Maloy and Lee take steps to rewind Grand Staircase management plan 

Utah Rep. Celeste Maloy is working on a proposal to undo a Biden-era plan for managing southern Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Maloy confirmed her plan to Politico’s E&E News on Wednesday. The same day, Sen. Mike Lee kickstarted a process for lawmakers to consider her proposal by submitting a report on the monument’s management plan to Congress. 

The moves alarmed conservation groups. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance called them an attack on the monument spanning 1.9 million acres. The protected land encompasses the ancestral homeland of the Southern Paiute Native American tribe and features arches, waterfalls and sweeping vistas.

“This wild landscape is quintessential southern Utah redrock country with its stunning geology, irreplaceable cultural resources, unique fossils, and wide-open spaces,” said the alliance’s legal director, Steve Bloch. “All of that is at risk if this attack succeeds and the monument management plan is undone.” 

The monument was created by former President Bill Clinton in 1996, over the objections of Utah officials. Clinton used his power under the Antiquities Act, a century-old law giving presidents authority to declare monuments to protect places of cultural, historical and scientific significance. 

Lee, chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, said the law was designed to “protect specific objects and to reserve only the smallest area compatible with their protection.”

But instead, he said in a statement to Utah News Dispatch, Grand Staircase has a “sweeping land-use regime.” The steps he and Maloy are taking would not shrink the monument’s boundaries, but would roll back the current plan’s halt on mineral leasing, along with its limits on grazing and camping.

In 2017, during his first term, President Donald Trump came to Utah and downsized the monument to 229,000 acres and similarly reduced nearby Bears Ears National Monument, which had been preserved by former President Barack Obama. Former President Joe Biden later restored both monuments to their original size. His administration finalized the Grand Staircase management plan prioritizing conservation in the last days of his presidency. 

Utah’s congressional delegation condemned the conservation-focused plan as federal overreach, saying it limits grazing and recreation. They also called it bad for business in neighboring communities. 

Over the summer, Maloy asked the independent Government Accountability Office to determine whether the plan is subject to review by Congress. The office concluded that it is and released its report in January. Lee submitted those findings to the congressional record on Wednesday — the first step in a process allowing lawmakers to overturn certain actions by federal agencies.

Under the Congressional Review Act, Maloy’s proposal could be considered by the U.S. House and Senate in an expedited process and passed by simple majority votes. If the president signs it into law, conservation groups pointed out, federal land managers would be barred from issuing any future plans mirroring the Grand Staircase framework. 

Environmental advocates say they’ll fight to keep that from happening. 

“We’ll use every tool we have to fight this reckless effort and defend these beautiful lands,” Taylor McKinnon with the Center for Biological Diversity wrote in an email. 

Maloy did not provide comment in response to a request from Utah News Dispatch on Thursday. She’s expected to present her proposal to the U.S. House next week. 

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