Jewell: Obama may ‘take action’ on monuments

Sec. Jewell

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said she will meet with communities in the coming weeks and months to evaluate opportunities to protect the nation’s “stories and landscapes.” Jewell, speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, urged Congress to pass some of the dozen wilderness and land protection bills that have been held up since 2010. And she noted that President Barack Obama has used the Antiquities Act nine times to establish national monuments without congressional approval, such as the Rio Grande Del Norte in New Mexico and the San Juan Islands in Washington. “If Congress doesn’t step up to act to protect some of these important places that have been identified by communities and people throughout the country, then the president will take action,” Jewell said in her first major speech since her appointment six months ago. “We cannot and will not hold our breath forever.”...more