President Donald Trump slashed Utah's Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by nearly 3 million acres (12,140.5 km²) on Monday, even as state officials and market history suggest the energy resources used to justify the cuts face steep economic and logistical barriers to extraction.
The proclamations reduce Grand Staircase-Escalante from 1.87 million acres (7,567 km²) to roughly 180,000 (728 km²) and Bears Ears from 1.36 million acres (5,503 km²) to about 121,000. Combined, the two monuments now cover less than 303,000 acres (1,226 km²) down from more than 3.2 million (12,950 km²) an area nearly the size of Connecticut.
