Biden to restore protections to national monuments removed by Trump

President Joe Biden is expected to sign three proclamations restoring protections removed by the Trump administration to the national monuments of Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts, state and federal officials confirmed Thursday.

The Biden administration said in a note that the move was part of its efforts “to better protect, conserve and restore the lands and waters that support healthy communities and fuel our economy.”

President Donald Trump had gutted or lifted restrictions on the three national monuments to allow development, mining, ranching, drilling and fishing.

In late 2017, Trump signed a directive that sharply reduced the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in southern Utah by 1.23 million acres out of a total of 3.25 million acres, all protected. by the status of monument.

Bears Ears was nominated by President Barack Obama in 2016, and Grand Staircase-Escalante was nominated by the Clinton administration in 1996. Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, the first marine monument in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of New England was nominated by Obama in 2016 and Trump signed an ordinance last year allowing commercial fishing within its borders.

Environmentalists and Native American tribes had sued the Trump administration over the guidelines and pressured Biden to restore protections.

Representative Raúl Grijalva, D-Arizona, chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, welcomed the decision in a statement, saying, “It’s time to put Trump’s cynical actions in the rearview mirror.”

Biden’s decision to restore full federal protection “demonstrates this administration’s commitment to conserving our public lands and respecting the voices of indigenous peoples,” Grijalva said.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, confirmed the decision to expand the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments in a statement Thursday, but sharply criticized the administration for failing to consult his office about “put an end to the perpetual enlargement and shrinking of these monuments and bring certainty to their management.

“These decisions clearly demonstrate the administration’s reluctance to collaborate and listen to those most affected by their decisions. We remain hopeful that a long-term solution will be found in the future and that the grueling political instability on Utah’s public lands may come to an end, ”Cox said.