The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to defeat an amendment that would have put major restrictions on a U.S. president’s power to create national monuments. Managing editor Tami Roleff has more on the attempt to modify the Antiquities Act…
Environmental groups are breathing a sigh of relief after the U.S. Senate defeated an attack Tuesday on the president’s ability to declare national monuments by executive order. The amendment to the Senate energy bill would have modified the Antiquities Act to make all presidential national monument designations temporary for three years, and subject to approval by Congress and the relevant state legislature. David Myers with the Wildlands Conservancy says if ultimately passed, the change would have effectively blocked most new national monuments.
“I think it was a real vote for reason that the majority of the United States Senate believe in the value of our public lands, and the ability of the president to set aside these unblemished landscapes for perpetuity, when it’s the only way to get it done.”
Conservation groups have urged President Obama to declare three national monuments in the Southern California desert, called Mojave Trails, Sand to Snow and Castle Mountains.
Myers notes that Senator Dianne Feinstein’s bill to create the monuments has stalled.
“The senator tried for six years to get legislation passed, but it had no chance in passing through a Republican-led Congress.”
The Antiquities Act has been used equally by Democrats and Republicans since its inception in 1906 under Teddy Roosevelt. The Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree National Park, and Grand Teton National Park all started out as national monuments declared under the Antiquities Act. Reporting for Z107.7, this is managing editor Tami Roleff.
