Garfield County et al. v. Biden et al. and Dalton et al. v. Biden et al. (Bears Ears and Grand Staircase

Valley of the Gods in Bears Ears National Monument, Utah
Credit: Bob Thomason/Getty Images

For years, across multiple rounds of litigation, NRDC has worked alongside our partners to defend Bears Ears and Grand Staircase–Escalante national monuments in southern Utah. Both monuments were created under the Antiquities Act, which authorizes the president to protect federal land to preserve “objects of historic or scientific interest.”

These national monuments are truly special places: Their remote mesas, meadows, cliffs, and canyons safeguard sites of extraordinary scientific, historical, and cultural importance. Grand Staircase–Escalante features unparalleled fossils from the Late Cretaceous period, informing the work of scientists all over the world. Bears Ears represents ancestral homelands of the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Pueblo of Zuni, Ute Indian Tribe, and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe; created at the urging of those five tribes, the monument protects rock art panels, dwellings, and countless other cultural sites throughout the landscape.

In 2017, then president Donald Trump signed proclamations dismantling both monuments, opening nearly a million acres to harmful industrial uses, including coal mining and oil and gas drilling. NRDC and our partners sued to block Trump’s unprecedented rollbacks. While our lawsuits were pending, President Joe Biden took office and initiated a review of Trump’s rollbacks. In October 2021, Biden issued new proclamations that fully restored both monuments.

However, the monuments soon came under attack once again, this time in Utah’s federal court. In August 2022, the state of Utah and two Utah counties filed a lawsuit, Garfield County v. Biden, challenging the monuments’ restoration. A group of private plaintiffs—including an off-road vehicle enthusiast group, a uranium miner, and other monument opponents—filed a similar lawsuit, Dalton v. Biden. Both lawsuits sought to nullify the monuments, contending that they were too large and encompassed objects that don’t merit protection under the Antiquities Act.

In November 2022, NRDC, together with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and other environmental groups, moved to intervene to defend the monuments. Four tribal nations—Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Pueblo of Zuni, and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe—separately intervened to defend Bears Ears. The court granted both motions.

In late 2022 and early 2023, the federal defendants, tribal nation intervenors, and NRDC/SUWA intervenors each moved to dismiss the lawsuits for failure to state any viable legal claims and other threshold defects.

In August 2023, the district court dismissed the plaintiffs’ lawsuits, largely on sovereign immunity grounds. The plaintiffs then appealed to the Tenth Circuit. The appeals are fully briefed, and we are awaiting an argument date. The monuments remain protected in the meantime.

Case Documents

Garfield County plaintiffs’ complaint, August 24, 2022 (PDF) Dalton plaintiffs’ complaint, August 25, 2022 (PDF) NRDC-SUWA motion to intervene in Garfield County, November 22, 2022 (PDF) NRDC-SUWA motion to intervene in Dalton, November 22, 2022 (PDF) Order granting tribes’ motion to intervene, December 7, 2022 (PDF) Federal defendants response to intervention, December 27, 2022 (PDF) Garfield County opposition to intervention, December 27, 2022 (PDF) NRDC-SUWA reply in support of intervention, January 6, 2023 (PDF) Dalton plaintiffs’ amended complaint, January 26, 2023 (PDF) Garfield County plaintiffs’ amended complaint, January 26, 2023 (PDF) Tribes’ motion to dismiss, March 2, 2023 (PDF) Federal defendants’ motion to dismiss, March 2, 2023 (PDF) Dalton plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, March 9, 2023 (PDF) Order granting NRDC’s motion to intervene, March 17, 2023 (PDF) NRDC-SUWA motion to dismiss, March 30, 2023 (PDF) Order staying summary judgment briefing, April 4, 2023 (PDF) Order requesting NRDC-SUWA response on intervention, April 11, 2023 (PDF) Dalton plaintiffs opposition to motion to dismiss, April 14, 2023 (PDF) Utah plaintiffs opposition to motion to dismiss, April 14, 2023 (PDF) NRDC-SUWA response on intervention, May 1, 2023 (PDF) NRDC-SUWA reply ISO motion to dismiss, May 5, 2023 (PDF) Federal defendants’ reply ISO motion to dismiss, May 5, 2023 (PDF) Tribal Nations’ reply ISO motion to dismiss, May 5, 2023 (PDF) Order dismissing complaints, August 11, 2023 (PDF) Dalton plainitffs opening brief on appeal, October 30, 2023 (PDF) Utah plaintiffs opening brief on appeal Oct 30 2023 (PDF) Federal defendants response brief on appeal Dec 19 2023 (PDF) Tribes response brief on appeal, January 9, 2024 (PDF) NRDC-SUWA response brief on appeal, January 9, 2024 (PDF) Amicus brief of Utah Diné Bikéyah, January 16, 2024 (PDF) Amicus brief of Grand Staircase-Escalante Partners, January 16, 2024 (PDF) Amicus brief of Law Professors, January 16, 2024 (PDF) Amicus brief of American Anthropological Association, January 16, 2024 (PDF) Dalton plaintiffs’ reply brief, February 9, 2024 (PDF) Utah plaintiffs’ reply brief, February 9, 2024 (PDF)

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