No plans for new national monuments in Montana

In an exchange with U.S. Sen. Jon Tester on Tuesday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said his agency has no plans to create a new national monument in Montana or buy up private land in the Missouri Breaks area east of Fort Benton. "There have been no directions from the White House that we move forward on monument designation," Salazar told Tester at a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Interior Subcommittee. The exchange stems from publicity last week over an Interior Department internal memo on potential monument designations and acquisitions, part of which was leaked last week. The leaked memo had a list of areas in the West that "may be good candidates for National Monument designation under the Antiquities Act," which allows the president to establish national monuments...read more