Thursday, September 21, 2017

If Trump Doesn’t Revoke ‘Illegal’ Ocean National Monument Created By Obama, The Courts Might

Michael Bastach

Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke recommended President Donald Trump change the boundaries or management of 10 national monuments, including ocean monuments created by the Obama administration. Zinke asked Trump to allow commercial fishing at Obama-designated ocean monuments in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, but five of those monuments the Department of the Interior reviewed could be declared unlawful. Earlier this year, the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) filed suit against the Trump administration on behalf of New England fisherman opposed to the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts monument off the New England coast. PLF’s lawsuit doesn’t just argue against the offshore monument’s prohibition against fishing and crabbing above 3.1 million acres of underwater canyons, the group has also claimed the Antiquities Act is limited to creating national monuments on federally-controlled “lands,” not waters. Should PLF prevail, the Atlantic Ocean monument would be void...more

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