Last week, Utah sought to legally intervene in support of President Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink two national monuments in the state. In two motions filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, lawyers for the state said they support the president’s decision to reduce Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. The original boundaries, they say, affect state interests, such as by devaluing nearby state lands and limiting Utah’s income from drilling on public lands...Earlier this year, Utah tried unsuccessfully to have the pending cases moved from the D.C. court to a district court in the state; now, it wants to join the lawsuits as a defendant. “The State has substantial interests, including sovereign interests, in the management of millions of acres of public land within its borders,” state lawyers say in the filings. They contend that if plaintiffs win their lawsuits and the original monument areas are upheld, that could “deprive the State of revenue and jeopardize the full use of the property rights it holds for the benefit of all Utahns.” But critics of the diminished boundaries point to the successful tourism generated by the monument designations and Utah’s national parks, all but one of which began as national monuments...MORE
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