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The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has concluded that lawmakers can use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to overturn a Biden-era management plan for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah—a landscape known for its geological, recreational, and cultural significance.
The GAO specifically said in the report that because the Bureau of Land Management never submitted the January 2025 management plan to Congress, it is subject to a CRA vote. The CRA allows lawmakers to overturn recently finalized rules with simple majorities in Congress.
The report, which was requested by U.S. Representative Celeste Maloy of Utah, paves the way for Congress to chip away at protections for the national monument, including by weakening natural resource protections that were outlined in the management plan.
It is unclear whether Maloy or Utah Senator Mike Lee will file a CRA resolution to revoke the management plan, but the report is already raising red flags among Utah voters, 74 percent of whom support keeping Grand Staircase-Escalante protected as a national monument.
“Any attempt to leverage this obscure federal law against the monument is an effort to thwart the will of millions of Americans who have repeatedly stood up in support of Grand Staircase-Escalante, its wild red rock landscape, and its irreplaceable cultural and fossil resources,” said Steve Bloch, legal director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
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No matter the complexity of today’s debates, our guiding principle is clear: These places must be protected and honored as part of our shared heritage and as part of the life-giving system of Mother Earth.”
