The land used to be within the boundary of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. President Trump slashed the protected acreage by nearly half last year.
Under the Antiquities Act, Congress has granted the president authority to declare and reserve lands for national monuments. Congress has not given the president similar power to revoke, reduce, or eliminate national monuments. Donald Trump, of course, couldn’t care less what the law does or doesn’t allow: He’s the president! He can do whatever he wants!
When Trump revoked existing reservations of land for various national monuments, including Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah, he boasted that he was returning the land “to the people, the people of all of the states, the people of the United States,” and to “the people who actually live here, work here and make this place their home.” Multiple lawsuits against his (probably illegal) actions are still pending. Meanwhile, Trump has demonstrated exactly which “people” he had in mind when he bragged about returning the land to them: The mining industry.
