On Wednesday, President Trump will sign an executive order instructing the Interior Department to review all national monuments designated by his predecessors back to January 1996, a potential first step in scaling back or even revoking some of the designations, The Salt Lake Tribune reports. The move appears aimed at two national monuments created in Utah by former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama — the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, designated in September 1996, and especially Bears Ears National Monument, so named last December. "While no president has attempted to withdraw a monument named by a predecessor," The Salt Lake Tribune notes, "there have been those who have scaled back those designations."
Some of Utah's top officials have pushed for a scaling back or revocation of the Grand Staircase and Bears Ears monuments, including Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who said he had petitioned Trump to rescind the Bears Ears designation and tried "to ensure that this issue is a priority on the president's agenda." Land in Utah should be "managed by the Utahns [who] know them best and cherish them deeply," he said. A push to shield Bears Ears and other areas failed in Congress last year out of concern that the measure was too friendly to mining and other development interests, as well as concerns from Native Americans and environmentalists.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Why Britain is struggling to stop the ransomware cyberattacksThe Explainer New business models have greatly lowered barriers to entry for criminal hackers
-
Greene’s rebellion: a Maga hardliner turns against TrumpIn the Spotlight The Georgia congresswoman’s independent streak has ‘not gone unnoticed’ by the president
-
Crossword: October 26, 2025The Week's daily crossword puzzle
-
Warner Bros. explores sale amid Paramount bidsSpeed Read The media giant, home to HBO and DC Studios, has received interest from multiple buying parties
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial uneaseSpeed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
