Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Westerners fear monumental land grab by Obama administration

Utah officials are scrambling to prevent the Obama administration from locking down thousands of acres of land in their backyard, as federal officials consider up to a dozen possible national monument designations – all in western states. The Antiquities Act gives U.S. presidents the authority to unilaterally declare public lands as national monuments at the stroke of a pen, with no input from the public unless they choose to seek it. Many national monuments eventually go on to become national parks. But critics feel the Antiquities Act has been misused in recent decades by presidents of both parties and, in Utah, they’re seeking a compromise that would allow some land to become designated as “wilderness” instead. "The original Antiquities Act passed as a way of conserving land," Republican Utah Rep. Rob Bishop said. "It's no longer used that way. Now it's used as a political purpose to make a political statement on land that is not endangered in any way." The issue is particularly sensitive in the American West, where the vast majority of federally owned and controlled land lies. "In the West, almost half of the land, versus 4 percent in the East, is owned by the federal government," Bishop said. "So in my state of Utah, 70 percent is owned and controlled by the federal government. So we in the West clearly see this differently, because we face it and live with it every day." A draft Interior Department memo in 2010 suggested 12 sites for possible national monument designation by President Obama. The land already is mostly in federal hands, but a monument designation would more tightly restrict access. All of the sites are in the West, including Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks in New Mexico, which President Obama declared a new national monument in May...more

Actually, the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks were not on the list of potential national monuments in the draft memo, nor did the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks make the list of  "crown jewels" submitted by Secretary Salazar.  That being the case, why were the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks made a national monument?  Rep. Bishop got it right about making a "political statement".  Politics, not protection, ruled the day.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Here was a absurd letter sent by the rabid anti-wilderness Congressman Rob Bishop to President Obama - full of fallacious statements against the National Monument. This was travesty. Mr. Bishop's erroneous and dubious anti-wilderness letter on border security was the epitome of arrogance. It seems that he wanted us to envision drug mules all over the Organ Mountains. He made it appear that the Border Patrol has no way to chase these drug traffickers except maybe by bicycle. Mark Twain once wrote: “A half-truth is the most cowardly of lies.”
http://thewesterner.blogspot.com/2014/05/rep-bishop-urges-president-obama-to.html