Utah senator targets Grand Staircase protections
Navajo Times | Krista Allen
A sign on March 15, 2026, marks Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. Utah lawmakers have introduced a resolution to overturn the monument’s management plan using the Congressional Review Act.
WINDOW ROCK
A Utah senator has taken the first formal step toward overturning the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument’s resource management plan, setting up a Congressional Review Act fight over protections for the southern Utah landscape.
Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican, added a Government Accountability Office opinion to the Congressional Record, setting in motion a process that could allow both chambers of Congress to overturn the monument’s resource management plan with a simple majority vote.
The GAO opinion, requested by U.S. Rep. Celeste Maloy in July, concluded in January that Congress has the authority to use the CRA against Bureau of Land Management resource management plans. If a resolution of disapproval passes both chambers and is signed by President Donald Trump, the BLM would be barred from issuing another plan deemed “substantially the same” in the future, according to Earthjustice.
To read the full article, please see the March 19, 2026, edition of the Navajo Times.
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