--- title: Donald Trump to Sign Executive Order on National Monuments description: U.S. President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Wednesday to identify national monuments that can be rescinded or resized. canonical: https://time.com/4755770/donald-trump-national-monuments-executive-order/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-26T14:23:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:22.077Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump May Rescind National Monuments in Order to Open Lands to Drilling og:description: He will sign an executive order identifying which can be resized og:url: https://time.com/4755770/donald-trump-national-monuments-executive-order/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68e23a863d218a54/6988ca9d97cdffa5a56b06bc/donald-trump-russia-investigation-momentum.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4928 og:image:height: 2772 og:image:alt: Holocaust Ceremony og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump May Rescind National Monuments in Order to Open Lands to Drilling twitter:description: He will sign an executive order identifying which can be resized twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68e23a863d218a54/6988ca9d97cdffa5a56b06bc/donald-trump-russia-investigation-momentum.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump May Rescind National Monuments in Order to Open Lands to Drilling > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: President Trump Signs Executive Order Targeting Environmental Regulations [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Signs Executive Order Targeting Environmental Regulations](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qkefzOtF.m3u8) (1:37)  _Published 2017-03-28. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday to roll back key environmental regulations that were established under the Obama Administration._ by [Valerie Volcovici / Reuters](https://time.com/author/reuters/) ## Valerie Volcovici / Reuters Apr 26, 2017 2:23 PM UTC  President Donald Trump attends the annual Days of Remembrance Holocaust ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda on April 25, 2017. President Donald Trump attends the annual Days of Remembrance Holocaust ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda on April 25, 2017. Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call,Inc./Getty Images by [Valerie Volcovici / Reuters](https://time.com/author/reuters/) ## Valerie Volcovici / Reuters Apr 26, 2017 2:23 PM UTC (WASHINGTON) – U.S. President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Wednesday to identify national monuments that can be rescinded or resized – part of a push to open up more federal lands to drilling, mining and other development. The move comes as Trump seeks to reverse a slew of environmental protections ushered in by former President Barack Obama that he said were hobbling economic growth – an agenda that is cheering industry but enraging conservationists. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told reporters late Tuesday that Trump’s order would require him to conduct the review of around 30 national monuments created over the past two decades, and recommend which designations should be lifted or altered. Zinke said he would seek local feedback before making his recommendations, and added any move by Trump to ultimately reverse a monument designation could be tricky. “I am not going to predispose what the outcome is going to be,” Zinke said. On rescinding or altering a national monument designation, Zinke said: “It is untested, as you know, whether the president can do that.” President Woodrow Wilson reduced the size of Washington state’s Mount Olympus National Monument in 1915, arguing there was an urgent need for timber at the time, one of the few examples of national monuments being changed. The monuments covered by the review will range from the Grand Staircase in Utah created by President Bill Clinton in 1996 to the Bears Ears monuments created by President Barack Obama in December 2016 in the same state, covering millions of acres of land overlying minerals, oil and gas. Obama’s administration created the Bears Ears monument arguing that it would protect the cultural legacy of Native American tribes and preserve “scenic and historic landscapes.” But Utah’s governor and the state’s congressional delegation opposed the designation, saying it went against the wishes of citizens eager for development. The area lies near where EOG Resources – a Texas-based company – had been approved to drill. Zinke said the broader aim of the order is to give states more input in monument designations. A summary of the order said past administrations “overused” the Antiquities Act that allows presidents to create monuments. Conservation and tribal groups slammed the order. “With this review, the Trump Administration is walking into a legal, political and moral minefield,” said Kate Kelly, public lands director for the Center for American Progress. ## Transcript The action I'm taking today will eliminate federal overreach, restore economic freedom and allow our companies and our workers to thrive compete and succeed on a level playing field for the first time in a long time fellows, it's been a long time. I'm not just talking about eight years, we're talking about, A lot longer than eight years. You people know it maybe better than anybody. First, today's energy independence action calls for an immediate reevaluation of the so- called Clean Power Plan. Perhaps- [ APPLAUSE ] [ APPLAUSE ] Perhaps no single regulation threatens our miners, energy workers and companies more than this crushing attack on American industry. Second, we are lifting the ban on federal leasing for coal production. Third, we are lifting job killing restrictions. Or the production of oil, natural gas, clean coal, and shale energy. And finally, we are returning power to the states where that power belongs. You know what it says, right? You're going back to work. [ LAUGH ] You're going back to work. [ APPLAUSE ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Ready? Ready to go? We're ready. [ SOUND ] Okay. 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