A Utah federal judge has granted a group of conservation groups the ability to intervene in defense of the Biden administration’s restoration of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah.
Last year, the state of Utah sued over President Joe Biden’s decision to reinstate monument boundaries. In December, the Hopi, Navajo, Zuni and Ute Mountain Ute Tribes were granted a separate motion to intervene.
“The ill-conceived lawsuit by the state of Utah against the restoration of these national monuments to their original size represents a direct attack on the Antiquities Act,” said Sara Husby, executive director of Great Old Broads for Wilderness, an intervenor in the suit.
“This ruling ensures that the voices of concerned citizens will continue to be heard in the fight to protect America’s public lands and wilderness both now and in the future.”
