Patagonia and Conservation Groups Sue Trump Over Reduction of Utah National Monuments

Outdoor clothing company Patagonia has joined a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's decision to significantly reduce the size of two national monuments in Utah. In July, Trump signed orders reducing the Bears Ears national monument by 91 percent, or nearly half a million hectares, and the Grand Staircase-Escalante national monument by 90 percent, removing protections from nearly 3 million acres. The lawsuit, filed by Patagonia alongside the Natural Resources Defense Council and other conservation and tribal organizations, argues that the 1906 Antiquities Act allows presidents to designate national monuments but does not grant them the authority to reduce their size.

The reductions open vast areas of desert landscape to oil drilling, uranium mining, and other extractive industries. At least nine mining claims have already been filed in the areas removed from the monuments. President Trump argued that these changes allow the land to be put to higher priority use and provide access to minerals critical for national security and resource independence. The Bears Ears monument was originally established by Barack Obama in 2016, while Bill Clinton established Grand Staircase-Escalante in 1996. Joe Biden had previously restored the status of these lands after similar reductions by Trump during his first term.

Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert stated that the administration has been determined to attack the natural world and that the move attempts to force the secession of federal land to the state for private extraction. The Natural Resources Defense Council described the action as one of the largest rollbacks of public land protections in United States history. One report notes that Patagonia's legal challenges against the administration have coincided with strong business results, suggesting the company's activism is a central part of its marketing strategy.