Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Federal auditors say that Congress could use an obscure law called the Congressional Review Act to throw out the Utah monument's resource management plan, which sets which activities are or aren't allowed on the 1.9 million acres.

A Justice Department legal opinion released Tuesday disavowed a 1938 determination that monuments created by previous presidents under the Antiquities Act can't be revoked.

Federal officials are reportedly considering shrinking at least six national monuments in the Mountain West region to increase energy development on public lands.

In March, representatives of six tribes announced the formation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Inter-Tribal Coalition to work to protect the national monument.

The Trump administration could potentially redraw the boundaries of national monuments as part of a push to expand energy production. The new Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum, issued orders to review monuments, and some in our region may be on the list.

The arguments center around a federal law signed in 1906 called the Antiquities Act, which allows presidents to protect areas of federal lands with “critical natural, historical and scientific resources.”