National monument review attracts 1.2 million comments

More than 1.2 million comments were received during the federal government’s formal public comment period for the review of 27 national monuments that ended Monday. Comments were sent to Regulations.gov and thousands more were received via traditional mail. The 27 national monuments on the review list were designated since Jan. 1, 1996, are more than 100,000 acres, or were considered to have inadequate public input. They are under review in accordance with President Donald Trump’s April 26, 2017, executive order, according to a news release issued Tuesday by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s office. “Too often under previous administrations, decisions were made in the Washington, D.C., bubble, far removed from the local residents who actually work the land and have to live with the consequences of D.C.’s actions. This monument review is the exact opposite,” Zinke states in the news release. Zinke also traveled to Maine’s Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, and to Boston to hold meetings on the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Marine Monument off the coast of New England. The Secretary plans to visit Oregon, New Mexico, and Nevada in the coming weeks...more