Trump slashes Utah monument sizes, opening coal and uranium lands
President Trump has reduced two Utah national monuments by 90%, removing drilling and mining bans to unlock coal and uranium reserves for commercial development.
President Trump issued proclamations on Monday to reduce the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by roughly 90% each. The action cuts the combined protected area from more than 3.2 million acres to less than 303,000 acres. This represents a steeper reduction than the boundaries Trump established during his first term, which were subsequently reversed by the Biden administration.
The redrawn boundaries free up land holding significant energy and mineral reserves for commercial extraction. Grand Staircase-Escalante contains large coal deposits, while the Bears Ears region holds uranium. By utilizing the 1906 Antiquities Act to shrink the sites, the administration is removing sweeping protections that previously banned new drilling, mining and construction across the landscape.
The move aligns with a stated administration priority to tap the natural resource wealth of the more than 100,000 square miles of federal lands under government control. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum had previously indicated officials would review monument boundaries to expand domestic energy production and access critical minerals. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox appeared alongside Trump at the White House, calling it a “big day for Utah.”
The rollback faces substantial legal and political friction that could delay or complicate resource development. Tribal leaders, who jointly manage Bears Ears under a federal agreement, strongly condemned the decision. Davina Smith-Idjesa, co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, called the reduction “heartbreaking,” stressing that the land holds deep cultural and archaeological significance for five regional tribes.
Furthermore, broader Republican efforts to privatize or transfer federal lands to state control have struggled to gain legislative traction. Bipartisan opposition recently blocked House proposals to sell public lands, and a plan by Sen. Mike Lee to sell 3,200 square miles of federal territory was removed from the party's major tax bill. Last year, the Supreme Court also turned back a Utah lawsuit aimed at seizing control of federal lands within its borders.
