President Trump signed an executive action on Wednesday that directs his Interior Department to review his predecessors’ use of the Antiquities Act to designate large swaths of land as national monuments.
“The Antiquities Act does not give the federal government unlimited power to lock up millions of acres of land and water,” Trump said at a signing ceremony at the Department of Interior headquarters. “It’s time we ended this abusive practice.”
Criticizing the legislation’s role in placing restrictions on land, Trump pointed to President Obama’s designation of Bear’s Ears, a large area in Utah, as a national monument “over the profound objections of the citizens of Utah.”
Trump said he had instructed Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to “end these abuses and return control to the people.”
Trump’s executive action requests a review of the Antiquities Act and its monuments designation power. It orders the Interior Department to review the past 20 years of monument designations.
