reduce the protected spaces and that his actions violated the 1906 Antiquities Act that created the national monuments.
Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye on Monday said he’s also prepared to fight Trump — who ignored Navajo requests to speak to him before a decision was made. “The Bears Ears monument is of critical importance, not only to the Navajo Nation but to many tribes in the region,” Begaye said. “The Navajo Nation will defend Bears Ears.”