DOJ Says Trump Has Power to Roll Back National Monuments

The U.S. Department of Justice issued an opinion stating that the President can review and eliminate national monuments in favor of mining and resource extraction, reports Wyatt Myskow in Inside Climate News.

According to Myskow, “Tuesday’s opinion, which stems from a White House request after it attempted to eliminate two monuments earlier this year, has no influence on case law that has upheld the protection of national monuments, but it does offer insight into how the Trump administration is likely to justify dismantling protected areas in court.”

The opinion argues that using the Antiquities Act to protect land goes against the best interests of local communities. According to the opinion, “Presidents have used that power to withhold vast swaths of the American land and seascape from potentially beneficial economic use by designating over 100 national monuments, the largest of which spans 582,578 square miles or 373 million acres.”

The power to eliminate national monuments has traditionally rested with Congress, who has never used it. “Attacking national monuments to make way for development has been a priority of both the first and second Trump administrations. Many of the targeted monuments hold access to minerals like uranium, coal and copper and in some cases, prevented some mines from expanding operations.”