Legal battle launched against monument changes

An environmental group filed the first of several expected lawsuits late Monday over President Donald Trump’s scaling down of two national monuments in Utah. The administration is reducing Bears Ears National Monument from 1.3 million acres to less than 202,000 acres and Grand Staircase–Escalante monument from nearly 1.9 million acres to about 1 million acres. Conservationists and Native American tribes say the decision puts at risk thousands of archaeological sites that have historical, scientific, and religious significance. Republicans in Utah asked for the change in part to open up opportunities for energy development. The legal battle over the future of the land is expected to take years to resolve.