California is open to the possibility of suing the Trump administration should it move to shrink national monuments located in the state.
“Attorney General Xavier Becerra has made clear that he is prepared to take any and all action necessary, including filing a lawsuit, to protect our treasured public lands,” Becerra’s press office told the Washington Examiner.
On Thursday, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke urged President Trump to reduce the size of a “handful” of national monuments, although he did not specify which ones. His department had been reviewing 27 national monuments.
Several of the monuments, listed in an executive order from Trump calling for the review of monument designations dating back to 1996, are situated in California: Berryessa Snow Mountain, Carrizo Plain, Giant Sequoia, Mojave Trails, Sand to Snow and the San Gabriel Mountains.
The email from Becerra’s office also included a link to a copy of a June 8 letter Becerra sent to Zinke, which said that attempting to alter the protections at these monuments would be “illegal.”
“The designation of these monuments established critical safeguards for some of our country’s most treasured lands, and to attempt to undermine those protections would be not only illegal but also a short-sighted and misguided betrayal of the interests of future generations of Americans,” Becerra wrote. “I expect that I will be joined by many of this country’s state attorneys general in using all of the legal tools at our disposal to ensure that the rule of law is followed.”
In a statement Thursday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., called on the Trump administration to be more transparent by releasing the entirety of Zinke’s report. She also referred to possible legal action.
“California will fight any attempt by President Trump to eliminate protected parkland,” Feinstein said. “Today, we learned that Secretary Zinke in his report to the president has proposed changing a ‘handful’ of the monuments under review. Unfortunately, he’s keeping the details of that decision secret, providing nothing more than a brief report summary that fails to name the monuments he suggests cutting.”
California isn’t the first to threaten to sue the Trump administration over the monuments; outdoor-clothing maker Patagonia did just that back in April.
While past presidents have reduced the boundaries of national monuments, no president has tried to eliminate a monument under the Antiquities Act. The Antiquities Act does not explicitly say whether a president can overturn or change a monument designation, and the concept has not yet been tested in court.
