Trump outlines big cuts to Utah monuments, tribes prepare to sue

Reuters: WASHINGTON/SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Monday shrank two wilderness national monuments in Utah by at least half in the biggest rollback of public land protection in U.S. history, drawing praise from pro-development lawmakers and threats of lawsuits from tribes and environmentalists.

Trump’s announcement followed months of review by the Interior Department after he ordered the agency in April to identify which of 27 monuments designated by past presidents should be rescinded or resized to give states and local governments more control of the land.

“Some people think that the natural resources of Utah should be controlled by a small handful of very distant bureaucrats located in Washington. And guess what? They’re wrong,” Trump said in the state capitol alongside Utah’s Republican Governor Gary Herbert, the Utah congressional delegation and local county commissioners.

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