Patagonia Files Suit Against Trump Over Removing Bears Ears Protections

"The company says Donald Trump is exceeding the powers of his office by enacting the largest removal of protection from federal lands in history"

"A trail run that began years ago in the desert of Utah has brought outdoor retailer Patagonia to an unexpected – and considerably less scenic – crossroads, at a federal courthouse in Washington DC.

The company filed a complaint on Wednesday accusing Donald Trump of exceeding the powers of his office earlier this week when he ordered that Bears Ears national monument be reduced in size by 85%.

The president framed the action as a correction of earlier federal overreach. Barack Obama established the monument at 1.3m acres one year ago, in a move Republicans in Utah’s legislature compared at the time to 'the unilateral tyranny exercised by the King of England against the American colonies two and a half centuries ago'."

Tom McCarthy reports for the Guardian December 7, 2017.