Patagonia joins tribes and green groups suing Trump over Utah monument cuts

Patagonia joined a coalition of Indigenous and environmental groups suing the Trump administration over its decision to shrink Utah's Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by roughly 90 percent. The legal challenge argues that Donald Trump lacks the statutory authority under the Antiquities Act to downsize national monuments. The policy shift opens millions of acres of protected public lands to oil drilling and uranium mining, with at least nine mining claims already filed. Bears Ears was the first national monument created at the request of Native American nations and co-managed by tribes, who consider the lands sacred. Utah Governor Spencer Cox and the White House defended the downsizing, arguing that the original monument designations were excessively large and restricted vital energy resources.