New Mexico AG Released Statement Emphasizing Absence of Presidential Authority to Shrink National Monuments

DECEMBER 5, 2017

New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas issued a statement in response to President Trump’s announced intent to reduce the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments in Utah. AG Balderas warned that the president’s plan is “a direct attack on the proud natural, historical and cultural heritage of the Southwest, and it ignores critical voices of tribal leaders and local stakeholders on these lands.” In a memo accompanying the statement, AG Balderas’ office emphasized that the president’s plan is not permitted under the Antiquities Act, which gives the president “the authority to designate — but not to terminate — national monuments.”