WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will restore two sprawling national monuments in Utah that have been at the center of a long-running public lands dispute, and a separate marine conservation area in New England that recently has been used for commercial fishing.
Environmental protections at all three monuments had been stripped by former President Donald Trump.
The White House announced the changes Thursday night ahead of a ceremony expected Friday.
It says Biden was “fulfilling a key promise” by restoring Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments to their full size.
His plan also restores protections in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monument in the Atlantic Ocean, southeast of Cape Cod.