Trump's ‘Unleash American Energy' order sparks concern about the Grand Canyon national monument

Yahoo

18-02-2025

A tourist approaches the precipice June 8, 2009, at the Grand Canyon. Photo by John Moore | Getty Images
President Donald Trump's executive order for 'Unleashing American Energy' is sparking concern for the safety of federal lands within national monuments across the U.S., but especially in the Southwest, where Trump has targeted monuments before.
During his first term, Trump eliminated environmental protections for two national monuments in Utah by reducing the sizes of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante. The Biden administration restored both in 2021.
With Trump's Unleashing American Energy order, the Bear Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments are at risk again because they both hold large critical mineral reserves.
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As part of his executive order, Trump requested an immediate review of all agency actions that could potentially hinder the development of domestic energy resources, focusing on oil, natural gas, coal, hydropower, biofuels, critical minerals and nuclear energy.
His order requested that agency heads review all existing regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, settlements, consent orders and any other agency actions.
Trump gave agencies 30 days to create and implement action plans to 'suspend, revise, or rescind all agency actions identified as unduly burdensome.'
The Department of the Interior is fulfilling the president's request after Secretary Doug Burgum directed agency staff to 'promptly review all agency actions and submit an action plan' detailing the steps to review and revise all public lands withdrawn under current law. The department's deadline is Feb. 18.
The secretarial order does not directly mention national monuments or outline what laws are to be reviewed, but it references 54 U.S.C. 320301 and 43 U.S.C. 1714, which are federal laws related to the Antiquities Act of 1906 and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976.
'It's almost as if they were trying to sneak this by us,' said Tim Peterson, the cultural landscapes director for the Grand Canyon Trust, a nonprofit conservation organization.
Peterson said these two laws are significant because the Federal Land Management Act section permits mineral withdrawals administratively, and the Antiquities Act enables presidents to establish national monuments.
Peterson said mineral withdrawals remove public lands from mineral entry, which means there can be no new mining claims, oil and gas leasing or geothermal leasing.
The secretarial order stated that the department should focus on advancing innovation to improve the United State's energy and critical mineral capacity to provide a reliable, diverse and affordable energy supply for the nation.
The order also calls for updating the U.S. Geological Survey's list of critical minerals, including uranium, and developing an action plan to prioritize mapping efforts to identify previously unknown critical mineral deposits.
'It seems to be targeting all presidentially designated national monuments under the Antiquities Act,' said Amber Reimondo, the energy director for the Grand Canyon Trust, noting that both Democratic and Republican presidents have designated national monuments.
Arizona has 19 national monuments, including the recently established Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni, which added more protections against mining to the Grand Canyon region.
Tribes, conservation groups and state leaders are concerned about the recently established monument and are calling on the Department of the Interior to honor and support it.
The orders threaten the Grand Canyon Region in two significant ways: the Obama administration's 2012 mining ban, which is in place for 20 years before it needs to be renewed, and the added protections from Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni—Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument.
' The secretarial order threatens both those layers of protection for the Grand Canyon region that tribes and communities have fought for years to attain,' Reimondo said, and the order threatens them despite the massive support national monuments have.
Polling conducted by Grand Canyon Trust shows that over two-thirds of Arizona voters oppose reducing protections for national monuments, and 80% back Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni.
In Utah, polling indicates that 71% of voters favor maintaining Bears Ears as a national monument, while 74% support keeping Grand Staircase-Escalante as a national monument.
'Americans love their national monuments and want them to stay protected,' Reimondo said.
The newly designated monument was challenged in court when Arizona GOP leaders filed a lawsuit in 2024 to rescind Biden's designation because he did not have the power to do so. A federal judge dismissed the case in January, but the GOP leaders are now looking to the Trump administration to move on their request.
Tribes in the region have worked closely with other conservation groups to advocate for the monument's designation in 2023. The monument protects thousands of historical and scientific objects, sacred sites, vital water sources and the ancestral homelands of many Indigenous communities.
The lands of Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni include cultural and sacred places of the Havasupai Tribe, Hopi Tribe, Hualapai Tribe, Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, Las Vegas Paiute Tribe, Moapa Band of Paiutes, Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, Navajo Nation, San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe, Yavapai-Apache Nation, Pueblo of Zuni and the Colorado River Indian Tribes.
The monument's name comes from the Indigenous names the Havasupai and Hopi gave to the area. In the Havasupai language, Baaj Nwaavjo means 'where Indigenous peoples roam,' while I'tah Kukveni means 'our ancestral footprints' in the Hopi language.
Arizona Sens. Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly sent a joint letter to Burgum sharing the importance of Baaj Nwaavjo and calling on his reassurances that there will not undo Arizona's newest national monument.
'Tribes and Arizona communities deserve to move on with the management planning process for this National Monument rather than worry that there may be attempts to remove it,' the senators stated in their joint letter.
'Given the importance of the Monument to Tribal Nations and Communities, our economy, and immense public support, we ask that you reassure Arizonans that Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni National Monument will remain intact for generations to come,' they added.
Grand Canyon Trust Executive Director Ethan Aumack stated in a press release that they strongly oppose any efforts to reduce the boundaries of national monuments, as these areas are 'world-class examples of natural and cultural landscapes worthy of protection.'
'Any attempts to roll back protections for national monuments will be challenged in the courts and strongly opposed by the public,' He added.
Earthjustice attorney Heidi McIntosh said that the decision to review national monuments highlights the Trump administration's 'narrow-minded insistence' to hand over one of the nation's most valuable resources, public lands, to the mining and oil and gas industries.
'Rather than protecting the cultural treasures, world-renowned fossils, historic places, and one-of-a-kind ecosystems that monuments like Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante and Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni hold, this administration wants to sell these lands to the highest bidder,' McIntosh said in a statement. 'We stand ready to defend our national monuments alongside the Tribes and local communities who advocated for their creation.'
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