N.M. Congressman Lujan calls for President to declare more monuments

Today, Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Public Lands Subcommittee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) released a letter co-signed by 109 House Democrats urging Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell to protect and conserve national treasures under the Antiquities Act. The letter was sent on the same day that Sec. Jewell will host a community meeting in New Mexico to discuss protecting the Organ Mountains. In the letter, the members write, “In today’s deeply partisan environment, it’s becoming nearly impossible for Congress to make critical conservation decisions.  The 112^th Congress was the first Congress in 40 years that failed to permanently protect any of America’s treasured landscapes. The current Congress is on a path to repeat that abysmal record.”...more

Ben Ray Lujan, who represents northern NM, signed the letter urging President Obama to proclaim additional monuments.  One of the facts presented with the above press release is that 32 National Monuments have since become National Parks.  What the press release doesn't say is what Park Service policy is toward livestock grazing.  That policy is "The Service will phase out the commercial grazing of livestock whenever possible."   

Mr. Lujan, with his constant support of the environmentalists wishes on Wilderness, National Monuments and other land use designations, continues to display an anti-rural and anti-livestock bias.  Clearly he has abandoned  the practitioners of the 400 year-old tradition of livestock grazing in northern New Mexico.  What a shame that an Hispanic elected official would take such actions against a culture and industry first introduced to this country by Hispanics.