Looting the American Public · Investigation · 2025–2026
Three million acres, erased with a pen.
Congress refused to sell off the public's land. Two months later the White House shrank the monuments that protected it — more than 90% of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, by proclamation, with no vote.
FACT
§2 · Thesis
The same objective was pursued twice: a legislative sell-off that was defeated, then an Antiquities-Act proclamation that was not.
The public beat the first attempt. The second needed no vote at all.
The number
~3M
acres of protected land stripped by two July 13, 2026 proclamations — more than 90% of each monument, the largest single rollback of monument protection on record.
Proclamations 11043 & 11044 (Federal Register)
§5 · Graded Claim
The 2025 push to force a sale of over a million acres of public land was ruled out of order under the Byrd rule, then withdrawn — the final law contained no sale.
FACT
On June 24, 2025 the Senate parliamentarian ruled Lee's provision violated the Byrd rule; after a rewrite and public pressure, Lee withdrew it on June 28, 2025.
§5 · Graded Claim
A July 13, 2026 proclamation cut Grand Staircase-Escalante from about 1.87 million acres to roughly 181,500, reversing Biden's 2021 restoration.
FACT
Proclamation 11044 of July 13, 2026, which recites the full chain: Clinton 1996 (~1.7M), Trump 2017 (removed ~860k), Biden 2021 (restored ~1.87M), 2026 (cut to ~181,500).
§5 · Graded Claim
A companion proclamation cut Bears Ears from about 1.35 million acres to roughly 121,096, again reversing a prior restoration.
FACT
Proclamation 11043 of July 13, 2026 (91 FR 45169), which recites Obama's 2016 establishment (Proclamation 9558, ~1.35M), the 2017 cut and 2021 restoration, and the 2026 reduction.
§5 · Graded Claim
The legal power to shrink a monument this far is unsettled — the 2017 cuts were sued over, but the courts never ruled, because Biden restored the monuments first.
FACT
The Antiquities Act grants a clear power to create monuments, not an explicit power to shrink them; the 2017-reduction suits were mooted by the 2021 restoration before any decision. Staged as an open question, not a verdict.
§6 · Record vs Narrative
Two tracks to the same ground.
The legislative sell-off (2025)
- Mandated BLM land sale inside the reconciliation bill.
- Checked by the Senate parliamentarian and public pressure.
- Defeated — ruled out of order, then withdrawn.
The monument cuts (2026)
- Antiquities-Act proclamation, signed unilaterally.
- No vote, no debate; only the courts remain as a check.
- Enacted — ~3M acres stripped of protection.
▦ Still unknown
Who ultimately profits from reopening the land to claims and leases is not yet on the record.
This line is still blank
Shrinking a monument removes protection; it does not transfer title. Any named private beneficiary waits on a primary land-management or campaign-finance record.
Help us fill it →§7 · Why it matters now
Why it matters now — and where it connects.
The ordinary check on disposing of public land is a vote in Congress, and in 2025 that check worked. The lesson of 2026 is how fast it was routed around: a 1906 law built to protect land was used to un-protect nearly three million acres, with no vote. That is the pattern the Looting the American Public hub keeps.
▸ Looting the American Public →
▦ Ledger gaps
Help us fill these lines.
- OpenWhich leases, mining claims, or development follow on the reopened land, and who files them.
- OpenWhether the courts reach the merits this time on a president's power to shrink a monument.
Help fill these →