This story was originally published by HuffPost and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has advised President Joe Biden to reverse former President Donald Trump’s rollbacks of three national monuments, restoring them to their original boundaries and reinstating more stringent protections, according to media reports.
The expected move, which The Washington Post first reported Monday and The New York Times later confirmed, is a first step toward fulfilling the president’s campaign promise to “reverse the Trump administration’s assaults on America’s natural treasures.”
Biden tasked Haaland with reviewing Trump’s dismantling of protected monument sites — Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in southern Utah and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off the Atlantic coast — and recommending whether to undo the changes.
Haaland’s recommendations, detailed in a still-confidential report to the White House, include restoring the original boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, as well as reinstating fishing and deep-sea mining restricti... Read more
