Sen. Mike Lee is laying the groundwork to roll back Biden-era environmental regulations for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah, opening the door to possible changes that would expand what the land can be used for under federal law.
Lee submitted an opinion from the Government Accountability Office to the congressional record on Thursday, setting the stage for him to challenge regulations implemented by former President Joe Biden shortly before he left office in 2025.
The opinion stems from a request from Rep. Celeste Maloy last summer on whether Congress has the authority to reverse a management plan set by the Bureau of Land Management. The GAO ruled in January that the plan is subject to congressional review, paving the way for lawmakers to vote on removing it.
Maloy and Lee are set to introduce a joint resolution of disapproval next week that, if passed, would undo the current resource management plan (RMP) to establish a new one that could be more lenient to development, grazing, mining, and other land uses.
If passed, it would mark the first time Congress has used the Congressional Review Act to overturn a BLM management plan.
The resolution does not eliminate the monument itself. Instead, it overturns the most current management plan that dictates how the land can be administered by setting rules on recreational and development.
The current plan was finalized by BLM in January 2025 covering the entirety of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, which was restored to its original boundaries earlier in the Biden administration. The plan established new restrictions on designated camping areas, limits on grazing, tiered zones for recreational uses, and more.
The guidelines were developed after input from local tribes as well as public comment.
But Republican lawmakers such as Lee argue the RMP has placed too strict of restrictions on the land and must be changed to allow for more mixed-use purposes. That, in turn, would make it easier for less conservation-focused management.
However, conservation groups are raising alarms about what the resolution could mean in terms of environmental protections for the monument. If passed, the resolution would bar the Bureau of Land Management from implementing a similar RMP in the future — which activists say would “upend national land protection.”
Instead, environment groups say the land should be preserved and not greenlit for economic uses.
“The Utah Delegation’s attack on the Grand Staircase-Escalante is a call to action for Americans from across the nation,” Steve Bloch, legal director at the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said in a statement. “This wild landscape is quintessential southern Utah redrock country with its stunning geology, irreplaceable cultural resources, unique fossils, and wide-open spaces. All of that is at risk if this attack succeeds and the monument management plan is undone. We intend to move heaven and earth to stop that from happening.”
Grand Staircase has been flashpoint before
This is not the first time the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument has become a political flashpoint during a Trump presidency.
During his first term, President Donald Trump ordered the monument to be reduced to roughly 47% of its original size and to divide the remainder of the monument into three areas. Biden later restored the monument to its original size in 2021.
However, environmentalist groups say that an approved resolution to undo the BLM’s management plan would set a precedent leading to other public lands being opened to expanded economic uses.
“An attack on Grand Staircase-Escalante is an attack on our freedom to enjoy this special place today and generations from now,” Ronni Flannery, senior staff attorney at The Wilderness Society, said in a statement. “This move disregards years of hard work and broad support, and, instead, attempts to hand our public lands over to the highest paying polluters. A vote to pass this bill is a vote against the people to erode a crown jewel of the American West.”