When President Theodore Roosevelt , a Republican , signed the Antiquities Act into law , it was meant to help authorities preserve historical , scientific , and otherwise valuable lands for future generations by declaring them internal monuments . In the intervene century , it has been used by leaders of both party to establish dozens of protected public landed estate , rove from vast marine monument like the one create around Hawaii by President George W. Bush and expanded by Obama , to much pocket-sized repository , sometimes just the size of a unmarried construction .
In announcing his new bill , H.R. 3990 , jolly ironically titled the National Monument Creation and Protection Act , Bishop say the earlier “ suitable goal ” of the Antiquities Act — to protect historical and archaeologic artifacts and structures under threat — has been “ manipulated for ulterior political purposes . ”
“ Today the Act is too often used as an exculpation for presidents to unilaterally put away up vast tract of public kingdom without any mechanism for people to provide input or voice business . This is wrong , ” he say in a statement .
Obama , who dealt with a Congress unwilling to talk terms on many issues — including the idea of establishing national parks or other protect region that ask congressional approval — used the act more than any president , create or expanding34 monuments for a total 550 million acres . One of his most controversial uses of the number was the creation of Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah , a more than 1.3 - million acre site coveringstunning scene and trovesof Native American historical lands . Bishop and many Western GOP leaders were vehemently against the designation , contend that the state should be managed more topically and that the repository would skip off important economic evolution ( fogey fuel origin ) and outdoors ( ATVing ) opportunity .
Bishop ’s new greenback would severely restrain what could become a national monument in the future . It would throttle the Antiquity Act ’s use to protecting relics or artifact , not natural geographic features , and would also make it so that any monument over 640 acres would require a federal inspection process , thus limiting the president ’s power to act . Any repository over 10,000 acres would need approval from local state of matter and counties before being found , and no memorial over 85,000 acres would be allow .
Rep. Raul Grijalva , ( D - AZ ) , the ranking Democrat on the committee , was exhaustively unimpressed .
“ Republicans will exact that this bill gives us what we desire — more transparence — but the verity is that it was introduced without any input from stakeholder , tribe or the scientific community , ” he said in a statement . “ This is further evidence that Chairman Bishop ’s Antiquities Act greenback was thrown together at the last instant with only one special interest group in idea : the crude oil and throttle diligence . ”
Grijalva said the bill is another move in the Trump administration ’s feat to scale back protections of Union lands and open them up for development . Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke has been drop his timedeciding which late designate monumentsshould be shrunken , and has recommended to Trump that the sizing of at least four large monuments in the West , including Bears Ears , be reduced . This could potentially spread the expanse to new logging and mining .
Conservation groups were also quick to condemn the billhook , which will now be sent to the House level after passing the committee 23 - 17 along party lines .
The Conservation Lands Foundation called the bill an “ unprecedented attack to gut ” a legal philosophy that has “ protect some of our most iconic national parks and national monuments . ”
“ This bill would decimate protections for wildlife habitat treasured by sportsmen , and would nigh eliminate the possible action of protecting unexplored ethnical inheritance site obtain near other internal monuments — a direct fire on Native American Tribes and their heritage , ” the foundation said in a assertion .
According to the Center for Western Priorities , under the rules of the bill , 180 anterior uses of the Act would have been “ extremely unlikely ” or inconceivable if Bishop ’s note had been constabulary at the meter — including nine of the 18 repository protect by the Teddy Roosevelt himself . These let in such pop and extremely assess site as the Grand Canyon , Muir Woods , and Acadia National Park . It is not strange for a monument to finally be upgrade to a national park by Congress — at least , it did n’t used to be .
“ Many of our national parks like Acadia , Grand Teton , Arches , and Olympic were first protected as national monument under the Antiquities Act , which was sign by President Teddy Roosevelt and used by 16 chairwoman of both parties , ” said League of Conservation Voters Senior Vice President for Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld in a statement . “ But if this radical anti - parking lot bill were in property at the time , those treasured places would not be protected today . ”
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