Trump orders review of national monument ‘land grab’

President Donald Trump has ordered Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review national monument designations made by the previous three administrations, a move environmentalists fear will lead to oil exploration. The review will include about two dozen monuments but will focus on two created during Democratic administrations, both in Utah. State lawmakers have pushed the federal government to reconsider designations for Bears Ears National Monument, created last year by President Barack Obama, and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, created in 1996 by President Bill Clinton. Both sites could sit atop oil and gas deposits. Trump called the 265 million acres now under federal control a massive “land grab” and an “abusive practice.” Zinke noted that while many designations protect important cultural and environmental sites, some have been driven by “political advocacy” and are not popular with the people most impacted.