Haaland recommends full restoration of monuments Trump altered: report

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland recommended fully restoring protections to three national monuments that former President Trump either shrunk or otherwise rolled back, The Washington Post reported on Monday. 

She reportedly recommended the changes to the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments in Utah, as well as the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off the coast of Massachusetts. 

Trump reduced the size of Bears Ears, designated by former President Obama, by about 85 percent, and Grand Staircase-Escalante, designated by former President Clinton, by nearly half. 

He also decided to allow commercial fishing in the marine monument. 

Two sources told the Post of Haaland’s recommendations. They also said that the White House hasn’t made a final decision, but that President Biden favors undoing his predecessor’s actions. 

Spokespeople for the White House and the Interior Department declined The Hill’s request for comment. 

In an executive order, Biden directed Haaland to review monument boundaries and conditions changed under Trump to decide whether “restoration of the monument boundaries and conditions that existed as of January 20, 2017, would be appropriate.”

He also directed her to submit a report detailing her findings. 

The government said in a Friday court filing that the report had been submitted on June 2 but did not detail what it concluded. 

In April, Haaland visited Utah to meet with stakeholders on the matter.

Many tribes and environmental groups have pushed for restoring the monuments, while some fishing groups, Utah politicians and ranchers have favored the Trump-era changes.