House moves to curb president's power on monuments

The House has approved a Republican bill to limit the president's ability to designate new national monuments, a step President Barack Obama and predecessors have taken to protect historic or ecologically significant sites. The bill approved Wednesday, sponsored by Utah Rep. Rob Bishop, would require an environmental review — including a public hearing — before designation of monuments larger than 5,000 acres. Only one monument per state could be created in a president's four-year term. Bishop and other Republicans have complained that Obama has designated a half-dozen monuments in the past year without input from Congress. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., is an original co-sponsor of the Ensuring Public Involvement in the Creation (EPIC) of National Monuments Act (H.R. 1459) that would require public participation before a presidentially declared national monument is made official. "Land-use decisions should be made in the sunshine, with full input from affected citizens like farmers and ranchers," Walden said. "The president shouldn't be able to lock up thousands of acres of federal land to all productive uses with just the stroke of his pen and no say from the American people." "That's why I've worked for a long time to reform the Antiquities Act to stop its worst abuses. This common-sense bill would ensure that future national monuments are created with public participation, not behind closed doors at the White House," Walden said...more