Patagonia CEO on Trump shrinking monuments: ‘This is not about politics’

Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario denied the company having any political motivations in its website’s statement condemning President Trump’s “illegal” move to shrink two national monuments in Utah.

“This is not about politics; it’s about protecting the places we love and keeping the great promise of this country for our children and grandchildren,” Marcario wrote in an op-ed for Time magazine. “We won’t let President Trump tear down our heritage and sell it to the highest bidder.”

The recreation company’s website featured a banner claiming “The President Stole Your Land” following Trump’s announcement Monday that he will reduce the size of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante national monuments by roughly 1 million acres each.

Patagonia announced it will sue the administration over the decision. 

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The CEO pointed to Patagonia’s “longstanding environmental and social values” and said that the unpopular decision would open up the lands to heavy industrialization and commercial use, positioning the decision as a threat to the company’s outdoor interests.

Marcario also defended the company’s claim that Trump’s move was illegal, citing the Antiquities Act of 1906 that allows presidents to designate national monuments but noted it does “not give the President the power to undo a prior president’s monument designations.”

Trump’s decision would reduce the size of Bears Ears, a vast monument designated by former President Obama, by nearly 85 percent and the Grand Staircase monument by about half. 

“For more than a century, presidents of both political parties have upheld their solemn responsibility as stewards of America’s public lands by protecting our most special wild places,” Marcario wrote.