“We will not stand idly by while anti-public lands crusaders attempt to exploit these lands for their extractive-industry friends or disrespect tribal nations,” said Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert.
Outdoor retailer Patagonia has joined a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s decision to reduce the size of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah, removing protections from nearly three million acres of federally-managed land.
According to The Guardian, President Trump in July approved the reduction of the sites by 90%, paving the way for oil and gas companies to begin extraction. In official statements, Trump said that redesignations would allow the land to be “put to a higher-priority use,” noting that they contain rare minerals that are critical to “resource independence … [and] national security.”
The Guardian notes that Trump tried to reduce the size of each monument during his first term; however, these decisions were later overturned by the Biden administration.
On Wednesday, Patagonia—which sued Trump in 2017 over the same issue—said it hopes to help put a stop to allegedly illegal executive orders that threaten to “betray Tribal sovereignty.”
“We will not stand idly by while anti-public lands crusaders attempt to exploit these lands for their extractive-industry friends or disrespect tribal nations,” said Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert.
In a statement, Gellert said that, while the Antiquities Act lets presidents establish national monuments, it does not provide any authority to unmake them. Trump’s order, then, marks an effort to “force cessation of federal land to the state and allow private companies to extract natural resources from that land.”
Gellert also said that, after Trump’s second-term proclamation, multiple mining companies have already filed claims to begin operations in lands that were once part of the designated monument zones.
“Protecting Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante is worth more than any amount of money,” Gellert said. “The vast majority of Americans agree.”
President Barack Obama, writes The Guardian, established Bears Ears in 2016 shortly before leaving office; Grand Staircase-Escalante was designated as a national monument under the Clinton administration.
Other companies, environmental-advocacy organizations, and Native American groups have also challenged the monuments’ reduction.
“President Trump’s unlawful attack dismantling Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments was a dark day for America and our nation’s long tradition of protecting parks, monuments, and wild places for current and future generations,” said Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance legal director Steve Bloch. “With the filing of these lawsuits, we intend to make sure Trump doesn’t have the final word over the fate of these treasured landscapes.”
The White House, however, says that Trump’s decision merely “rightsized” the monuments.
“The Obama and Biden administrations abused the Antiquities Act to lock up millions of acres of Utah’s public lands, impoverishing local communities and sharply restricting access for recreation, grazing, resource development, and fire prevention,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement.
The Department of Interior similarly told The Salt Lake Tribune that Trump is “ending the abuse of the Antiquities Act, restoring access, protecting our heritage, and putting Utahns and all Americans first,” though the agency failed to detail how, exactly, the dismantling of national monuments for corporate interests would serve these goals.
Sources
Patagonia Sues Trump Over Reduction of Bears Ears National Monument in Utah
Patagonia sues Trump over slashing of protected areas in Utah
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